![600f4lisiibig 728x462 - Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III coming ahead of Photokina [CR3]](https://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/600f4lisiibig-728x462.jpg "Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III coming ahead of Photokina [CR3]")
We can confirm that the second “Big White Lens” coming ahead of Photokina will be the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III. This will come along with the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III that we reported on last week.
We're upgrading the rumor rating on the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III to [CR3]
We can only speculate what the upgrades for the new lenses will be, but we're pretty sure weight reduction will be a big part of the equation, since these are the heaviest of the four most popular supertelephoto primes in Canon's lineup.
There's no word on whether or not the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II or the EF Canon 500mm f/4L IS II will receive updates soon after.
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Maybe, it is an III lens with an DO element inside, so the naming could have been kept. Just for keeping the name, as an synonyme for exceptional optical quality
Maybe Canon would worry that "DO" would have a negative connotation, so with this being their top-of-the-line L supertelephotos, they'll just put it as a mark III.
An DO version would have been fine. Just look at the DO protoype at Photokina two years ago. Carrying an 600mm lens with attached body in an not xxl backpack...
Maybe an weight reduction of this lens is "most wanted" by nature photographers, so there is an higher pressure to redesign it and not the other lenses like the 300 or 500mm
I'm not sure how far Canon's Diffractive Optic manufacturing technology has come, but from everything I've heard DO elements are extremely difficult to make. The difficulty just becomes more pronounced with larger elements, and 600mm F/4 would have DO elements more than twice the size of a 400mm f/4. Just going on aperture values for the element sizes (they'd obviously be larger since they're positioned at the front of the lens): 400mm f/4 equals 100mm aperture diameter means 3.1459(50mm^2) = 7,853mm sq; 600mm f/4 equals 150mm aperture diameter means 3.14159(75mm^2) = 17,671mm sq.
Since the 400mm f/4 DO IS II already costs about $7k, I'd imagine a 600mm f/4 DO would be so expensive even most career wildlife photographers would find it difficult to purchase.
The only thing about that theory is that it would take huge guts for Canon to say a DO version is the true successor to the MKII. DO optics get heavily scrutinized, particularly in the area of bokeh quality. I'm a 400 DO II user myself so I know what I'm in for when/if a 600 DO comes to market, but I'm sure a few purists out there would be kicking and screaming if a DO lens fully replaced the more traditional design. Now personally I think it makes a lot of sense, but Canon isn't exactly known for being bold.
If I sell my 400mm II lens right now, how long will I have to wait before being able to purchase and have the new version in hand?
I've already sent one of my current 400mm II lenses in for free Platinum cleaning and checking, and even paid them $248 extra to do do everything needed to put it in as close to like new condition as possible, in preparation for selling it and moving to the new version. I want to sell mine ASAP so someone else can get the most use out of it, but I don't want to have to wait more than a couple of weeks while relying only on my backup 400mm II lens. If something goes wrong or anything happens to my backup lens...
Thank you for any info you can provide about the actual expected shipping date for the 400mm 2.8 III lens.
This is just a rumor. So please do not make a selling or buying decision based on this. Canon may or may not announce these lenses.
Does it make sense to upgrade all this glass right before launching a new MILC FF mount? I think it does not. Therefore, my intuition is that the new MILC FF Canon camera will use the EF mount, or some variation of it that may be full compatible with existing EF lenses. But what about the flange distance and focus motor differences required by a MILC camera. Well, maybe these lenses have some hidden upgrade in the focus actuation and/or hardware/firmware that make them more suitable to MILC cameras. In this case, the recent “upgrade” on the 70-200 f2,8 III which apparently didn’t upgrade much, could actually be a “stealth” upgrade, already including internal features that are only going to become relevant once the new MILC FF camera is announced/released...