EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Review WOW!

smythie wrote in post #17671633
More great shots Kev. Love 'em

Thanks mate.

I really envy you. Yesterday I went to a local Audubon's wildlife refuge, and all I saw was a single blur heron standing about a quarter mile away! I was still able to get the shot using the 7DII with 100-400II plus 1.4TC (560mm, or 896mm equivalent for my 6D), but still too far away...

Hello,
I have had a weird sound when my lens focuses for some time now and though it was normal. It is like something is touching inside when the focus is engaged. It is not lound but clearly different from my other L lenses. I did not pay too much attention because i though it was normal and because he focus was excellent but yesterday the lens stopped focusing. I have tried everything and it just would not focus. I was about to send it to Canon today but this morning somehow the focus is working again (still with the sound). Now, I have no experience with Canon service (the lens is under warranty), but if i send it like this, will they still take a look or will they send it back to me because it is working?
Thanks!

One of my favorite features of this lens is its versatility. Our camera club recently held a "photo scavenger hunt" in Coupeville, WA. We're assigned about a dozen topics the night before, and everyone takes their photos on the same day. All the photos below were taken with a 7D2 + 1.4x III + 100-400 II, handheld, and within 3 hours of each other. I could have taken the same images with the original 100-400, but the improved IS, AF, and IQ of the 100-400 II made all of these easier to take. The title of each photo is the category for which it was taken.

Long Coupeville Wharf (146mm, 1/250, f/8, ISO 2500, -2/3 EC)

gorben wrote in post #17672305
Hello,
I have had a weird sound when my lens focuses for some time now and though it was normal. It is like something is touching inside when the focus is engaged. It is not lound but clearly different from my other L lenses. I did not pay too much attention because i though it was normal and because he focus was excellent but yesterday the lens stopped focusing. I have tried everything and it just would not focus. I was about to send it to Canon today but this morning somehow the focus is working again (still with the sound). Now, I have no experience with Canon service (the lens is under warranty), but if i send it like this, will they still take a look or will they send it back to me because it is working?
Thanks!

A few years ago, I sent in my 100-400 v1 for an intermittent focusing problem. They found it and fixed it under warranty. It's been fine since.

gorben wrote in post #17672305
Hello,
I have had a weird sound when my lens focuses for some time now and though it was normal. It is like something is touching inside when the focus is engaged. It is not lound but clearly different from my other L lenses. I did not pay too much attention because i though it was normal and because he focus was excellent but yesterday the lens stopped focusing. I have tried everything and it just would not focus. I was about to send it to Canon today but this morning somehow the focus is working again (still with the sound). Now, I have no experience with Canon service (the lens is under warranty), but if i send it like this, will they still take a look or will they send it back to me because it is working?
Thanks!

Send it to canon with a note explaining the fault....that's what the warranty is for...

Lbsimon wrote in post #17672056
I really envy you. Yesterday I went to a local Audubon's wildlife refuge, and all I saw was a single blur heron standing about a quarter mile away! I was still able to get the shot using the 7DII with 100-400II plus 1.4TC (560mm, or 896mm equivalent for my 6D), but still too far away...

Unlucky mate. I've researched all the local birding locations and although I'm new to birding, I visited nearly every one with little success. The list of birds to be seen at some of those places is endless but I saw zilch. Whether I'm out of season or what, I don't know? Then one day I was walking the dog less than 200metres from my place and had gotten in the habit of looking for birds and was amazed at how many that I saw on my doorstep. The shrubs are in bloom so I guess that's what's bringing the honeyeaters in and there's been little rain so the drain is very low making it easy for the herons and egrets. I even got a couple of cormorants fishing one day so it must be easy as they normally stick to the saltwater round here.

Is it like a high pitched ping/bell sound?

I have the above sound at times and wonder if it's the same /similar to your noise.

'macro' mode...

I wanted to make sure before I posted this but I'm pretty certain of a behaviour of my lens, (which may not be the same for others).

One of the things that amazed me on my first shoot and had me fall in love with this lens, is just how sharp it appeared at both extremes, even wide open. Obviously not as good as it's "sweet spot" but nevertheless, an excellent performer considering that most lenses behave at their worst at their extreme ends.

Sadly, I think that I was just lucky the first time because since then, it has behaved erratically at it's longest end. I would say about 50% fully extended are non-keepers, not because of missed focus, but simply too soft. Anyone else finding this?

bidkev wrote in post #17674156
I wanted to make sure before I posted this but I'm pretty certain of a behaviour of my lens, (which may not be the same for others).

One of the things that amazed me on my first shoot and had me fall in love with this lens, is just how sharp it appeared at both extremes, even wide open. Obviously not as good as it's "sweet spot" but nevertheless, an excellent performer considering that most lenses behave at their worst at their extreme ends.

Sadly, I think that I was just lucky the first time because since then, it has behaved erratically at it's longest end. I would say about 50% fully extended are non-keepers, not because of missed focus, but simply too soft. Anyone else finding this?

Kev, here is my experience. Whenever I have shot at 400mm and thought that the image was a bit soft, I have found a plausible reason other than lens softness. Usually, I can put it down to camera or subject movement, or just plain missing focus.

I'm not saying that you're wrong; just, IME, if the lens was sharp, it probably still is. If some images are sharp, then it likely not the lens.

dodgyexposure wrote in post #17674172
Kev, here is my experience. Whenever I have shot at 400mm and thought that the image was a bit soft, I have found a plausible reason other than lens softness. Usually, I can put it down to camera or subject movement, or just plain missing focus.

I'm not saying that you're wrong; just, IME, if the lens was sharp, it probably still is. If some images are sharp, then it likely not the lens.

You're probably right. I've just gone over the images that were destined for the bin and realised that most of them are long distance shots which required 100% crops for viewing. Too many factors there for me to prejudge the lens. Having it set to focus priority and having "skylined" birds appearing soft just got me thinking that it must have focused on the bird as there's nothing else for it to focus on with a cloudless sky. I was out in the yard early snapping a rosella and I guess the results and a bit of a hangover had me jump the gun with the previous post.

Anyways, these are the 100% crops that I was disappointed with prior to sharpening, shot this morning. I don't do a lot of post processing but I tried to enlarge (only 25%) in "Perfect Resize" the results were terrible I must spend more time learning processing techniques

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/wzxN​kZ

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/xvAW​BY

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/wzpt​HW

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/wzps​qq

You do have some freaking awesome bids Kevin, awesome

Kevin, "long way off" brings a number of factors with it, such as compressed heat waves, air pollution however so slight, your whole subject not quite within the DOF, little pixel smear, etc. Those shots don't look bad for the circumstances. If you want to test for "long way off", plant the rig on a stable tripod and shoot some distant subjects using Liveview, then look at the images at 100% and check out all the possible factors other than the lens optics. It's not that easy to capture perfection at 100%, especially at 400mm and up, plus crop factor.

These two clowns are a long way off, guesstimate 100m for the kite and 60m for the raven, and I can see all the aforementioned factors at play on my monitors, plus noise.