Review on Canon 100 400Mm 4 5 5 6L USM International by Dorota Sawa ᠌

Name: Canon 100 400Mm 4 5 5 6L USM International
Item: Canon 100 400Mm 4 5 5 6L USM International
Rating: 5

July 04, 2023

The quality exceeds all expectations, I recommend to buy.

I have something tocompare with - I used the first version of this lens for 10 years. I really liked it, althoughcompared to the second version, the picture was more blurred, the bokeh was more "torn".
The first version of the lens is very vacuum (due to the "pump" design). For 10 years,comllected enough dust. As a result, the sharpness has fallen even further. I can’t say anything about the dust resistance of the new lens yet - I’ve only been using it for six months.
The sharpness of the new lens is excellent, its reserve is enough to use the x1.4comnverter, although autofocus becomes slow and not very accurate (with sealedcomntacts on 7D).
I was struck by the work of the new stabilizer and the minimum focusing distance - 0.98m (and, as I understand it, this is the distance from the camera's matrix, from the front lens - 60-70 cm, why not a telemacro lens! )
The new lens eliminates the "ghosting" of a small moving subject in backlitcomnditions and the appearance of outlining that was sometimes present on the old version. (I sinned on the installed protective filter, but now I use it on a new lens, so it turned out to be nothing to do with it).
In general, the new lens is at least an order of magnitude, or even two, better than the first version.
I strongly recommend.
Photo samples can be viewed at the link: 

Pros

Excellent sharpness over the entire image field (I haven’t tried it on crop, ff), excellent colors and picture quality, good bokeh, 3-mode stabilizer - beyond praise - really, if you really need it, static objects can be shot handheld at shutter speeds of 1\\ 10-1 \ 5 sec at maximum focal length, there would be at least some small support. The minimum focusing distance is 0.98m, the focusing range is adjustable from 3 meters to infinity (on the first version - from 6.5 meters). Build quality, relatively small weight and dimensions for such focal lengths.

Cons

On the first version of this lens, the lens hood was stiffer, on the second version it was more flimsy, and the window for filter rotation sometimes opens involuntarily. Sometimes it is difficult to focus on a small object (a bird) against the sky with an extended focus point or zone focusing (7D camera). With a point - everything is fast. Maybe I'm nitpicking. Price I'll add a drop of tar to a barrel of honey: I have been using this lens for almost 2 years now: - it really "vacuums" a little - there are a couple of dust particles under the front lens. The first version was much worse in this regard. It may be an incorrect comparison, but my Sigma 17-50 / 2.8 did not pick up a single speck of dust for 7 years in rather harsh conditions of shooting in dust. - one interesting detail: the manual focus ring is located in the place where it is most convenient to hold the lens, and if you forget about this during burst shooting with autofocus, you can knock off autofocus by accidentally turning the ring even a little. On the first version of the lens, the manual focus ring was very far away, especially at maximum focal length. This is not a negative, just something to keep in mind. In general, I leave a rating of 5