Introduction

Canon is world-renowned for expertly crafting some of the finest 35mm and digital photography equipment – camera bodies, lenses and accessories. Canon’s EF line of lenses is their flagship line of camera optics. The Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5- 5.6L IS USM lens is the first EF lens with that focal length range and it offers high resolution, exceptionally strong contrast, neutral color balance, and is graced with Canon’s proprietary Image Stabilizer. In addition, this lens includes the longest focal length found in any Canon zoom lens – 400mm. Let’s take a look at the features this singular and impressive lens delivers:Features/Benefits

The Canon EF 100-400mm provides spectacular color reproduction along with a host of other eyebrow-raising features, let’s take a look:

Lens aperture shifts throughout the range of the first from f/4.5 to f/5, at around 130mm and then ratchets up to f/5.6 at 250mm all the way through to 400mm;

Light-weight rear focusing construction that utilizes a floating element for unswerving image quality at all focusing distances from 5.9′ to infinity;

Has 2 Image Stabilizer modes, one for stationary subjects, the other for when your subject is on the move. This makes it easy to capture far-off action or close-in portraits without camera shake;

Has a 24°to 6° Angle of View;

Is compatible with extenders 1.4x II and 2x II;

Full-time manual focus, one-touch zooming;

Fast and silent AutoFocus;

Ultra-low dispersion lens elements made of Fluorite and Super UD glass;

Has a tripod ring for easy mounting on a tripod;

Weighs in at 3 lbs (1.3kg).Customer Feedback

A lens that is fairly easy to use due to its wide grip and has a special ring that allows for the adjustment of zooming friction, and is therefore ideal for a wide variety of applications including nature, wildlife, sports, and documentary photography.

This long focal length coupled with its rock-solid image quality and incredible build quality make the 100-400 one of the most popular, serious wildlife and sports lenses Canon sells.

At 100mm, this f/4.5 lens is slow, but a 400mm f/5.6 is not too bad. It would cost you considerably more cash to buy a faster 400mm lens.

The slow aperture precludes the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5- 5.6L IS USM from being an ideal sports lens. The longer end of the focal length makes this a stalwart portrait lens with definite blurred focus background.

The range of great uses for this lens is endless, as it might just be the perfect Zoo lens, and it’s downright fantastic for safaris, too. It’s possibly the perfect stand-alone lens for air shows.

The most talked about “Con” with this lens is the weight; at 3 lbs, you’ll get fairly tired lugging this thing around after about 3 or 4 hours of exclusively shooting with this lens.