Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Mar 25, 2011
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

I decided I was going to try close focusing, so I trained the lens on a Christmas Catcus on our kitchen table about 3 ft away. Even with the 5 light bulbs immediately above it, the ISO at f/8 and 1/320 sec was 6400. Then, when I put the 1.4X TC on, I was at 12800 - 25600, far too much noise to see the delicate structure of the flower.

So, I backed the shutter speed down to 1/100 and f/8 which gave me a 6400 ISO, more than I wanted. My flash was out in my studio, so I just went with that. I do sharpen and adjust images to my taste.

I remembered that I have a tiny flash for my G1X II, so I'll try it next.

This is a moderate crop. Even at mfd, AF seems fast. I used AF and it seems quite accurate at MFD and with the TC. That's nice.

mfd%20photos-7827-XL.jpg
 
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

For what it's worth, I'm incredibly happy with the new version. I used the Mark I heavily since 2001 and this is a sizable upgrade. I could see a quality improvement on the LCD.

At times the IS is absolutely amazing. The image I attached here was shot at 400mm, handheld at 1/40. This is a 100% crop from a 1D Mark IV. You can see the full image here:

http://livingwilderness.photoshelter.com/image/I0000Kbwo9Xyw6r8

I have been able to get images that are sharp enough to publish at shutter speeds as slow as 1/6 at 250mm. Not every one of those frames was a winner, but about a third were sharp, which is pretty stunning. The IS isn't as effective when the lens is tilted up or down, but it's still better.

The zoom mechanism hasn't drifted on me. It's easy to zoom, yet it stays put.

My biggest annoyance is that the zoom and focus rings are reversed from their position on the 70-200. This has tripped me up a number of times and is very frustrating.
 

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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

Mt Spokane Photography said:
bricat said:
I would be interested to know if you think the packaging would endure a trip to the other side. (Aussie) I have mine ordered via a third party and wondered if it needed re-packing cheers brian

The Canon packaging is surpurb, multiple layers of protection, it can withstand lots of dropping. This is the best packaging I've seen for something in this class.

Adorama also surrounded it with air bags, so it was in pretty good shape.

I did take it out this morning into the cold frosty air and took a few shots to try to see if there was front or back focusing. It looked pretty good, I'd guess that its front focusing a very tiny amount, not enough to fool with right now.

This is a photo from about 40 ft at 400mm, full frame, and then crop. There was no wild life this morning, but my neighbor's dog was herding his horses. There is some motion blurring, that dog was moving fast, and 1/500 was too slow. The white horse in the background is almost 1/2 mile away.

first%20test%20photos-7809-XL.jpg




first%20test%20photos-7809-2-XL.jpg



The banner was 40 ft away and moving in the breeze, but 1/500 was plenty fast to freeze it. The depth of field was shallow, so there are some oof areas where the flag is not flat. Adjusting the focus a couple of steps back might prevent that. I was surprised to see the individual threads.

first%20test%20photos-7814-XL.jpg



first%20test%20photos-7814-2-XL.jpg

Very impressive. I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting for mine to arrive. Hopefully tomorrow.
 
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

Hi,
Mt Spokane Photography said:
The lens has a locking (friction) ring that locks it at any focal length. If it is not tightened before pointing up or down, the lens may tend to creep. mine is new and still stiff, but after it gets worn in, I'd expect that it would need the friction.
Can lock at any focal length... good... this is one feature that I want to confirm before consider this lens.

Have a nice day.
 
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Al Chemist

Be kind to a stranger, it is contagious!
Nov 23, 2014
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

Hello Everyone, I am quite new to CR and have only posted a couple of times. I really appreciate all of you sharing your knowledge so freely...thank you very much!

I received my 100-400 V2 yesterday and have been testing it out and comparing the images to those taken with my 100-400 V1 which I sold a couple of weeks ago for too little money...yetch. The new lens, at least to me, is significantly better in all respects. I am really pleased with it.

Here are a couple of handheld close handheld shots (not great but it is winter with yucky light), the maple seeds are at f5.6 and the dry spirea is at f8 both at 400mm close to MFD.

I downloaded Canon DPP4 and processed the maple seed raw image to add lens corrections and then touched it up in Photoshop Camera Raw which I am more comfortable with using. The original jpg just from photoshop was not as good as doing it this way at least to my three quarter of a century eyes.

Again, thanks for all your great posts...even at my age, I am learning a lot!
 

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Besisika

How can you stand out, if you do like evrybdy else
Mar 25, 2014
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

balvert said:
Thanks everyone. So far I am pleased with the results everyone has obtained with this new lens. Mine is due for delivery today. Looking forward to putting it through its paces over the next few days.
Agree!
Great thanks to all who has posted and commented on it. So far, I like what I am seeing. Will wait until January before pulling the trigger.
 
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

weixing said:
Can lock at any focal length... good... this is one feature that I want to confirm before consider this lens.

Mine does not lock per se. You can use the friction ring to tighten the zoom ring, but even when it's at its tightest setting, I can still turn it.

