EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III and EF 600mm f/4L IS III developers talk about the new super telephoto lenses

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Canon USA has published an interview with the developers of the brand new Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III and Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III super telephoto lenses, the lightest lenses of their kind in the world.
A lot more went on during the development than just weight reduction. New challenges lead to new materials, manufacturing processes and functionality.

Some of the design goals and challenges facing the developers:

Rather than simply making the lens lighter, we retooled the lens from the ground up for an overall balanced weight.
Improved mobility and portability, with reduced weight
A significant — not average — reduction in weight
We were convinced we could reach our goal thanks to the
proposal of a new optical system.
New challenges, one after the other, with tag-team efforts
between Optical Design, Mechanical Design...

Continue reading...
 
There was a topic here where we discussed the MTF curves betweeen the series two and three 400 and 600. Without resurrecting that topic what was the final feeling of the issue of potential optical quality between the series? It looked to me that absent a different methodology the newer series MTF is not quite where the series two MTF and presumably optical quality are.

The weight and balance are a totally different hand of cards winning hand.
 
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There was a topic here where we discussed the MTF curves betweeen the series two and three 400 and 600. Without resurrecting that topic what was the final feeling of the issue of potential optical quality between the series? It looked to me that absent a different methodology the newer series MTF is not quite where the series two MTF and presumably optical quality are.

The weight and balance are a totally different hand of cards winning hand.

Also the mkI was ridiculously sharp. It's the only lens I've used with a 2x TC and found the sharpness wide open excellent. Although the AF was less accurate with a 2x. The problem with the mk1 is the weight of the thing. I need to heaviest Video tripod to handle the lens adequately. It's no joke finding a tripod and fluid head that can handle a 12Kg + load effortlessly. But the images I get from it are exceptional. I'd like to try a mkIII purely for the weight reduction, but if the IQ is anything less than the mkI....what's the point?
 
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