Canon 400mm DO II first impressions

I decided to rent the 400mm DO II before buying on. It arrived this morning and I was off to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve for some bird hunting. My main walk around lens was a 400mm 5.6 because I like maximum mobility and hand holding. I owned the DO I a few years back and was not overly impressed with it.

I will be doing some direct comparison shots between the DO and the 5.6 in the next few days but after viewing today's results my initial impression of the new DO are very good. It appears to have better contrast and color than the 5.6 and is plenty sharp for me. The bokeh seems smoother than the 5.6. It is easy enough to carry and hand hold and while the lens collar doesn't come off the foot does (4 screws) and I will be removing it when I buy my own because I don't need it and it will save a little weight.
The MFD seems better than the spec vs the 5.6 but I will confirm this with a real test.The shots I am posting were done with my usual regimen which is some cropping and a bit of sharpening.


The raw files are available here for download and examination.

Canon 7DII 400mm DO II

A couple more

I'm sorry, but these shots are not possible...all 7D II's have focus issues

Great shots! Looks like a winner!

Thanks for the fabulous share of your RAW images and the post. I have the original 400 DO and love it, but would love contrast in the RAW and better bokeh at the start of my editing. I only opened one of your files, but can see the new lens has both. Interesting to see how it takes the 1.4 T/C with the 7D MkII

buddy4344 wrote in post #17335102
Interesting to see how it takes the 1.4 T/C with the 7D MkII

I tried it very briefly today with a 1.4X III. Tomorrow I will test the 400 1.4x combo it and will be posting some samples.

Very nice and sharp. Would love too see some more closeup's to see how sharp this lens really is.

400mm DO II?!

Seems like Canon forgot to mention that beside the 100-400 II. :O

Awesome shots and thanks for the share.
I'd say plenty sharp, bokeh is great, handholdability a nicety, a stop faster than the 5.6, 3rd gen IS=what's not to love. More icing on the cake is that it plays nice with the 7Dii and the TC1.4. I'll give it a go with the 2.0 when the Sun returns.
I bought blindly and it should arrive sometime today though a flight delay has it two hours from here. Won't matter today though, the weather outside is pure crap but that make a good testing ground.

NemethR wrote in post #17335484
400mm DO II?!

Seems like Canon forgot to mention that beside the 100-400 II. :O

It was announced at Photokina along with the 24-105 STM and crop 24 pancake. The 100-400 II was announced later.

NemethR wrote in post #17335484
400mm DO II?!

Seems like Canon forgot to mention that beside the 100-400 II. :O

Welcome to planet Earth!

Day two was drab light for the most part but did manage a few shots when the sun peeked through. All shots today were with the 7DII 400DO II and 1.4X III .combo. My impression is still very positive and I cannot see any appreciable difference with the converter attached. AF speed was excellent as well. The one thing that stands out to me is the bokeh of this lens.I think it's much better than the 400mm 5.6.

I will leave it to the scientists to give us the final verdict . Here is the link to the Raws. Feel free to download ,process,and then comment on them.

http://www.fototime.co​m/inv/6213C3721C7BB1A

This lens is looking very promising!
I was a fan of the Mk1 version but the ones I tried were very variable from pretty soft to razor sharp! Though all suffered from reduced contrast and colour. The Mk2 looks like a big improvement - pity it is so expensive, I think my 300 F2.8 is under threat!
If you have a 2 x Mk3 extender handy some images from that combination would be interesting?

I like these 1.4x shots even more than the first set.

Any chance you can compare the 400mm DO II with the older version?

I posted up a Flickr link to a photo with the 400mm DO II + 2.0 TC
in this thread on POTN:
https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=17336247
Didn't want to cross post.