Canon "L" Lens/Ring Color Confusion

[Cyclop]

Can someone please shed some light on what the difference is regarding any of the "white" professional "L" lenses and the "off-colored" muted-white/beige colored lenses? I know that the L-lens has the "red" ring around the barrel, but I believe the Canon telephoto 400mm f/4.0 IS sports a "green" ring? Please clarify, so that I have a better understanding of this. Thank you -

Best Regards,
Cyclop

[sugarzebra]

The white lenses are for the lenses that contain heat sensitive elements (i.e. fluorite lens group) and/or for marketing purposes :D. The red ring is to identify the 'L' class lenses and the green ring is to identify the 'DO' class lenses (diffractive optics). There is no differentiation between shades of white, and to my experience they are all the same colour, and any great difference you may have observed is because of photographic colour differences. Hope this helps and welcome to POTN...its a great place to learn lots!

[Andy_T]

There are no WHITE L lenses.
They are all OFF-WHITE (BEIGE).
The 400/2.8 DO is a 'DO' lens, and 'DO' lenses are by definition also 'L' lenses (so Canon says).

I sincerely hope our answers will help you to shoot better pictures in the future :wink:

Best regards,
Andy

PS: Welcome to the forum :D

[oldsquawk]

Uh, Andy? When did Canon start selling a 400mm F 2.8 DO lens? They sell a 400mm f 4 DO IS lens. I don't see where Canon defines the DO lenses as "L" lenses, either. Can you point me to that information on Canon's web site?

[oldsquawk]

The lenses incorporating a calcium flourite lens element or two were traditionally painted off-white to distinguish them from other non-flourite lenses and to, supposedly, reduce heat buildup that can cause optical systems to change focus from temperature changes.

The only off-white L lenses that don't have flourite elements are the 70-200mm f 2.8L and 70-200mm f 2.8L IS lenses. These lenses have UD glass elements instead of flourite. I don't know why Canon chose to break tradition and painted the f 2.8 versions of the 70-200mm lenses white except, maybe, they figured they better paint the much more expensive f 2.8 versions white just like the 70-200mm f 4L lenses which have flourite elements and cost a whole lot less. :D

[Andy_T]

Can you point me to that information on Canon's web site?

Hearsay. Read it here on the forum (think it was either Pekka or CDS who mentioned it, but couldn't find the link :o )

Best regards,
Andy

[Marsellus_Wallace]

Can someone please shed some light on what the difference is regarding any of the "white" professional "L" lenses and the "off-colored" muted-white/beige colored lenses?
No difference but a change in paint.
Officially both are to prevent the lenses from overheating, but in fact it's just marketing/ free advertising. Probably a couple of Canon guys OD'd on saké somewhere in the early nineties, since then all L teles are white.

I know that the L-lens has the "red" ring around the barrel, but I believe the Canon telephoto 400mm f/4.0 IS sports a "green" ring?
The red ring is for the professional L series, or better for lenses canon sells as professional equipment. The greatest difference with non-L lenses is in build qulity, and some L lenses are optically something special too, but not all of them.
The green ring is for the DO (diffractive optics) lenses. At the moment there are only two of those: the 400mm prime you mentioned and a 70-300 IS zoom. DO lenses are quite good, quite expensive, a little quirky but smaller and lighter than their 'normal' equivalents. The 400 DO is quite popular with nature pro's thanks to it's weight and size.

[Cyclop]

Thank you for the nice welcome and your expert input. I realize that the vast majority of Canon "L" lenses are white in color, but I have indeed seen a few of these "L" lenses that are the "off-white" variety too. This left me somewhat confused regarding the L-lenses, because I was not sure if the two different white colors had anything to do with one being USA vs import-type?

Regards,
Cyclop

[Jman13]

Actually, by a hair (by my count), the majority of Canon "L" lenses are black in color.

By my count, Canon currently produces 25 "L" lenses. Of these, 13 are black, 12 are white.

I don't know all the discontinued EF mount L lenses, but off the top of my head, the discontinued black EF lenses (not counting revisions..I or II, IS/Non-IS, etc) are:

BLACK
17-35L
28-70L
50 f/1.0L
80-200L
100-300L

White:
500 f/4.5L
1200L (which I've heard is discontinued, but maybe not).

So...all time, we're 18-14 in favor of black, though I may have missed some.

[NorCalAl]

Uh, Andy, the DO's are not, 'by definition', L lenses. The 70-300/4.5 is a DO lens, but not an L.
The white is not white, as you've stated, it's an off-white. There's no "white" lenses. However, not all L's are the off-white color. The shorter focal length L's are black.
The rest is correct: red rings for non-DO L class lenses, green rings for DO lenses (regardless of L or not).

