Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III coming ahead of Photokina [CR3]

Hector1970

CR Pro
Mar 22, 2012
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I find it strange Canon upgrades the 400 and 600? Is it related to Sony big whites and ensuring they won’t be surpassed?
The 600 especially it seems very early to update. It is too heavy but unless the optical formula has changed I’d wonder if lighter is also weaker..
By doing this they’ve devalued the II which is annoying but the gain in terms of quality can only be marginal.
If I was in the market to upgrade my 600 then lighter weight would be welcome but it would be a mad thing to do as the cost would never justify it. It will be lighter but still heavy.
 
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By doing this they’ve devalued the II which is annoying...

That will only be true if the III is priced similar to what the II was. When they released the II versions of the 500/600s (about 7 years ago), they were priced much higher than the previous IS versions, making them out of reach for many people, which had the effect of actually raising the value of used IS versions.
 
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I am going to speculate.
New Coating
2 ounces
and $4,000 more

Now to hope,
New Coating
2 pounds
2 more stops of IS
and it is the same price as the II

What's the current IS rating? 4 stops? 4.5? I don't know of any lenses produced by any manufacturer that claim more than 5 or maybe 5.5 stops of IS - unless someone can correct me? I think we're chasing diminishing returns on that front.
 
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ethanz

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Apr 12, 2016
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What's the current IS rating? 4 stops? 4.5? I don't know of any lenses produced by any manufacturer that claim more than 5 or maybe 5.5 stops of IS - unless someone can correct me? I think we're chasing diminishing returns on that front.

Good question Scyrene. According to TDP:
"The 600mm f/4L IS II's IS is rated at a best-available-at-review-time 4-stops of assistance (the 600 L IS I was rated for two stops). "The Image Stabilizer ... has been enhanced through the incorporation of a rolling-ball-friction system in place of sliding parts in the compensation optics barrel for a minimum-friction structure" [Canon USA]

Shooting outdoors with no wind and solid footing, I am able to get a reasonable percentage of sharp handheld results at between 1/25th and 1/15th of a second for an easy 4 stops (approaching 5 stops) of assistance."

So yes, it will be difficult to get much improvement in IS, maybe .5 or 1 stop better at most.
 
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What's the current IS rating? 4 stops? 4.5? I don't know of any lenses produced by any manufacturer that claim more than 5 or maybe 5.5 stops of IS - unless someone can correct me? I think we're chasing diminishing returns on that front.

It doubled last upgrade, how about a double this time.

It is an upgrade lens. What does it matter what other manufacturer's have released?
That is no indication of what new improvement may be released.
 
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I wonder how much lighter the new 600 can be. The DO prototype that lacked AF and IS weighted 3.2Kg.
The current 600 4L IS II weighs 3.9Kg...

There was no weight published for the 600 f/4 DO prototype and I wouldn't even believe that number if they did post it. The 600 f/4 DO would be a least 30% lighter than the regular version at worst. Sony can make a non DO 400 f/2.8 25% lighter than Canikon, if a DO lens couldn't be made lighter still I'll be a monkey's uncle. well under 3kg would be a given.
 
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Regarding weight, it could be possible to reduce it a little more, if Canon is able to do what they did from V1 to V2. (Again, thanks to TDP)

It's worth pointing out that a significant weight saving from version I to II was the removal of a non-optical front element - i.e. a big piece of glass that didn't affect the optical formula (see diagrams below). This can't be repeated, though they can of course shave a little off elsewhere (or go with a new optical formula, though I'd be surprised by that).
 

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It doubled last upgrade, how about a double this time.

It is an upgrade lens. What does it matter what other manufacturer's have released?
That is no indication of what new improvement may be released.

Erm, well it's generally a good idea to keep one's expectations within the realms of reality. You are familiar with the term 'diminishing returns'? "It doubled before, why can't it double again?" is the kind of question I'd expect a child to ask. You honestly think a lens with a minimum of 8 stops of IS is realistic at this time? Looking at other manufacturers (and other recent lenses from Canon) is a good guide to what is physically possible within the budget of these things.
 
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Erm, well it's generally a good idea to keep one's expectations within the realms of reality. You are familiar with the term 'diminishing returns'? "It doubled before, why can't it double again?" is the kind of question I'd expect a child to ask. You honestly think a lens with a minimum of 8 stops of IS is realistic at this time? Looking at other manufacturers (and other recent lenses from Canon) is a good guide to what is physically possible within the budget of these things.

A child might ask the question but you wouldn't have a decent answer. "Looking at other manufactures is a good guide to what is physically possible" is ridiculous.
 
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