That said, the lens appears to lock automatically 400. Even at the loosest friction setting, mine doesn't budge at 400, even when I'm pointing it straight up. It seems much more loose between 100 and about 250mm, though if you tighten the friction ring, it will stay in place. It just isn't a true lock.
 
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

Click said:
The full image is a lovely shot, seanature. Great first post, welcome to CR. :)

Thanks Click & Ryan85!

A few more thoughts:
There is much less fringing with the mark II, especially when paired with the 1.4 teleconverter. Mid-tone contrast also seems better, especially toward the corners.

I did some side-by-side testing of the IS in the mark I and mark II, and the mark II seems at least two stops better. I did one extreme test where I photographed a scene at 250mm, firing off a burst of 6 frames with each lens at 1/6 of a second. With the Mark II, two frames were sharp enough to publish straight out of the camera. Another could probably be salvaged fairly easily with the Photoshop shake reduction feature. The other three were soft. With the Mark I, every frame was impressionistic.

It was a ridiculous test, but I frequently used my original 100-400 from boats and kayaks and wanted to see what I could get away with.

I hope that helps.
 
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Besisika

How can you stand out, if you do like evrybdy else
Mar 25, 2014
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215
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

seanature said:
It was a ridiculous test, but I frequently used my original 100-400 from boats and kayaks and wanted to see what I could get away with.

I hope that helps.
Maybe ridiculous test for others, but not for me.
Actually, I am wondering if you could repeat similar test for 1/20 and 1/30th sec and see how much keepers you have.
I do alot of low light panning and thinking about using this lens for that purpose once have the fund for it in January.
Thanks in advance.
 
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

Besisika said:
Maybe ridiculous test for others, but not for me.
Actually, I am wondering if you could repeat similar test for 1/20 and 1/30th sec and see how much keepers you have.
I do alot of low light panning and thinking about using this lens for that purpose once have the fund for it in January.
Thanks in advance.

There are a lot of variables with this lens, so it's hard to provide you with really useful, scientific findings. If you're using the lens at 200mm or shorter, then I think the IS is good enough to get sharp images about half the time. The success rate will be a little higher at 1/30 and fairly reliable at 1/60.

At 400mm, I think getting a sharp image at 1/20 or 1/30 is going to be a pure stroke of luck.

Technique plays a huge part of this as well. At 260mm, the slowest I've been able to shoot and get a sharp image is 1/5, but the lens was perfectly horizontal, braced well against my body, and I was holding my breath and shooting between heartbeats.

I've tried using the IS to shoot at an angle and the reliability falls off dramatically, which I'm sure is because I'm not able to brace it as well.

I know the IS is rated for four stops. I think you can count on three and can get four or a little more with exceptional technique.
 
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Besisika

How can you stand out, if you do like evrybdy else
Mar 25, 2014
779
215
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

seanature said:
The success rate will be a little higher at 1/30 and fairly reliable at 1/60.
At 400mm, I think getting a sharp image at 1/20 or 1/30 is going to be a pure stroke of luck.
Below is an example of how I inted to use it for. This was shot at 1/80s, 600mm (300mm f4+2x) on a monopod, but it is a bit soft, hence my hope to get a better result using 1.4TC with this new lens.
Usually, I start around 1/100s and as I get more keepers I go slower and slower ending at 1/30s.
Handheld at 1/60s would be a dream for me, but if keeper is too low I would put a monopod. 10% is acceptable.
The most important criteria at this time is sharpness.
Anyway, decision is made; I will get one. Thanks for the input.
 

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Mar 25, 2011
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

Finally, the sun popped thru this morning, so I went out to take some photos of The TV Tower on Mount Spokane 7.5 miles away. I had previously taken some with my MK I lens and Canon TC MK II's.

This time, I just snapped them hand held, using phase detect AF with no AFMA. That's a bit unfair, since the first version was done with live view and manual focus at 10X. I may update them when I have more time.

Here are my older shots with the MK I lens: I had a 1D MK III for this, so the image is smaller.

400mm%20%20%201.4X-2600-L.jpg




Crop of MK I with 1.4X

100-400mm%20%2B1.4X-L.jpg








Here is the MK II lens 560mm equiv, 1/1000 sec, f/10 effective aperture, ISO 400 on my 5D Mark III. Its a different camera, but it did well. 7.5 miles is a lot of air to distort the image. Years later, the trees have grown a lot, so I had to move to a different angle to take the shot.

Original:
with%201.4%20III%20TC-2-XL.jpg


Cropped and sharpness tweaked:

with%201.4%20III%20TC-1-XL.jpg
 
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Re: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L Mark II

One of my early images with the new 100-400 on my 5D III. Lot's more where it came from but wanted to share at least one.

This Red-tailed Hawk was on a fresh kill and allowed me to get to within about 30 feet of it without showing any agitation. This is still close to a 100% crop. I framed the original image to include some environment as well as it's meal of Eastern Grey Squirrel.

ISO800, f/5.6, 1/250 shutter speed, 271mm.....

2014-12-22_0009_P2.jpg


Thanks for looking.

:D
 
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