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barmaley
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Registered: Oct 24, 2009
Location: Russia
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Nov 19, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp, Very fast AF, nearly flawless IQ, good build, built in hood.
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Cons:
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none for the price, may be want close minimal focusing distance.
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This is my favorite lens.
I wanted long telephoto primary for birding, and chosen this lens over a number of competitors.
It is insanely sharp, have excellent colors and microcontrast,
have virtually none CA (they are pronounced only in very high contrast lighting). Overall image quality is excellent.
It has the fastest AF speed among anything with comparable price, and balances very nicely on medium sized body like 40D or 7D.
On full frame camera 3.5m minimum focus distance may be annoying, but on crop camera sparrow sized bird fills the frame.
I like built in hood, very nice feature.
Lack of IS may be drawback for somebody, but I successfuly use it handhold.
You can read my review with sample images here:
http://alexsukonkin.com/reviews/Canon-EF400f56-L-USM_en.html
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 Nov 19, 2009
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phreeky82
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Registered: Aug 22, 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Sep 29, 2009
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Recommend? |
Price paid: Not Indicated
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Pros:
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Sharpness, contrast, colours, AF speed, well built, inbuilt hood is fantastic.
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Cons:
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Tripod collar foot could be a little bigger.
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Extremely sharp and great looking results from this, even wide open. Amazingly useful results even with a 2x other than useless AF (even with a non-reporting TC) on a 20D. MF is very smooth and nice to use though.
The AF speed makes this a very enjoyable lens to use for both airshows and birds.
The inbuilt hood is a fantastic design, and gives a lens that is not only very easy to set up and use in a hurry, but also makes it compact enough to fit in a backpack without much trouble.
I'd like the tripod collar foot to be a big larger, for gripping onto it - instead I leave a large QR plate attached, makes hand holding a bit more comfortable.
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Sep 29, 2009
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phreeky82
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Registered: Aug 22, 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Sep 24, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Stupidly sharp, great colour and contrast, well built, and surprisingly hand-holdable a lot of the time. OOF areas look very nice. Best hood design ever!
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Cons:
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A longer foot on the tripod collar would have been nice.
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The sharp images you get from this wide open is amazing, with the very slightest of improvements when stopped down (mostly in contrast I've found).
Throwing a 2x behind it, despite losing AF usefulness (even with pins taped), made me very surprised indeed. No they're not perfect, but still better than most cheap long lenses without a TC. 1.4x not yet tried.
Have found that the shutter speed needed to stop bird movement motion blur means the lack of IS isn't such an issue as it wouldn't help anyway. Can't really fix the F/5.6 aspect without a whole lot of $$$ and/or weight.
Buy a monopod+tripod, use them, and get amazing results.
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Sep 24, 2009
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nickjohnson
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Registered: Sep 15, 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6
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Review Date: Sep 19, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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fantastic IQ when used properly, fine build, light weight / good handling, very good value
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Cons:
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none when used by those who understand and accept it for what it is.
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Common to all reports
This is my attempt to give something back to the forum members who have provided this wonderful resource. I found much here that helped with my lens selection. So over the last 1 to 2 years here is what I used – all on a pair of 5D bodies. (My comments will be subjective and personal. I will try to avoid saying anything that cannot be read in the spec sheets).
17-40 L
24-105 L IS
70-200 f4 L IS
180 L Macro
400 f5.6 L
50 f1.8 mkII
Sigma 50 f2.8 Macro EX
400 f5.6 L
Comment
This is an old lens in design terms, but recent DSLR high ISO performance gains make it ever more applicable to today's photography. Mine has done more to improve my technique than all the other lenses put together. If I just point and shoot I get what I deserve – fuzzy nothings. But if I put the ISO high enough to ensure a proper shutter speed, shoot properly, and give it just a sniff of sweet light …... bang – knock-out images which are not possible with anything else at less than three times the price.
Used hand held for wildlife, BIF, landscapes.
IQ is fabulous if I do my bit. Heavy cropping to make up for lack of reach no problem.
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Sep 19, 2009
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maiaibing
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Registered: Jun 25, 2009
Location: Japan
Posts: 10
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Review Date: Aug 29, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Cheap, light (comparably), durable, fast focus, very sharp, great colors, built-in hood, tripod mount included.
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Cons:
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No IS, f/5.6 is slow if you like to shoot hand held.
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For pure optical performance it does not get better than this.
If you are looking for the best 400mm on a budget or for a light weight alternative to the 400L f/2.8 this is the lens to get. No compromises in sharpness, color or clarity. It is an amazing lens for its price point.
The downside is no IS, no zoom and f/5.6. Thus there is a very real difference shooting with the 2.8 and the 5.6, just as you will not get the flexibility of a zoom like the 100-400mm, which is also excellent lens and comes with IS.
Canon has so many great choices for 400mm. Use the one that fits your situation the best.
(Remember to check your lens for front/back focus, my sample needed -8 to be on spot with my 5Dii. It makes a visible difference even @ f/5.6.)
