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Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 USM L IS - Full Format Review / Test Report - Sample Images & Verdict |
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Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (Full Format)
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Page 3 of 3
Sample Images
Here're some RAW-converted images taken with the EOS 5D II.
Click on a thumbnail to view the original file (opens in a separate window). Please note that the originals are FULL SIZE samples
(=several megabytes) thus requiring a significant amount of bandwidth so please take care of the limited resources here.
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
640 |
| Focal Length |
400.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/5.6 |
| Exposure |
1/1600s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
640 |
| Focal Length |
360.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/5.6 |
| Exposure |
1/2500s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
640 |
| Focal Length |
400.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/5.6 |
| Exposure |
1/2500s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
640 |
| Focal Length |
100.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/5.6 |
| Exposure |
1/2500s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
400 |
| Focal Length |
400.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/5.6 |
| Exposure |
1/2000s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
400 |
| Focal Length |
190.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/8.0 |
| Exposure |
1/400s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
400 |
| Focal Length |
100.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/8.0 |
| Exposure |
1/1600s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
400 |
| Focal Length |
135.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/8.0 |
| Exposure |
1/1250s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
400 |
| Focal Length |
285.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/5.6 |
| Exposure |
1/1250s |
|
| Make |
Canon |
|
| Model |
Canon EOS 5D Mark II |
| ISO Speed |
640 |
| Focal Length |
400.0mm |
| Aperture: |
f/5.6 |
| Exposure |
1/1250s |
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Verdict
The Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 USM L IS is almost a boring lens but in a positive sense. It shows no extreme weaknesses nor strengths. You will find sharper lenses - primes that is - but it is very sharp for a zoom lens, especially considering its 400mm, and that's throughout the range at all relevant aperture settings. As such it is e.g. far better than the corresponding Nikkor AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 ED or the recently tested Sigma AF 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 HSM just to give you two other popular examples here. The very low amount of lateral CAs contributes to the high sharpness perception - the fluorite and SUD elements are obvious very effective here. The amount of light falloff is comparatively moderate within the full format scope but you will be able to spot it at max. aperture in critical scenes. Distortions are very slight and as such not really relevant. The quality of the bokeh is decent but not on prime lens level.
Typical for Canon L grade lenses, the build quality is very good. However, you may need to get used to the push-pull zoom mechanism which is a bit unusual these days. Due to the air pumping during zooming it is somewhat prone to sucking dust into the inner lens chamber. However, this is a common problem in this lens class. There's also no sealing against dust and humidity which shows that the design is a little old by now - all recently released L class zoom lenses feature a better protection here. That all said it's still far better than any average consumer class zoom lens of course. The ring-type USM AF is both fast and virtually silent and the IS works as designed albeit only up to an efficiency equivalent to about 2 f-stops. All-in-all it may be an oldy by now but it's still a goodie.
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