Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, reviewed by Reservoir Dog

I just picked up a used copy at the beginning of the month. I finally had a chance to use it over the weekend for a riding competition that my daughter was in. I'll be honest, I am not impressed with the shots that I took. I do believe that has more to do with the environment than the lens. I did have a few shots that just blurred out of focus completely, that surprised me. It seems a little slow on the autofocus. I'm probably a bit spoiled because for the last several competitions that my daughter was in, I rented the newer version of the lens. My daughter has a few field hockey games coming up, I'm looking forward to putting the lens through its paces.

I have just purchased the mkii version of this lens after owning the mk1 for a good few years hope it is all that its cracked up to be..........
We will see in time if its better than the mk1.

I rented the EF 100-400mm push-pull lens to shoot the California Air Show in Salinas, and a tennis match in Solano CA. It is a fun lens to use, with a decent telephoto range. It has its quirks, if you are not used to the push-pull zoom design, over that of the twist the barrel for zoom in the Mark II. I am more used to the push-pull feel of the old zoom film camera lenses. The price is about half the purchase price of an EF 100-400 Mark II lens.

Liked the lens so much, Santa is gonna give me an early Christmas present. Hope he doesn't drop it, coming down the fire place.

nice. going to pick this one up as well. can't justify the mark II's price for my purposes.

I will keep my MK1 until they come out with a new one that is push-pull

I just used a borrowed Mk II version of this lens for a track meet yesterday and I must say that I was impressed (with the lens, not necessarily with my skills) as far as sharpness of the photos and the fast AF. Had very few throw away images due to focus issues and most of those issues were probably due to me, not the lens

Any complaints about the f/5.6 aperture in practice? (Particularly for birding)

I have not had any issues with sports and with a few outings for wildlife with the lens. The f5.6 was a non issue

Photo from duckster's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (975659)

I've had 2 of these lenses one of them for over 10 years. They're both extremely sharp, And like most L lenses the color and contrast is excellent. I never much cared for the push pull zoom until one day I came to photograph fast moving objects such as birds in flight and fast moving planes. Then I realized why Canon used this design. For speed and acquisition it is far superior to a rotating design and I think Canon only changed it because of all the complaints about the push pull. Maybe the rotation design needs less repair as well. Anyway I love this lens. I also have the 400 f5.6 which is considerably lighter and easier to handle.

The push-pull is simpler than the rotating design. Simpler usually means less maintenance.
I was already used to it from my FDn 70-210 mm f/4 lens, although that one is in reverse. Push-pull was more of an advantage back then, since you had to focus manually. With this design, you could do both with the same grip.
My EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM is now 12 yeas old. A new application has become the addition of the EF Extender 2X III, which will still allow autofocus when put on the R3.