Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

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Archive 2012 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

aushalk
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p.1 #1 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

Same old question; hopefully get a better answer

What is the reason for the delay? When are we looking to have these on the high street?

Even the 300 and 400mm lenses that did make an appearance on the street seem to be going out of stock once the initial stocks are sold out. This is the case both in the UK and US as far as I can see. In the UK, they are both available with pro dealers but usually one copy each that they had to by from Canon under their pro dealer terms. Canon's prices and the 20% VAT has made sure the shops have not sold even these single copies

But once they are sold, no restocking due to OOS with canon UK and lack of demand

Guess we cant even talk about the prohibitive prices settling down to more affordable range when the lenses are not even readily available..

Feel free to share your insider information

(even the made up ones..)

Jan 18, 2012 at 03:49 PM

Wrei
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p.1 #2 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

I thought the glass in the large lenses require a longer manufacturing cycle. If that is true, I guess the flooding and electrical problems from the earthquake have backed them up, slowing down the deliveries.

Jan 18, 2012 at 04:16 PM

aushalk
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p.1 #3 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

Wrei wrote:
I thought the glass in the large lenses require a longer manufacturing cycle. If that is true, I guess the flooding and electrical problems from the earthquake have backed them up, slowing down the deliveries.

Didn't know that. Might explain it then

Jan 18, 2012 at 06:28 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #4 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

aushalk wrote:
Same old question; hopefully get a better answer

(even the made up ones..)

On this side of the pond, the 400mm is indeed still rare but the 300mm is definitely more readily available. A few can be purchased currently at a price lower than the (increased) MSRP of $7,299 on that big auction site. As of a month ago the price of the 300mm was $6,924.00 there but it has increased a little lately.

I understood the cause of delay was the earthquake and related tsunami in Japan. To what extent this is true, I really don't know. So, nothing new there, at least, to my knowledge.

Jan 18, 2012 at 06:36 PM

aushalk
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p.1 #5 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

On this side of the pond, the 400mm is indeed still rare but the 300mm is definitely more readily available. A few can be purchased currently at a price lower than the (increased) MSRP of $7,299 on that big auction site. As of a month ago the price of the 300mm was $6,924.00 there but it has increased a little lately.

I understood the cause of delay was the earthquake and related tsunami in Japan. To what extent this is true, I really don't know. So, nothing new there, at least, to my knowledge.

The "other' big auction site has the 500/600 with an approximate arrival date of April (with a cool price tags

attached)

Guess we'll have to wait and see. May be we need a few announcements for the upgrade of those black lenses to get canon going

Jan 18, 2012 at 06:57 PM

thedigitalbean
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p.1 #6 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

My understanding is that the rolling power outages in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami made it very difficult to grow the flourite cyrstals that are used heavily by these new lenses. I know that the power outages kept happening well into last summer and know that it takes several months to grow the flourite cystals. But I could be totally wrong.

Jan 18, 2012 at 07:28 PM

tuantran
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p.1 #7 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

That is correct about the rolling power outages, etc. etc. In the end, they forgot to water the flourite crystals so they stopped growing and ended up using those for the 70-200mm f2.8 II!!!

Jan 18, 2012 at 07:57 PM

Jefferson
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p.1 #8 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

thedigitalbean wrote:
My understanding is that the rolling power outages in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami made it very difficult to grow the flourite cyrstals that are used heavily by these new lenses. I know that the power outages kept happening well into last summer and know that it takes several months to grow the flourite cystals. But I could be totally wrong.

That would be my thought.

Jefferson

Jan 18, 2012 at 08:02 PM

aushalk
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p.1 #9 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

Jefferson wrote:
thedigitalbean wrote:
My understanding is that the rolling power outages in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami made it very difficult to grow the flourite cyrstals that are used heavily by these new lenses. I know that the power outages kept happening well into last summer and know that it takes several months to grow the flourite cystals. But I could be totally wrong.

That would be my thought.

Jefferson

I thought Nikon factory in Sendai was the worst hit from tsunami. They seem to carry on with their production fine. The same power cuts apply to them as well after all

Jan 18, 2012 at 08:13 PM

Pixel Perfect
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p.1 #10 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

AGeoJO wrote:
aushalk wrote:
Same old question; hopefully get a better answer

Jan 19, 2012 at 12:00 AM

dehowie
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p.1 #11 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

For the OP maybe a little research on how the lenses are produced would answer some questions.
The power(electrical) required to run the furnaces which create the glass is massive.
With massive power outages lasting months after the Tsunami creating havoc inside Japan well after the earthquake it's very easy to see the delay.
building cameras like Nikon do at Sendai is a completely different proposition the what is required to build a lens of the caliber of a 400/2.8
As an aside they are widely available in Asia I got my 400/2.8 in Singapore last week and several where in stock.
The 300 is easily findable even here in Australia.

