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This high-performance lens was designed with portability and handling ease in mind. One super UD-glass element, whose characteristics are similar to fluorite, and one UD-glass element result in sharp pictures from corner-to-corner. The lens also has a built-in hood and a detachable tripod mount.
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Technical Details
- EF mount; super telephoto lens- Fluorite and Ultra-low Dispersion-glass; internal focusing; full-time manual focus
- 400mm focal length
- f/5.6 maximum aperture
- Micro UltraSonic Motor (USM)
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By Nachtpfauenauge (Mainhattan)
I use this lens for wildlife photography, in particular to shoot flying birds. I prefer prime lenses as I want tack sharp images to get with my EOS 50D the full tele extension of its smaller crop sensor. I was really thinking about saving a lot of my Euro cents for one of Canons super teles. But besides their enourmos price level (I am still an amateur!) I hated the idea to carry such a big & heavy lens in the wilderness, plus being completely fixed on using a tripod. Many of my best photos I catched with a handheld shot. After some research on the internet I came across this "forgotten" tele lens in Canon's portfolio, and some nice picture examples of wildlife photographers immediatly convinced me that I may have found what I am looking for. And I was right!
The EF 400 mm f/5.6 USM is Canon's most aged tele lens that is still in brandnew copies available (since 1993). It has only a small aperture of 5.6 and no image stabilization. So on paper it does not look sexy - but it did to me! With a weight of only 1250 g (44.1 oz) and a length of 257 mm (77 mm filters) it feels extremely well balanced in the hand with the 50D: take a handy bottle of water, add in your mind a camera body to it and you get a first idea of how it handles. In particular it's image quality turned out to be very good: I can use it fully open (f/5.6) and get already very sharp pictures. In terms of picture angle you get with Canon's crop sensors theoretically a veeeery long 640 mm tele. In reality, as it is so sharp, you get about this tele reach when there is enough daylight available - great! Finally, it's Bokeh is very nice - it's a real "L" lens!
Another big plus is its extremely quick, responsive and surprisingly precise USM autofocus drive that allows full time manual focusing: if you switch the drive to a long distance mode (8 m closest distance) you get focus hunting quite well under control even if the background is vivid (at least with the 50D). This is much more an issue with the smaller brother Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras that I use very often, too.
As I shoot mostly sort of action with it and therefore need quick shutter speeds, I do not really miss image stabilization. It helps to get a quiter picture in the optical viewfinder, but the difference is not too much compared with the 300 mm with IS. You need of course to train a bit before you get successful handheld shots of, say, a flying bird, since your angle of view is quite narrow. But you can learn it successfully! Now I shoot with it and the 50D in combo more sharp action tele photos as with the 300 mm f/4.0L IS USM.
Mechanically, this lens is built like a tank. It has a nice retractable "push & screw" lens hood that protects the front lens well (so you do not need a light consuming protection filter). It's precise and very sensitive mechanical focus ring is a pleasure to use. In fact it has a double focus ring with two diameter sizes so even women with smaller hands than me (average male hand size I'd say :-) ) should be happy with this tele lens.
Overall it's price-performance ratio is super! I can highly recommend it to anyone who can get used to prime lenses instead of zooms.
Another pluses: since this lens does not look as impressive as Canon's big super tele lenses you get not bothered with "expert talks" by freaks when you want to shoot, not to talk. And: it does not radiate so much the "I am expensive please steal me" appeal... that's relaxing if you travel with it around.
Comparison with the EF 300 mm f/4.0L IS USM:
I use both lenses very often. They look like brothers and have both retractable lens hoods. The 300 mm is shorter and more sturdy as it's IS drive requires more space. But their characters are very different! With a closest distance of only 3.5 m and a small maximum magnification of 0.12x the 400 mm is a true tele lens (with a crop cam you can of course fill the picture easily with a bird, no worry). The 300 mm allows 1.5 m approach and then an maximum magnification of 0.24x - so it's a really great "distance macro". And at close distance it turns out that its IS is extremely useful, like a built-in tripod. As the 300 mm combines both decent macro and tele capabilities it turned out to be my standard lens in nature. The 400 mm serves me perfectly if I only need as much tele as possible. Both lenses make less than 2.5 kg in the gear so you really can carry both plus one ore two camera bodys and a few smaller lenses - even in a very rough environment when you need mobility.
