| Reviews : Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras |
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras Product By Canon Available From 5 Sellers |
Technical Details
- EF mount; super telephoto lens
- Fluorite and Ultra-low Dispersion-glass; internal focusing; full-time manual focus
- 400mm focal length
- f/5.6 maximum aperture
- Micro UltraSonic Motor (USM)
Product Description
This high-performance lens was designed with portability and handling ease in mind. One super UD-glass element, whose characteristics are similar to fluorite, and one UD-glass element result in sharp pictures from corner-to-corner. The lens also has a built-in hood and a detachable tripod mount.Similar Products
Customer Reviews
By RDSpock (Harrisonville, MO United States)
I will add a few comments to the excellent reviews and information I have found here. The 400mm lens by Canon is not the newest lens or the biggest but for my use, it has proved to be a fine addition to my zoom lenses on my Canon Rebel XSi. I use this lens for bird and wildlife photographs. I can not add much in terms of technical information, but I can share some things to get good results.
You must be very aware of your light source. Good light is critial to good, detailed photos with this lens. If your subject is in shade or shadow, the picture may be improved with computer manipulation, but in full light the 400mm will give you outstanding detail. You will also need to use your feet to get the shot framed properly. You need to physicaly move, rather than zoom in or out, to the get the composition you desire. True, you will crop photos later to get the right "look" but closer is still usually better. When I photograph birds flying overhead, the detail is quite good even when a 50% crop is used. I have set the ISO to 400 to help with blur as my subjects often do not pose as I might like. The use of a monopod has been helpful to give support and still be somewhat portable. Most of my shots are hand held and for the most part have been in focus. However, if there is a tree or post to lean against, don't pass it up! I carried this lens on a 2.5 mile hike and I thought my arms were about to fall off so you might want to invest in a backpack to carry this lens and your other equipment.
The 400mm is a prime lens, no moving parts and built for hard use. This is the "baby" of the Canon super telephoto series (and the least expensive, but not cheap) and, in my opinion, a fine lens for nature photographs.
By Eric C. Reuter (Southern New Jersey Shore)
I've used this lens now exclusively for nature photography, primarily birds. Especially birds in flight. The shots I get with this lens (paired with an EOS 50D) elicit comments from other photographers with words like "incredible", "that sharp as hell lens you have..", "amazing detail!". I've taken probably 100,000 photos with this lens out in the field in the 15 months I've owned it. You cannot go wrong with the lens. The auto-focus is extraordinarily fast, and when you switch it from 3.5m-infinity to 8.5m to infinity, the speed is almost instantaneous for shots at a distance. It also seems to eliminate "hunting" for focus if you miss your target initially. Just remember to switch it back to 3.5m-infinity for closer shots! Bird photography is extremely demanding and difficult. This lens gives me the ability to walk and carry a long lens with great "reach" pretty much anywhere. Like others who have reviewed this lens mention, I never stop it down from wide open. It's sharp to the edges, and there's not a hint of chromatic bleeding or halos anywhere. In good light, I can use very high shutter speeds while keeping ISO values low, enabling high detail and great stop motion capture shots of birds in flight. This is THE lens for hand-held bird and nature photography. Buy it. Don't even think about it.
By Bat Man (Tennessee USA)
The lens is great and quick focus and IS ability of camera make pictures very sharp. Even distant subjects can be cropped and are still sharp. Excellent lens for animal photography, and setting lens at 5.6 makes for faster shutter speeds to stop action. Raising ISO also helps, but in bright light not needed as much. My only problem with this lens in my first two weeks of use was taking it to Florida to some boardwalks, and some birds and alligators were so close to the boardwalk that I couldn't get the whole subject in the frame, sometimes not taking the shot, although sometimes this made for great portraits. Normally the subjects are not going to be this close, and in most instances I was able to back up enough to take the photo. I'll sacrifice the pound of weight to be too close sometimes.
By M. Henri De Feraudy (France)
I use this lens on a 5D.
It is definitely not as sharp as a 50mm lens, but this is something I accept as it is well known in photographic circles that
it's harder to get the same sharpness on a telephoto lens as it is on a wider angle lens, unless you want to put all the sharpness into
the of the image, in which case you can get higher resolution. That's why you get better resolution from astronomical telescopes
(which are optimized for the of the image) than from camera lens.
Overall I can't complain about this lens, for the price. There is very little chromatic aberration. It's built tough, it's light and
doesn't hurt my back.
Jut be aware that if you want top-notch quality (at a price) you will have to fork out a lot more money for the 400mm f/2.8 lenses.
In any case this will blow the zooms of equivalent focal length out of the water.
So rating this lens is not so obvious:as far as value for money goes it's five stars, but in absolute terms it's four stars.
By Norman24 (Southern NH)
Great lens if you can get it right... I had to send mine back to Canon twice for calibration, second time with the camera.. Fist time lens was found with a broken USM.. Fortunately they replaced it but it came back so so.. Pics were not sharp as this lens is known to be... As of this writing, I haven't received my lens back yet, so will see... I purchased this lens in April of 09...
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