Proudly removing my EF 400mm f/5.6L from my inventory!

[scottkinfw]

A young man I've been mentoring bought my 70D and kit lens a while back. Well, yesterday he called me and said he'd saved up the money to buy my 400mm f/5.6L.

It is a great lens, but not one I cannot do without since I can put my Canon EF 2X III on the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II when I need 400 mm. After AFMA I get solid photos with the extender and lens.

Josh will be heading to Alaska to work fish processing and may stay there. I think the 400MM will serve him well there.

I'm doing mostly portrait work now (hobby) and the 400mm rarely gets used. I think if I buy a long lens again I'll save my pennies for a 600 f/4L and skip 400mm altogether.

Josh is a good kid, but comes from a very troubled family. I wish him well and have been happy to watch him learn that he doesn't have to take the road the rest of his family has taken. He just turned 18 this past month and has decided to take the high road.

You could say that photography has saved a young man from an otherwise bleak future. That is such a good thing for boys like him.

Let's keep shooting and if we can pass on the glory of this great field, hobby or pro, to the young of this world.

Way to pay it forward. Good job. Alaska is a great place to have great kit.

sek

 

[NancyP]

It is nice to see a lens get a good home.

 

[applecider]

Good for you hopefully josh will get some great Alaskan images.

For your future I'd suggest the 600 ii over the 400 ii, as I find the 600 hand hold able and able to track BIF at least for short times while the 400 ii is just a little too heavy. If you are buff maybe that's not a worry.

The 100-400ii was just too good a deal for me to resist at 1599$ so I picked it up. I find it very handle able and with great image quality. With the 1 dx and 1.4 ext the hit to focus points for bif becomes noticeable and the f8 largest and need to maintain shutter speed pushes iso to 4000-6400 or more, so dawn and dusk shooting less viable than with a f 4 lens. It is used at maximum length for at least 80% of my shots.

Your needs, strengths may vary.

 

[Ozarker]

Good for you hopefully josh will get some great Alaskan images.

For your future I'd suggest the 600 ii over the 400 ii, as I find the 600 hand hold able and able to track BIF at least for short times while the 400 ii is just a little too heavy. If you are buff maybe that's not a worry.

The 100-400ii was just too good a deal for me to resist at 1599$ so I picked it up. I find it very handle able and with great image quality. With the 1 dx and 1.4 ext the hit to focus points for bif becomes noticeable and the f8 largest and need to maintain shutter speed pushes iso to 4000-6400 or more, so dawn and dusk shooting less viable than with a f 4 lens. It is used at maximum length for at least 80% of my shots.

Your needs, strengths may vary.

I didn't realize the 600 is lighter than the 400. Mostly I considered the 600mm over the 400mm because there is no way I would ever get both... so go long.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

Good for you hopefully josh will get some great Alaskan images.

For your future I'd suggest the 600 ii over the 400 ii, as I find the 600 hand hold able and able to track BIF at least for short times while the 400 ii is just a little too heavy. If you are buff maybe that's not a worry.

The 100-400ii was just too good a deal for me to resist at 1599$ so I picked it up. I find it very handle able and with great image quality. With the 1 dx and 1.4 ext the hit to focus points for bif becomes noticeable and the f8 largest and need to maintain shutter speed pushes iso to 4000-6400 or more, so dawn and dusk shooting less viable than with a f 4 lens. It is used at maximum length for at least 80% of my shots.

Your needs, strengths may vary.

I didn't realize the 600 is lighter than the 400. Mostly I considered the 600mm over the 400mm because there is no way I would ever get both... so go long.

There's no right or wrong choice with the 400 II and the 600 II....just preferences and choices. They are both amazing optics and they both overlap a lot of abilities. The 400 II naturally gains that extra stop wide open. But pop a 1.4x TC on it and it's optics are very close to the native 600. Likewise with a 2x and the 600 with a 1.4x. Where the 600 II shines is it's extra native reach and that with a 2x you gain a further reach than you can realistically with the 400 II and converters. Both are amazing lenses. I've covered birds with my 400 f2.8 LIS and 1.4x along side 500 II and 600II users...and the results were very very close.