Jan 19, 2012 at 01:21 AM

thedigitalbean
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p.1 #12 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

aushalk wrote:
Jefferson wrote:
thedigitalbean wrote:
My understanding is that the rolling power outages in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami made it very difficult to grow the flourite cyrstals that are used heavily by these new lenses. I know that the power outages kept happening well into last summer and know that it takes several months to grow the flourite cystals. But I could be totally wrong.

That would be my thought.

Jefferson

I thought Nikon factory in Sendai was the worst hit from tsunami. They seem to carry on with their production fine. The same power cuts apply to them as well after all

Nikon's lenses don't use flourite. I'm not saying thats why the Canon superteles are slow coming out but that is one difference between the two companies' super teles.

Jan 19, 2012 at 01:21 AM

tonywong88
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p.1 #13 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

I've been thinking of selling my 400 II. Didn't have a problem getting it last October, but the 200-400 sounds tempting.

Jan 19, 2012 at 08:00 PM

gspiridakis
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p.1 #14 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

What about the 200-400? Will it be released together with the 500/600 f/4 or later? Any news about that one?
And an other question, the new 500/600 II lenses, do you think that the IQ will be much better than of the currents? At least as it been shown from the 300/400 f/2,8 II compared with the previous generation...I mean for an owner ofGeorge the current 500 f/4, will it worth the change to the new 500 II?

Jan 19, 2012 at 10:12 PM

thedigitalbean
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p.1 #15 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

The 200-400 hasn't even been officially announced yet, so I doubt it will be released along with the 500 II and 600 II. My guess is that they aren't going to announce the 200-400 until they start shipping the 500 and 600.

As for IQ, the current lenses are already quite good yes. I'm not sure someone who has a current super tele is going to upgrade for IQ reasons. The weight savings and better IS are going to be far more important.

Jan 19, 2012 at 10:17 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #16 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

thedigitalbean wrote:
As for IQ, the current lenses are already quite good yes. I'm not sure someone who has a current super tele is going to upgrade for IQ reasons. The weight savings and better IS are going to be far more important.

And that's a hefty price to pay for the difference. I am hoping for a slight, ever so slight IQ improvement to better justify the cost difference between the Mark I and Mark II

. Hey, I can hope for that, right

Jan 19, 2012 at 10:26 PM

thedigitalbean
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p.1 #17 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

Yea and there should be some IQ improvement (most notably with CA and when TCs get attached). I'm not sure how much of a sharpness improvement can really be expected. Even with the tiny sensor pitch of the 7D, the current superteles deliver excellent resolution (though they start to show issues when TCs get attached).

I think there's more room for improvement with the 600 than the 500 though and so thats where my interest currently is...

Jan 19, 2012 at 10:30 PM

Pixel Perfect
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p.1 #18 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

What I expect is IQ will only be noticeably better with the new mk III TC's with improved corners. IQ of bare lenses would see little difference for the most part. AF should also improve in lower light and with mk III TC's. The other big improvement with the 500 and 600 II is the reduced mfd. The new 600 mk II matches the weight and mfd of the 500 mk I. 600 is the new 500.

Still it'll be a long time before I upgrade my awesome 500 mk I; new version is $5K dearer than what I paid new!!! Just totally obscene. I don't hold out much hope of price drops, given the 800L is now dearer than at release. Also realistically mere mortals will probably find it'll be well after Olympics before they even get near one unless they pre-ordered.

Jan 19, 2012 at 10:34 PM

AGeoJO
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p.1 #19 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

BTW, for those of you that already own or will own any of the new Mark II superteles, and you plan of using any of the new Mark III TCs, keep in mind that you have to mount the TC on the lens first and then the whole setup can be mounted on the camera. Canon recommends that sequence of mounting to make sure that the TC and lens are communicating first for a better AF response. Now, I make an effort to do that consistently as recommended with all lenses. Before, I didn't do that consistently and just used a more convenient sequence of mounting the TC that may vary on field circumstances.

Jan 19, 2012 at 10:43 PM

dolina
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p.1 #20 · Canon 300/400/500/600mm MK II lenses

200-400 should be out by August

Jan 20, 2012 at 02:43 AM

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