When I owned the 100-400 I enjoyed the flexibility but often found myself at the long end; sold that and eventually bought the 400 5.6. I use it mostly on a tripod… and when I don't I revert to a Kinesis beanbag on the roof/hood of my vehicle. Without IS it is more difficult to hand-hold, at least for me. Another option, of course, is a monopod: the two shots following were done that way. Normally I'll shoot a fire drill up close (wearing turnouts and helmet) but on this day I'd only had the 400 for a day and thought "what the hay." I stayed cooler and got a few keepers to boot. Very sharp results (when I focus correctly) and these indicate a bit of the bokeh available wide open. Two good lenses and choices.

Pete's close-up of the gull's head is very good (no, excellent), but I cannot imagine how he got that shot given the MFD of the 400f/5.6 ?



This is the 400 f/5.6 + 1.4TC on a 1D Mk3 (1/6400s f/8.0 at 560mm ISO 400)

Colin

The 400 f/5.6 does seagulls for breakfast. I mean, the lens is more than sufficiently agile for their usual action speed/pattern.
Here is how papa Petkal likes to do seagulls.

Jim Victory wrote:
tanglefoot47 wrote:
What a nice camera for only 4MP and I didn't think you had mud down your way

We get our share of rain but the shots were south of me in Houston.

I found two more. The first of the Female RWBB was with a 40D and the Pelican was with a MKIIn + 1.4x TC.

Fred Relaix wrote:
In the same vein, I would be interested in somebody comparing the bokeh of the 400L with the 100-400.

Same here but I already know the winner

blueshadows wrote:
When I owned the 100-400 I enjoyed the flexibility but often found myself at the long end; sold that and eventually bought the 400 5.6. I use it mostly on a tripod… and when I don't I revert to a Kinesis beanbag on the roof/hood of my vehicle. Without IS it is more difficult to hand-hold, at least for me. Another option, of course, is a monopod: the two shots following were done that way. Normally I'll shoot a fire drill up close (wearing turnouts and helmet) but on this day I'd only had the 400 for a day and thought "what the hay." I stayed cooler and got a few keepers to boot. Very sharp results (when I focus correctly) and these indicate a bit of the bokeh available wide open. Two good lenses and choices.



Awesome thank you my stepson is a fireman so these shots have special meaning for me thank you

Another 400L love thread?

Kewll

From boats, to birds, to model airplanes and anything else that moves. This has been my go to lense. Again. Nothing can touch the quality for the price. I can't justify a 500mm because of this lense at the moment. Light, handholdable, remarkable.
John

Very nice John love them all

A few from the Pro Wakeboard tour:

One More

Now that is some fast action shot wake

I too use the 400/f5.6 almost exclusively with a tripod. But sometimes with a beanbag and rarely with a monopod (which I'll have to use more often as it affords faster maneuverability). I don't know how you guys do it with those flying birds.

heres some of mine

As it happens, I recently sold my 400mm F5.6. It was simply because I wasn't taking photography that needed the reach.
For the half a dozen times that I did use it, it was simply awesome for the price, and if I changed my photography habits again, I'd not hesitate to buy another.

This is still my favourite shot
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