100-400 Shooters

[explorer]

I am about to take the plunge and get the Canon 100-400 lens, is there anything I should know before I make the purchase.

[MN Shutterbug]

Good for you, Charlie. I bought one a few months ago, and I love it. Steve's photos partly influenced me. Heck, it's the only lens I own. I bought mine from Canoga Camera for $1379. They shipped it the next day. They also talked me into a UV filter, which I decided to return after reading up more on filters. I had no problem with the return. They're a good outfit to deal with. You could always check B&H Photo and Adorama for prices. Canoga had the best price at the time. Just be sure you deal with a reputable company. Hundreds of people have got burned, dealing with unscrupulous online dealers.

I'll be looking forward to your photos, once you get used to it. It's a good lens.

[yakfisher]

I am a Nikon guy but I'm gonna guys that the Canon boys will have plenty to share and from what I have heard and seen here most of it will be good. I wish Nikon would update the 80-400 VR.

[explorer]

X-tackleman, yours and Stfcatfish's photos are the primary reason I convinced myself why I should get one. One of my questions was if you guys use a uv filter. Thanks for your reply.

[finnbay]

I picked one up a couple of months ago for a couple of reasons. I've watched what Steve can do with his under all kinds of circumstances, and felt that it could be a very versatle addition to my camera bag. Secondly, I love what my 300 mm and a 1.4 TC can do on wildlife, but hanging that thing around your neck when your out walking for miles is an outright bummer. The 100-400 gives almost as good of results and is a lot more walking friendly. It's taken me a little while to get used to it after using some faster lenses, but am beginning to get the hang of it and am very happy with the results.

[MN Shutterbug]

 Originally Posted By: finnbay

Secondly, I love what my 300 mm and a 1.4 TC can do on wildlife, but hanging that thing around your neck when your out walking for miles is an outright bummer.

Yeah, I sort of recall that lens weighing you down at the bog.

Oh, and thanks for the compliment, Charlie. I've read that with digital cameras, UV filters can degrade the image somewhat. Most people buy them just to protect the lens. The lens hood and caution are the only protection I feel I need.

[explorer]

finnbay Thanks for your reply. I have to tell you that when I first saw your avatar of the Finnish flag It reminded me of when I was a kid and my mom would talk to her parents in Finn, us kids were amazed at that "crazy talk".

[WCS]

Great lens. I bought from B&H photo. I have purchased all my photo gear from there with no problems. It is a very versatile lens. Fast focus and good image quality. The push/pull zoom is a bit difficult to get used to, but you do get the hang of it after a while.

[finnbay]

Thanks Charlie,

You mean, like "Paiva, paiva. Eh puhu suomea!

I hear you!

Ken

[Steve Foss]

explorer, nothing you should know before you buy. Plenty to experiment with after.

I've been shooting that lens as my go-to wildlife/avian/outdoor action lens for four years.

It has a couple limitations but they are not serious ones, and that lens is Canon's best value for the dollar when you need a top all-around supertele zoom. You give up two stops of aperture over the top prime lenses, and you give us a small bit of sharpness compared to the primes when both lenses are shot at wide open aperture, but reviews often overstate the difference in sharpness, most reviewers being more obsessed with technical stuff than real-world performance.

I have plenty of images with that lens shot wide open at f5.6 that have sold nicely as prints and some to the high-resolution glossy mags.

A great way to enter the world of supertelephoto lenses, IMO. Not to mention it's $2,500 less than the 300 f2.8 + 1.4 TC and $5,000 less than the 400 f2.8.

[explorer]

finnbay, I do not speak Finnish, I had to call my mom for the translation.

[explorer]

stfcatfish, thank you for the reply. Do you use any type of UV filter on yours.

[Steve Foss]

No filter at all. I had one to start, but I've been shooting it without for three years and no nicks or scuffs or scratches or pock marks on the front lens element.

The hood offers a lot of protection from dings, and my hood is always on my 100-400 when I've got it out of the bag. It's also important not to point the lens up in the air unless you need to shoot something that way. The more you point your lens at the sky, the more bad things can happen to it, and I've seen numbers of clients get water, snow, fog and grit all over their lenses because they rest them with the cap off and the lens straight up.

[explorer]

Thanks stfcatfish I appreciate all the info.

[Steve Foss]

Good luck, and have fun with the lens!

[mountaindew]

I use the 100-400mm also. They're great! I'm still learning how to use it. It gets better every click on the camera. These people here are so helpful giving me tips on using those lens! It's worth the money. Go to B&H photo, they're very good people to deal with. Fast and realiable.

[mapache]

Hello folks, I am a newbie to this forum and very impressed with the quality of conversation and photos. I have a Canon rebel xti with standard lense and would like to upgrade to a telephoto lens both for kids sports events as well as wildlife photos. Curious if you all would recommend the 100-400 or other options. Thanks much in advance.

[Dbl]

mapache welcome to the forums. I wish there was a lens that can do all of those things for you. What type of sports are you going to be shooting, inside, outside? The Xti only goes up to 1600 ISO which is going to hurt your ability to capture inside sports. Add the 100-400 with its variable aperture of 4.5-5.6 and it becomes all but impossible to use indoors in most gyms.

The 100-400 is a fine lens to use outdoors especially for wildlife. Depending on what indoor sports you will be shooting there might be some other options for you to explore. Use the 100-400 outdoors and if you will be shooting basketball, volleyball and don't mind waiting for the action to come to you a lens that would work well would be the 85/1.8.

Take a look here for a discussion on this lens.

Indoor sports lens choices

[MN Shutterbug]

It's pretty much impossible to get by with just one lens, if you're going to do a variety of shooting, like you mentioned. But then, I'm still waiting for the day when Canon comes out with a 14-600mm 1.4 lens for under $1000.

[mapache]

Mostly outdoor sports, wakeboarding, football, snowboarding. We bought the rebel to get the quick shutter response vs the "point and shoot...and then wait a second for the shutter and miss the action". Maybe dumb question but when you go to a telephoto lens, do you lose any ability of the camera to take fast photos when on "automatic" settings?

[finnbay]

Welcome mapache. My first jump to a dslr was exactly for the same reason. To answer your question, not necessarily. However, on auto or "P" settings you're letting the camera decide what shutter speed, or f-stop to use. About the only control you have is to change ISO settings. With the camera you have, it's worth the time (and it won't take long, I promise you) to learn about the priority and and manual settings. Letting you control one or both factors will give you much more satisfying results consistantly. Shutter speed for example will let you stop action or allow creative blur. Changing the f-stop will highlight a subject by blurring the background or give you sharp focus through your scene. As to the 100-400, for outdoor work (wildlife, outside daylight sports, etc.) it is an excellent lens.

[mapache]

Thanks. Any words of wisdom on best place to buy?

[finnbay]

Only that if you buy online, stick to one of the bigger companies such as B&H Photo, Adorama, etc. Their prices are very competitive and the customer service should you need it is very consistent. Some online vendors advertise super low prices, but in the end will get you on something else.

[MN Shutterbug]

I would also recommend Canoga Camera. I bought my 100-400 from them, due to their reputation and they also had the lowest price. They shipped it the following day and I received it 3 days later. They have excellent customer service.

[explorer]

Here are my first images with my new lens. I have a question for you guys with this lens, when the IS system comes on, I can hear and feel a clicking noise. I have never used a lens with IS, I was wondering if this is normal.