70-200 f4 lenses from Canon with black finish

i dont care what color it is. if i buy it then it better produce quality images. it could be pink for all i care. although i wouldnt want it to be pink

I have often wondered why some "L" lenses are black and others are white.
I know that white is supposed to make items apear larger to the eye, especially from some distance, and black sort of makes the items seem smaller than they may be.... Maybe Canon said "Huh, maybe if these lenses apear a bit larger than they really are, more suckers will spend the extra bread on them and fatten our pockets!" Then again, maybe it does have to do with thermal criteria? Who knows.
But I agree with others, as long as it produces the quality that I desire, I dont really care what color it is.

Bobby1028 wrote in post #13009261
Never bought into the thermal expansion story, always believed it was and is more so now than ever strictly a marketing ploy. My FD 300f4L and 200f2.8L were black and took outstanding photos...

probably so

those two don't use fluorite though, but yeah it's probably overdone since whatever amount it helps against thermal expansion seems a lot les than just shooting in say hot summer day vs cool one

it does make the barrel a little cooler to touch though which is nice

Tealtele wrote in post #13009380
The thing that attracts attention about the L tele's is that they're both black and white, creating almost a "zebra stripe effect". This "striped" look catches the eye moreso than black by itself.

i though the zebra effect was to confuse the eye and make you blend in

wombatHorror wrote in post #13011226
i though the zebra effect was to confuse the eye and make you blend in

Only when in a heard of other zebras.

lancebroad wrote in post #12987372
The colour is part of the lens design since there is so much glass in it. The white resists the need to expand as much since is dissipates heat better than the black. More to it than wank factor.

In summing up, ill keep my lenses white thanks.

actually white reflects heat, but black dissipates heat faster
White dissipates heat slower, but does not absorb much to begin with due to its reflectivity.
Black absorbs heat much faster, but also dissipates it much faster due to its emissivity.
meaning black will get hotter, faster. but will also dissipate that heat very quickly.
white will reflect most heat and barely get any large raise in heat, but it will hold onto that little bit of heat longer.
if that makes any sense..lol

but none of that matters anyways since the painted color of a lens has VERY little to do with its thermal expansion..
The only real factor of thermal expansion is with the build materials, not the very thin layer of paint on top...i.e, a Carbon Fiber lens would have little to zero thermal expansion.Not because it is black, but because it is Carbon Fiber!(even if you had X color paint over the Carbon Fiber.lol)
i.e, a white painted aluminum lens will have nearly the exact same thermal expansion as a black painted aluminum lens...

for that matter, the glass would have more thermal expansion than a very thin bit of paint on the exterior shell of a housing/lens.etc

Might be off base here, but it really doesnt matter as it isnt the main reason for the OP..

just didnt want people to think there black sigma/Tamron/Canon lenses are going to freeze up due to thermal expansion.

Brian_R wrote in post #13010536
i dont care what color it is. if i buy it then it better produce quality images. it could be pink for all i care. although i wouldnt want it to be pink

Yes.

lancebroad wrote in post #12987410
Does canon have a patent on it?

Obviously not, since there are several other companies who make white lenses. Canon was not even the first one to do it.

Canon does have a patent on their methods of producing low dispersion optical elements made from artificial flourite crystals but that couldn't possibly have anything to do with heat dissipation requirements...

White is more practical compare to black.
Sun makes black lenses too hot.

kf095 wrote in post #13016020
White is more practical compare to black.
Sun makes black lenses too hot.

I don't know . I shot many a games this year where the temp was above 100F . It didn't seem to make it hot , bothered me more then the lens

gjl711 wrote in post #13011568
Only when in a heard of other zebras.

Seen commonly enough even in photo pits flying the Oly* or Nik* colors these days.

I always thought the reason for the white finish was to keep them cooler to touch in the sun (even with the zoom rings being black). It helps keep the internals cooler, which may actually be the primary reason when I think about it.

Black lenses do fit in better in some situations, but white does have its advantages - arguably works better than black in great heat AND in the arctic snows; makes many people assume you're a working photojournalist (possibly an advantage for actual PJs working in war zones and the like).

Edwin Herdman wrote in post #13016805
Seen commonly enough even in photo pits flying the Oly* or Nik* colors these days.

I always thought the reason for the white finish was to keep them cooler to touch in the sun (even with the zoom rings being black). It helps keep the internals cooler, which may actually be the primary reason when I think about it.

Black lenses do fit in better in some situations, but white does have its advantages - arguably works better than black in great heat AND in the arctic snows; makes many people assume you're a working photojournalist (possibly an advantage for actual PJs working in war zones and the like).

Is that because one wants to stand out in a war zone ?

CountryBoy wrote in post #13017389
Is that because one wants to stand out in a war zone ?

Yes. (Generally speaking.) I could write more if you want more of my reasoning behind that.

See, I think Canon's marketing department hasn't thought this through. They should make Ls in both black and white, but make distribution regionally dependent. Everywhere north and south of 50º latitude should be black for heat absorbition; the bit in the middle should get the white version. Resulting in happy fluorite. Simple, huh?
* poker face *

xhack wrote in post #13017507
See, I think Canon's marketing department hasn't thought this through. They should make Ls in both black and white, but make distribution regionally dependent. Everywhere north and south of 50º latitude should be black for heat absorbition; the bit in the middle should get the white version. Resulting in happy fluorite. Simple, huh?
* poker face *

How about additional weather proofing and a Canon tartan?