Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM - AKA The Dust Pump

Hello all,

I have a chance to buy a used Canon 100-400 L lens for about $850. I've never purchased a used lens so I'm a bit hesitant I looked at it and it looks good. Didn't see any dust or fungus in it and it looks well taken care of. The date code on it shows its an April 2005 version. Do you guys think it's a good idea to buy such an old lens? Any tips or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

canalero wrote in post #16663391
Hello all,

I have a chance to buy a used Canon 100-400 L lens for about $850. I've never purchased a used lens so I'm a bit hesitant I looked at it and it looks good. Didn't see any dust or fungus in it and it looks well taken care of. The date code on it shows its an April 2005 version. Do you guys think it's a good idea to buy such an old lens? Any tips or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Looks fair, if u're buying in a shop u should ask about some 3 months warranty. Yet u should consider for similar price u got Sigma 120-400 or 150-500 new, with at least 2 years warranty; they got good stabilization too.
For sports and birds, i found AF and IS ok; someone says the lens design is aging, and sigma OS is more effective.
Despite actually is old, IMHO, the deal of the canon is the push-pull zoom, i LOVE it it's addictive and with practice u can get nice stuff; here i zoomed out for the fight, 1/5000, F6.3, 220MM, iso1000

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/sokolskij/96630​71170/

duymy wrote in post #16661590
Sunset

Outstanding!

I think duymy is taking this lens in new directions. Some of the best shots I've seen in this thread! Bravo!!

Thanks for the info, I'm going to check the Sigmas. BTW great shot! Nice job!

METAL1 wrote in post #16663914
Looks fair, if u're buying in a shop u should ask about some 3 months warranty. Yet u should consider for similar price u got Sigma 120-400 or 150-500 new, with at least 2 years warranty; they got good stabilization too.
For sports and birds, i found AF and IS ok; someone says the lens design is aging, and sigma OS is more effective.
Despite actually is old, IMHO, the deal of the canon is the push-pull zoom, i LOVE it it's addictive and with practice u can get nice stuff; here i zoomed out for the fight, 1/5000, F6.3, 220MM, iso1000

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/sokolskij/96630​71170/
Fight, Fight, Fight by sokolskij, on Flickr

canalero wrote in post #16663391
Hello all,

I have a chance to buy a used Canon 100-400 L lens for about $850. I've never purchased a used lens so I'm a bit hesitant I looked at it and it looks good. Didn't see any dust or fungus in it and it looks well taken care of. The date code on it shows its an April 2005 version. Do you guys think it's a good idea to buy such an old lens? Any tips or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

$850 is a very good price. Second hand 100-400 usually run around $1150-$1250. Since the lens design has not changed, the date code is not all that important. Just make sure you get the tripod foot and the lens hood as well. Box and pouch are nice, but won't help you shooting....

I cannot imagine you will get any warranty - 30 day return maybe. Another option (more expensive) is to buy a refurbished lens from the Canon direct store. They cover 1 year warranty and are top notch quality.

BTW, IMHO the 100-400 beats the Sigmas (120-400,50-500, 150-500) hands down in image quality.

Cheers.

I had the Sigma 50-500 OS and I have the Canon 100-400. The Sigma does great when things are close (i.e. dragonfly photography with ext. tubes). However, I went back to Canon 100-400 due to IQ. I will say at the time I was using LR3 when I had the Sigma. When I updated RAW files with LR5, it did improve. The Canon is slightly better IMHO than Sigma. The Sigma sucked at 50 to 150 range. I wish I had for the reach for dragonfly photography though. The focus was much slower to me with the Sigma as well. Not an issue with macro as I used manual focus.

I also had the Sigma 1.4 extender and it was useless. IQ suffered greatly.

To keep on track with the thread:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/leehoy/91717579​08/

Thanks for the info and that is an amazing shot!
Sorry didn't mean to mess up the thread with my question guys, just thought it I'd ask here since it's about the Canon 100-400.

lhoy wrote in post #16664461
I had the Sigma 50-500 OS and I have the Canon 100-400. The Sigma does great when things are close (i.e. dragonfly photography with ext. tubes). However, I went back to Canon 100-400 due to IQ. I will say at the time I was using LR3 when I had the Sigma. When I updated RAW files with LR5, it did improve. The Canon is slightly better IMHO than Sigma. The Sigma sucked at 50 to 150 range. I wish I had for the reach for dragonfly photography though. The focus was much slower to me with the Sigma as well. Not an issue with macro as I used manual focus.

I also had the Sigma 1.4 extender and it was useless. IQ suffered greatly.

To keep on track with the thread:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/leehoy/91717579​08/
2012_09_22_186.jpg by Lee Hoy, on Flickr

Yeah that's all they'll give me is 30 days, I'm glad you mentioned that about the Sigmas. I prefer staying with Canon anyways.

RAW-Shooter wrote in post #16664412
$850 is a very good price. Second hand 100-400 usually run around $1150-$1250. Since the lens design has not changed, the date code is not all that important. Just make sure you get the tripod foot and the lens hood as well. Box and pouch are nice, but won't help you shooting....

I cannot imagine you will get any warranty - 30 day return maybe. Another option (more expensive) is to buy a refurbished lens from the Canon direct store. They cover 1 year warranty and are top notch quality.

BTW, IMHO the 100-400 beats the Sigmas (120-400,50-500, 150-500) hands down in image quality.

Cheers.

A couple of shots taken on a rented lens on a recent trip to Antarctica where it never left my side.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/gengen/11212999​103/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/gengen/11252108​003/

F5.6, 1/1600, 400ISO @400mm

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/sokolskij/12329​679124/

Hi,

Recently I purchased a used 100-400L that arrived on Monday. From the test pictures that I took at the Salisbury Beach MA on Tuesday here are some examples.

sawsedge wrote in post #16663956
Outstanding!

Scrumhalf wrote in post #16663969
I think duymy is taking this lens in new directions. Some of the best shots I've seen in this thread! Bravo!!

Thank you sawsedge and Scrumhalf!

Sunset