[CyberDyneSystems]

There's only two DO lenses to date, one, the 400mm, is clearly loaded with every thing that would make a lens an "L"
Remove the DO Optics and replace with conventional and Flourite and it is a weather sealed L

The 70-300mm on the other hand is in my mind harder to say if it would be classified with the L's
It's got lightning fast state of the art AF, latest gen IS, it's built much heavier and sturdier than the other 70/75/100-300mm zooms...
It's not weather sealed right? (can't recall now)

In Canon's "EF Lens work III" I believe I recall Canon saying something like "Built to "L" Standards" re: the 400 DO?

[liquefied]

Thank you for the nice welcome and your expert input. I realize that the vast majority of Canon "L" lenses are white in color, but I have indeed seen a few of these "L" lenses that are the "off-white" variety too. This left me somewhat confused regarding the L-lenses, because I was not sure if the two different white colors had anything to do with one being USA vs import-type?

Regards,
Cyclop

They are all off-white. If you see one in a picture that looks pure white it's because it was photographed to look that way.

[CBRfanatic0429]

The 1200mm f/5.6 L USM lens is not discontinued, its made to order only for about $90,000......:o
also, forgot to mention that only 3 were made to date, one is at the canon facility, and the other 2 are owned by sports illustrated.

[BTBeilke]

There's only two DO lenses to date, one, the 400mm, is clearly loaded with every thing that would make a lens an "L"
Remove the DO Optics and replace with conventional and Flourite and it is a weather sealed L

The 70-300mm on the other hand is in my mind harder to say if it would be classified with the L's
It's got lightning fast state of the art AF, latest gen IS, it's built much heavier and sturdier than the other 70/75/100-300mm zooms...
It's not weather sealed right? (can't recall now)

In Canon's "EF Lens work III" I believe I recall Canon saying something like "Built to "L" Standards" re: the 400 DO?

Out of curiosity, I looked up the 400 DO in EF Lens Work III, and here is what it had to say:

EF 400mm f/4 DO IS USM
This is the first 400mm super telephoto lens for photography with the new multi-layered diffractive optical elements, or DO lens elements. It delivers unrivaled imaging performance while keeping size and weight down to manageable levels. By combining DO lens elements with normal refraction elements, colour aberration is corrected to levels even higher than is possible with fluorite elements. This lens also has the fastest autofocusing in the world. Equipped with an Image Stabilizing mechanism and a thoroughgoing dust-proof and drip-proof construction, it can be used in even the harshest weather conditions. It also comes with an AF Stop function for outstanding operability and mobility. The green line on the lens barrel is a symbol of the innovative technologies used to design and produce Canon lenses, and is shared by the Canon FL-F 300mm f/5.6 which appeared in 1969, the first SLR lens in the world to use fluorite lens elements.

And, in another location:

The EF 400mm f/4 DO IS USM is a super telephoto lens which incorporates in part of the optical system Canon’s own “DO lens (multi-layered diffractive optical elements).” Compared with lenses that have the same design specifications using only refractive optical elements, it not only maintains the same high image quality, but also delivers a 27% shorter length and 31% lighter weight. It is also equipped with an image stabilizing mechanism which corrects blurring during hand-held photography for the equivalent of two shutter speeds*, as well as an AF stop function, and a dust-proof and drip-proof construction, giving it almost the same performance as the Super Telephoto L-Type IS Lens Series.

* Based on a shutter speed of “1/focal length” seconds, said to be the limit for handheld photography without image stabilization.

[Jkim13]

The 1200mm f/5.6 L USM lens is not discontinued, its made to order only for about $90,000......:o
also, forgot to mention that only 3 were made to date, one is at the canon facility, and the other 2 are owned by sports illustrated.


http://dvinfo.net/canon/images/images17.php :D

[mrfourcows]

I don't know all the discontinued EF mount L lenses, but off the top of my head, the discontinued black EF lenses (not counting revisions..I or II, IS/Non-IS, etc) are:

BLACK
17-35L
28-70L
50 f/1.0L
80-200L
100-300L

White:
500 f/4.5L
1200L (which I've heard is discontinued, but maybe not).

BLACK
20-35L
17-35L
28-80L
28-70L
50 f/1.0L
80-200L
100-300L

White:
200 f/1.8L
500 f/4.5L
35-350L

[cloose]

The Canadian Canon website lists the 400 DO as an "L" lens (400 f4/L DO IS USM) and the 70-300 as a consumer lens (70-300 f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM)

[dfindr]

Too cool!

http://dvinfo.net/canon/images/images17.php :D

[mrfourcows]

The Canadian Canon website lists the 400 DO as an "L" lens (400 f4/L DO IS USM) and the 70-300 as a consumer lens (70-300 f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM)

good point.

afterall, the 400/4 DO is a white telephoto while the 70-300DO is a black telephoto. canon only makes white-coloured L telephotos nowadays (excluding the 135L and 200L).