By Ronald C. Pacanowski (Yardley, PA)
I thought about buying the Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L lens for about one year and read most of the reviews during that time before taking the plunge and buying it. Reviews of this lens are generally very favorable except for the occasional bad copy. The lens arrived well before the expected date. I tested it against my Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens which is tack sharp. Both lenses were tripod mounted for the test and focused on an object 37 feet away under natural lighting in my house. Exposures were at F5.6 and F8 with mirror lock up and a remote switch on a Canon 40D. I noted that the lens also had a very fast auto focus even under relatively low light(exposures were 1/25sec). From the reviews, I expected the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens to perform well. But this lens exceeded my expectations. Pictures from my copy are as sharp as those from the macro lens. Next, I added a Canon 1.4x extender to the EF 400mm f/5.6L lens and let the camera and lens equilibrate to the outside temperature (40F) for 45min. Then I took a picture of the moon with a remote switch and 10x magnification on live view to manually focus. The pictures were shockingly crisp. Again, this lens exceeded my expectation. I have not tried this lens on wildlife yet. But I fully expect that this lens will produce stunning photos with hand holding when the exposure is 1/1000 sec or faster.
By RDSpock (Harrisonville, MO United States)
I will add a few comments to the excellent reviews and information I have found here. The 400mm lens by Canon is not the newest lens or the biggest but for my use, it has proved to be a fine addition to my zoom lenses on my Canon Rebel XSi. I use this lens for bird and wildlife photographs. I can not add much in terms of technical information, but I can share some things to get good results.
You must be very aware of your light source. Good light is critial to good, detailed photos with this lens. If your subject is in shade or shadow, the picture may be improved with computer manipulation, but in full light the 400mm will give you outstanding detail. You will also need to use your feet to get the shot framed properly. You need to physicaly move, rather than zoom in or out, to the get the composition you desire. True, you will crop photos later to get the right "look" but closer is still usually better. When I photograph birds flying overhead, the detail is quite good even when a 50% crop is used. I have set the ISO to 400 to help with blur as my subjects often do not pose as I might like. The use of a monopod has been helpful to give support and still be somewhat portable. Most of my shots are hand held and for the most part have been in focus. However, if there is a tree or post to lean against, don't pass it up! I carried this lens on a 2.5 mile hike and I thought my arms were about to fall off so you might want to invest in a backpack to carry this lens and your other equipment.
The 400mm is a prime lens, no moving parts and built for hard use. This is the "baby" of the Canon super telephoto series (and the least expensive, but not cheap) and, in my opinion, a fine lens for nature photographs.
By Eric C. Reuter (Southern New Jersey Shore)
I've used this lens now exclusively for nature photography, primarily birds. Especially birds in flight. The shots I get with this lens (paired with an EOS 50D) elicit comments from other photographers with words like "incredible", "that sharp as hell lens you have..", "amazing detail!". I've taken probably 100,000 photos with this lens out in the field in the 15 months I've owned it. You cannot go wrong with the lens. The auto-focus is extraordinarily fast, and when you switch it from 3.5m-infinity to 8.5m to infinity, the speed is almost instantaneous for shots at a distance. It also seems to eliminate "hunting" for focus if you miss your target initially. Just remember to switch it back to 3.5m-infinity for closer shots! Bird photography is extremely demanding and difficult. This lens gives me the ability to walk and carry a long lens with great "reach" pretty much anywhere. Like others who have reviewed this lens mention, I never stop it down from wide open. It's sharp to the edges, and there's not a hint of chromatic bleeding or halos anywhere. In good light, I can use very high shutter speeds while keeping ISO values low, enabling high detail and great stop motion capture shots of birds in flight. This is THE lens for hand-held bird and nature photography. Buy it. Don't even think about it.
By Bat Man (Tennessee USA)
The lens is great and quick focus and IS ability of camera make pictures very sharp. Even distant subjects can be cropped and are still sharp. Excellent lens for animal photography, and setting lens at 5.6 makes for faster shutter speeds to stop action. Raising ISO also helps, but in bright light not needed as much. My only problem with this lens in my first two weeks of use was taking it to Florida to some boardwalks, and some birds and alligators were so close to the boardwalk that I couldn't get the whole subject in the frame, sometimes not taking the shot, although sometimes this made for great portraits. Normally the subjects are not going to be this close, and in most instances I was able to back up enough to take the photo. I'll sacrifice the pound of weight to be too close sometimes.
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Buy Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras Now
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