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Aug 29, 2009
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Janika
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Registered: Oct 17, 2005
Location: Canada
Posts: 367
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Review Date: Aug 17, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,300.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp, Fast AF, Silent, Easy to carry around and hand-hold, Affordable price, Simple but effective design. Did I mention, It's "Sharp?!
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Cons:
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Minimum focusing distance is way too long, iS would be nice too
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This is a no brainer, and must have birding lens. I can walk around all day with this lens and not get tired. Easy to hand hold too, even though it has no iS. It takes very sharp images, even wide open. Build quality is super and fewer glass elements mean better IQ and sharpness overall. It is sharper than my 300 f/4L iS was and much sharper than my 100-400 iS was, so it's a keeper 
Wish it had a shorter focus distance and iS would also be welcomed, as long as IQ and sharpness is not compromised. I am sure photogs would be willing to fork out a few hundred more for the iS version of this lens.
Highly recommend it!
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Aug 17, 2009
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dirkb
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Registered: Jul 9, 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Jul 21, 2009
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Recommend? |
Price paid: $775.00
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Pros:
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tack sharp, lightweight, fast focus, IQ
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Cons:
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first "L" prime i've owned, sold my 100-400 after i got it. i never used the zoom aspect, so this is fine. fast focus and IQ made the choice easy.
interestingly enough, autofocus was permanently in the "ON" position (it would still AF when MF was selected) small screwdriver and some crazy glue to hold the microswitch to the switch slider cured that, though.
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Jul 21, 2009
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Lotuselite
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Registered: Feb 14, 2003
Location: Canada
Posts: 33
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Review Date: Jul 17, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
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This lens and the Canon 100-400 IS, (I have both), is one of the reasons why I do not own a Nikon body. The AF of the Nikon is the over riding feature for me and I would have one in a heartbeat, but there is no equivalent of these two lenses for me, ( not to mention the Canon 70-200 F/4 ). The Nikon 80-400 seems to be optically the equal of the Canon 100-400 but even the Nikon enthusiasts are looking for an update in its autofocus performance.
The 400/5.6 is excellent value. Almost all of my bird images using my 100-400 are at the 400mm end so I use it almost exclusevely for BIF.
There is no doubt that Nikon's 200-400 F/4 is an excellent lens but it is big, expensive, and if you are at 400 for most of your bird activity the 400 F/5,6 is far and away the best value in term of cost and performance in my frugal view.
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Jul 17, 2009
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dirkb
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Registered: Jul 9, 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 0
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Review Date: May 20, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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great IQ, fast focus, sharp as a tack. great color. i'm gonna like this...
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May 20, 2009
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princeeric2
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Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Oct 2, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 327
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Review Date: Mar 29, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Fast AF, Light Weight, Very Nice Built in Hood. Amazing colors & contrast, and blur Bokeh. SHARP, SHARP, SHARP, even with 1.4X II extender.
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Cons:
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I wish Canon make an Image Stabilizer version of this lens, and keep it the same price range with similar lens EF 300mm f/4L IS. I don't think why it should cost more, since the 300mm f/4L IS & 400mm 5.6L are the same in the price $1100 now.
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All the good things about this lens have been said by many folks in here already. I had used 3 copies of this 400mm 5.6L and I loved them all. IMAGE ARE TACK SHARP, GOOD BOKEH, COLOR CONTRAST A+, AF IS FAST AND ACCURATE. I normally attached the 1.4X II extender on this lens for wildlifes shooting. Image still sharp even with the extender.
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Mar 29, 2009
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Conrad Tan
Online
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Registered: Dec 8, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 5316
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Review Date: Mar 27, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Super sharp when in the right hands. Mine shake a bit, but I'm getting better results with a bushhawk-style monopod. Extremely accurate AF and terrific colors. Great reach for anything about the size of a duck under 40 yards.
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Cons:
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I suppose it could use IS for still birds (as opposed to BIF) but one can't have it all at this price!
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Two weeks into bird-in-flight photography and I'm extremely impressed! My 100-400mm is dog slow compared to AF of this little gem! Its light, fast, accurate and cheap (compared to its 500mm and 600mm cousins) Highly recommended for the beginning bird/wildlife photographer.
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Mar 27, 2009
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Badmono
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Registered: Mar 10, 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Mar 19, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Nice user friendly lens - compact - great IQ - fast focussing - light to carry on hol's
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Cons:
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White - otherwise none except that the BLACK sigma APO 400 F5.6 costs a fraction of the cost and equals the canon in every respect. I sold my Canon to get the sigma, and put the surplus towards an awesome canon 400 F2.8IS :-)) which deserves to be White!!
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Great IQ - Very sharp wide open - easy to use - a typical 'L' prime lens.
Only sold it to buy a friends Sigma 400 APO which had proved it's equal for sharpness and IQ in some tests we did on both lenses.
I invested the surplus funds into my now favourite 'L' prime the awesome Canon 400 F2.8 IS
>
The 400 F5.6 is a great Birding lens for hikers because of it's light weight. Just a pity that it's white
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Mar 19, 2009
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