melcat
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Upload & Sell: Off
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 Re: beloved 10+ year old EF 100-400, is it time to retire & replace? | |
You don't say whether you always use the lens hand-held, but if you do use a tripod be aware that the supplied tripod foot on the Mk II is horrible. Not only is it not Arca-Swiss, but on mine it just wasn't stable. Fortunately I was forewarned by forum posts here and had budget set aside for a third party replacement, but it could be an unpleasant surprise with what is already a very expensive lens.
I can't comment on the difference between the Mk I and II, since I never had the Mk I, but my Mk II is a *very* good lens. The loose–tight ring makes no sense to me and seems to be a hangover from the old Mk I push-pull design.
As to what else you might consider, Tamron and Sigma make 150–600 lenses which I think can be had in EF mount. A review I've seen suggests they are not as good optically. Sony makes a reportedly wonderful 200–600 with internal zoom which is actually slightly cheaper, but it weighs 2kg and is probably too heavy for you. Also, for sports 200mm might be too long.
Regarding the EF 100–500mm, be aware that if you put a teleconverter on it you can't set the lens to wider than 300mm (i.e. 420mm with a 1.4× converter). It is also slower than the EF 100–400m Mk II at most focal lengths. And they kept that horrible hatch on the lens hood, which I glued shut on my Mk II. I don't know what they were thinking putting the programmable control ring right near the mount; who could reach it on a lens like this? I can't help thinking this lens will get its own Mk II sooner rather than later and might be a very bad buy, especially at its grossly inflated price.
More generally regarding keeping old lenses, 10 years isn't a problem from a photography point of view, but it might be financially. That's because if it breaks you might not be able to get it repaired, and if it doesn't break it might become harder to sell. I have some lenses up to 15 years old that I like a lot and don't "owe me anything" if they do break, and a couple I really should have sold when it was easier. Then again, the EF to RF transition means no-one really knows what will happen to used EF lens prices. I do think the EF 100–400 Mk II will still be preferred by quite a few people over the RF 100–500 for years to come so will be easier to sell than the Mk I, so if you can go from the Mk I to the Mk II now for a known cost you're happy with, that lessens the financial risk overall of staying in the EF system.
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