Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L IS Mentioned [CR1]

Canon Rumors Guy

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<p>It’s been a long time since anyone gave a mention to a replacement for the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L, one of Canon’s best optical performers. We were told a few years ago that Canon was going to be replacing all of the 400mm lenses in their lineup. The EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II was first and then the EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II, which caught us a bit by surprise. Soon after we got the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II, which is as highly regarded as we thought it would be. That leaves one of the best kept secrets in Canon’s lens lineup, the EF 400mm f/5.6L.</p>
<p>We’re now told that an IS version of this prime is in the works and if things go to plan, we’ll see it some time in 2016. Canon does recognize a need for such a lens, especially for birders who like the lower weight and price when compared to the faster primes and the zoom.</p>
<p>More to come…</p>
 
mackguyver said:
I gave up waiting on this lens, but I think I'd buy one in a heartbeat if they actually made it. The best thing about the 400 f/5.6 is that with its small size and weight you can almost always take it with you - I can't say the same with my 300 f/2.8 IS II.

Small size? Isn't it as large as a tamron 150-600?

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Lens-Product-Images.aspx?Lens=278&LensComp=0&LensComp2=929

I always thought the lens lookes like a 200mm with a 2x converter attached.
 
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It's definitely not though, the closest lens element is way down the barrel, maybe between 1/2 - 2/3 of the length away!

I totally get where Mackguyver's coming from; this thing's only as excessive to "lug around" as chucking a small flask of coffee in your bag... It's much slimmer and lighter than other >400mm lenses! Certainly a better tool than the lens left at home ;)
 
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StudentOfLight

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Any chance of this being an EF-S 400/5.6 IS?

EF-S will reduce the size, weight and cost, making it easier for Canon to compete on price against the Sigma and Tamron 150-600 offerings. The Sigma and Tamron perform admirably on full frame but on APS-C the IQ isn't really mind-blowing.

Look how the current 400/5.6 with 1.4xTC on APS-C fares against the Tamron at 600mm on full frame.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=929&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=5&API=2&LensComp=278&CameraComp=736&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=1&APIComp=0

The Tamron is better in the center of frame but the corners are unwhelming. The Sigma isn't way better than the Tamron either. So there's definitely a gap to aim at in terms of price and performance and with EF-S the lens will not be competing directly with the Canon's newer EF lens offerings.
 
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Don Haines

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StudentOfLight said:
Any chance of this being an EF-S 400/5.6 IS?

EF-S will reduce the size, weight and cost, making it easier for Canon to compete on price against the Sigma and Tamron 150-600 offerings. The Sigma and Tamron perform admirably on full frame but on APS-C the IQ isn't really mind-blowing.

Look how the current 400/5.6 with 1.4xTC on APS-C fares against the Tamron at 600mm on full frame.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=929&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=5&API=2&LensComp=278&CameraComp=736&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=1&APIComp=0

The Tamron is better in the center of frame but the corners are unwhelming. The Sigma isn't way better than the Tamron either. So there's definitely a gap to aim at in terms of price and performance and with EF-S the lens will not be competing directly with the Canon's newer EF lens offerings.

Making a 400mm EF-S lens would only be a small fraction smaller and lighter than an EF version, and despite having a crop body, I would not touch it. At least for me, far better to have a lens that can be used on both crop and FF bodies....
 
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I don't see any point in making this lens. A new EF 400/5,6L IS will get about the same price as the new and very sharp EF 100-400/4,5-5,6L IS II. It will maybe be a bit lighter, but not by much.

Canon should instead make a EF 500/5,6 IS. This will be a great lens for bird shooters, much better than a 400mm which is a bit too short, especially for smaller birds.
Even better would be a DO version: after Nikon launched their new and very compact AF-S 300/4 PF VR I think we will see many new DO lenses also from Canon to a much lower price in the coming years.
 
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Feb 8, 2013
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First off: QUIT TEASING US IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!

Unless we get a CR3 with pictures of a press release showing a 400f5.6IS, or maybe ten different CR2 references, I will not believe it.


fabioduarte said:
I doubt there will be an upgrade until Nikon launches its own 400mm f/5.6.

Ha! And that's even less likely that Canon making a second one.

The deal is that the 400f5.6, as-is, nearly performs as well as all the V1 Big Whites. That seriously devalues a lot of hardware. They made V2 Big Whites to rectify that, but from an amature's perspective the main thing missing is still just IS, the competition for IQ is still close enough.
Even without adding IS, look at the 100-400MkII VS the 400f5.6 when both have a 2XTC, the zoom still sucks. Make that prime lens perform any better and you're encroaching on the Big White market again...
Which would actually make this:

StudentOfLight said:
Any chance of this being an EF-S 400/5.6 IS?

Make sense.
An EF-S 400f5.6 being completely incompatible with 90% of their high end bodies (and all TC's) means it would have almost no affect on Big White sales, but would give us crop shooting amatures a break.
(Note, size and weight of lenses doesn't change with sensor size, they just get to be sloppy with corner performance is all, which I would still prefer that they not do so we can have a nice even frame and 0 vignetting on crop. Given the unusual amount of distortion at 400mm I almost think the 100-400MkII actually was designed with crop in mind as much or more than full frame).
We know Canon loves artificially limiting their products for a given market, this makes the most sense to me, the next most likely event would be them adding IS without making any changes to the lens design (taking a page out of the Nikon playbook).

In any case, I just got some pretty decent shots of a moose at 1/350sec handheld (as slow as you would want to go for anything moving, and yes gopher shooting practice helps), which makes me wonder if IS isn't just an excuse to be lazy more than anything. Then considering the new 400DO, I'm betting that we've got everything we're going to get.
I'll have the 100-400MkII by the end of the year if only because of the excellent Maximum Magnification, IS will be nice for the flowers (low movement landscape shots), and it does perform better at f5.6 than the old prime (which is best at f8) so it is an upgrade when used bare.
That lens was basically made with me in mind and I would be a fool to pass it up.
 
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