Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

I purchased this lens primarily for hand-held bird photography for use on my Canon 40D DSLR. The lens is typical of Canon's L-series "white" family of professional level telephoto lenses, having very high standards of construction and superb optical performance, even with a 1.4X teleconverter, when conditions allow. This lens is known as the "overlooked" Canon telephoto, since it does not garner the glamor of its cousins, the really long, heavy, faster, and vastly more costly professional telephoto lenses. It is also known as the "toy lens" by bird photographers who mostly use those really Big Berthas for long-distance close-ups with blurred-out backgrounds. I selected it for the high image quality wide-open, relatively light weight, and shorter physical length, allowing both hand-held and tripod mounted use, as well as its modest cost (compared to all high quality alternatives). The image quality is extremely high, even wide open at f/5.6, although it does improve slightly stopped down a notch or two. The image contrast, flare resistance, and color saturation are also excellent for a telephoto lens of its "older" fixed focal length optical design. It doesn't have image stabilization (IS), which maintains the reasonable price, but I don't consider that much of a handicap using Canon's DSLR's, which allow low-noise high ISO settings for higher shutter speeds under decent lighting conditions. Braced against a tree, fence post, etc., and especially in a sitting position with arms resting on knees, for example, the lack of IS is simply not an issue. The focus is extremely fast and accurate with the 40D's sensitive all X-type focus points, and the quickly removable tripod mount is of an excellent design that all tripod mounts should have. As a bonus, on the 40D, the lens has the equivalent field of view of a 640mm f/5.6 telephoto lens! When a high quality teleconverter can be used, this becomes almost a 900mm f/8 telephoto (actually 896mm)! Not to exaggerate the point too much, but that's starting to get into the Big Bertha focal length range, under the right lighting conditions. Other pluses include the handy built-in sliding lens hood and the very high quality included lens case, which are extra cost items for Canon's non-L lenses. The 400mm and 500mm zooms all seem to suffer from image softness at their maximum focal lengths, which I would be using 90% of the time anyway, so I elected to simply get the highest quality fixed 400mm I could find for a reasonable price. I also decided that I could live with 1 f-stop less than the much more expensive f/4's, since this lens can be shot wide-open at the same high quality as the f/4's stopped down - thus resulting in f/5.6 anyway. This reasoning is even more appropriate when including the slightly less expensive, still high-quality, third party lenses, such as Tamron, Tokina, Sigma, etc. I reasoned that since I plan to use this lens for the rest of my life, why compromise in image quality for a few percent lower initial cost? I'm not slamming third party lenses in general by any means (I own a few), just in this case of comparing available alternatives (including other Canon's) to the selection of this particular Canon 400mm and its intended use. I was blessed with several excellent bald eagle shots on what I had expected to be just an initial "practice with the new lens" outing. Because of this excellent lens, it turned out to be a very productive shoot. I would include a thumbnail photo of one of these shots, except I can't seem to be able to "paste" a small image into Amazon's review window. For one that is willing to accept and operate within the parameters of this lens, that photographer will be handsomely rewarded by Canon's 400mm f/5.6L telephoto lens. In my case, it is exactly what I was looking for and it is exceeding all my expectations.

People often ask how I get such great wildlife shots. I credit this lens. It is an awesome performer on bright sunny days. The ultrasonic motor is quiet and does not spook wildlife. I do not have a use for a lens this large indoors so I cannot comment on indoor performance. I shot a few test shots in a well lit room and was happy with the results. It should perform well in well lit stadium/arenas. Where this lens shines is outside on bright sunny days. I have taken hand held shots of red tailed hawks flying overhead. I'm guessing they were at least 1/4 to 1/2 a mile above me. I had to crop the photos quite a bit to achieve frame fill. I could see details that I never expected to see like notril openings. This lens does have some weight to it (it's all metal/glass) but I can hike with it handheld. If you think the weight may be an issue a monopod should be considered. For a few hundred more you can add the 1.4 II teleconverter which gives you 560mm @ f8 and it is considerably lighter and easier to carry than the 500mm. For me this is the perfect lens. I like to hike long distances and don't like to use a tripod. I have a friend that has the 500mm L and he is going to buy this one just because it is much more mobile. I considered several others like the 100-400L the Sigma 150-500 and the Sigma 50-500. Since IS wasn't a factor for me and I didn't really need another zoom lens this was the clear choice. Quality of construction is a given with L series lenses. This is a professional grade lens that will hold its own for quality of images of any other lens at this pricepoint. They also hold their value much better than the competition so if you decide at a later date to upgrade you will get a great trade in value. If you are unsure I would strongly recommend renting this lens and some of it's competitors after all everything is subject to taste.

Disappointed in this seller! I more than likely will not buy a used or new camera lens on Amazon and will buy elsewhere. I am new to manual photography and not experienced on lenses. Not to downright lie about a product you are selling is false advertising/misrepresentation! I couldn’t get the lens to focus at times and thought I didn’t know how to use it. After getting a professional photographer to look at it, to both our amazement the back of the lenses is all scratched up on one side. I do not see a place to add a photo of the lens, however! How can this seller put this up in his listing is baffling, here what it reads: Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras Sold by: Amazing Camera Condition: Used - Very Good - It is in great working condition with minor sign of wear. The front and rear elements are clean and free of scratches. The auto-focus works properly. It will come with front cap, rear cap and tripod collar. When contacting the seller I got a reply back that basically said he wasn’t responsible for the shape of the lenses for he doesn’t look at them. WHAT!!! Why would you sell something and say this about it if you do not look at the product you are selling. Your reputation is on the line here and I sure would not sell it not looking at it first. And because of this, I have bought my lenses elsewhere and the professional photographer said NEVER buy a used lens. Also to afraid to buy them on Amazon now not known if they are new or not for they can write whatever they want about it.

Comme je l'avais déjà signalé à Amazon, le produit sur la photo ne correspondait pas à l'objectif que j'ai commandé. Mais à part ce détail, tout est OK. Vendeur à recommander.

I purchased this lens to use with my canon 7D II. It is excellent on the 7DII in order to get very sharp images it should be used on a tripod with high shutter speed. When I put it on my Sony a7ii with an adapter the a7ii will focus fairly quickly. But the biggest bonus is the Sony IBS works perfect with this lens. I can hand hold with slower Shutter speed and get very sharp images. I think this lens will be on my Sony a lot more than on my canon.

brilliant lens at a brilliant price

We have had this lens for a few years now and are still very happy with the pictures it produces.

I bought this for a trip to BC/Alaska, and it's my first Canon L lens. It may have cost me an arm and a leg, but it is solidly built and focuses very fast. I bought a monopod at the same time but it could really do with a pistol grip screwed into the lens's tripod bush when you're shooting hand-held (and if you're shooting bears, whales or bald eagles in flight, you WILL be). It may not have IS but I took most of my shots on this trip at 1/1000th or faster and it mostly wasn't a problem. But if you're shooting moving wildlife AND you've got the shakes it could be. One DISADVANTAGE of this lens is that if the wildlife gets TOO close, you'll wish you'd bought a zoom, but the quality advatntages of this being a prime lens outweigh those considerations. One of the features I particularly like about this lens is the extensible, built-in lens hood. It's a shame every lens can't have this option.