optics, well balanced, great range, great image quality, zoom design, IS,

cost, the colour attracts attention, if you're used to f2.8 it can be a disapointment having f5.6 but the lens is better than a 70-200 with 2x converter. size is a bit awkward for my bag but keeping the lens hood on solved that one

The canon 100-400 L gives the user a wide focal range. I use this lens for general shots in the garden and for motorsports. from 100-350ish it is very good wide open and its only beyond 350 does it get a bit soft but nothing you really see unless you go to 100%. using it at f6.4 @ 400mm restores the previous great sharpness you have 100-350mm. it works very well with a 500D close up lens attached fo r macro shots but I have not got round to using my extention tubes yet. I mostly use this lens for motorsports where the push pull soom excels (as in other situations) as it is very fast. the IS works well also but it the generation 1 type so don;t expect to hand hold 1/20 @ 400mm all the time lol there is no dust issue with this lens like you may read the problem is if you alreay have dust in the chamber then the push pull will agitate this so best give it a clean before you fit it. the lens it's self is very very well balnced on my 20D compared to my sigma 70-200 f2.8which is very top heavy. it is not that heavy either and the nice balance the lens has means you don;t notice the weight. colour and contrast is everything you'd expect from an L lens and the buld quality is very good also. the lens is also not as big as I though either which was a nice suprise. personally I would not even consider the sigma 80-400 over this lens. if you want the range save and get the L. the push pull, the optics, the USM make it so much better than the sigma version.

Customer Service

not requried as yet

Similar Products Used:

sigma 80-400

Sharp, Build and IS system.

Heavy

I also own the 400mm 5.6fL and find it is a great lens, but you have to use a tripod. This lens can be hand held and still get great photos.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 170-500

Image stabilizer works well, lens feels good in the hands. Build quality is excellent.

Push-pull design wasn't too abd when i forst got the lens, but after awhile it began to get on my nerves. Some say it grows on you, but I didn't find this. I spend more time cleaning dust from the sensor than actually using the lens. The zoom tension ring is in an awkward place, another thing that needs to be addressed.

A very good lens for the price - deserving of the L series classification, but barely. Good lens for airshows, motor racing and birding, but that's about it. Anything requiring high sharpness will need another lens.

Customer Service

None needed, it was sold again in three months.

Similar Products Used:

70-200mm f/2.8L 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6L

This lens can just about do it all with the convenience of a zoom. Spending 75% of what this cost me for a single focal length lens like the 400mm f5.6 would have been a bad investment for me, for whatever gain you see image-wise. The locking mechanism works great to keep the focal length set at the desired position and, as I mentioned earlier, image stabilization really comes into it's own at the long end of this lens. If you've ever tried to hand-hold a non-IS 300mm or longer lens before you know what it's like to try and hold one without the finder jumping all over the place, much less trying to shoot at any shutter speed under 1/500 sec. From the moment you touch the shutter release, the image in the viewfinder just seems to go completely still. Don't get me wrong here- you still have to observe all the rules of good hand-holding to achieve best results, but it is amazing how good image stabilization works and allows you to shoot with the setting at 400mm as low as 1/50 sec and get good results with non-moving subjects. The panning mode 2 also works very well for moving subjects. I have found the image quality to be well above average at all focal lengths and at all apertures, including 400mm at f5.6. Many have claimed this lens is too soft at f5.6 and focused up close. I can attest, it is difficult to achieve best results at those settings, but stop and think about this- wide open at 400mm and at a distance of 10-12 feet the depth of field is incredibly thin. I have made shots of flowers with this lens zoomed to 400mm and at f5.6 at a distance of around 10 feet. You can actually see the exact spot where the lens focussed, because you have one corner of a petal that is tack sharp, and anything in front of or behind that one petal is out of focus. This is simply the focal length working against you. Realistically, at close distances I'll almost never use this lens at 400mm- there's no need for that kind of magnification. Used correctly, this lens is incredibly good and well worth the price I paid.

This is a heavy lens, there's no getting around it. You need to apply yourself here to use the best available strap and/or get a bag with a good cushioned shoulder strap. I have mine packed in a Lowepro Nova 5 AW bag along with my 10D plus battery pack and handstrap E-1 instead of the shoulder strap, 17-40 f4L and either 420EX or 550EX flash units, 4 GB worth of flash cards/micro drives, extra camera batteries and have no problems carrying it almost everywhere I go. Speaking of batteries, the manual says if you press the shutter release and activate the IS in the lens for 10 seconds at a time for every shot, the camera battery's image taking capacity goes down by 30% and I believe that to be accurate. I always have two fully juiced batteries loaded with two in reserve when I head out.

Overall a very nice zoom for those who feel a zoom in the 70-200 range is too short as I was. Image stabilization between 300-400mm is a revelation, allowing hand-held shooting as low as 1/50 sec. for me. My 70-200 zoom was causing me to have to crop in my sports shots as much as 30-50% to get the image I wanted. This is no longer the case.

Customer Service

I have never had to sending anything in to Canon for servicing, so I'll make no additional comments here.

Similar Products Used:

Prior to this I used two Canon telezooms. the first was an ancient 100-300 f5.6L which is still a better choice than any of Canon's current consumer zoom line, and then the 70-200 f4L, which is simply outstanding. It was just starting to get to be too short for what I wanted to do.

Sharpness, fast AF, IS, smooth push pull (didn't think I'd like this but I do) ... did I mention Sharpness? Or WOW !!! To bad you can't give it a higher rating than 5, cuz it deserves it.

heavy, cost

!!! WOW !!! GREAT lens! nuff' said!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

NOTHING (can't compare cheap zooms in this range to the 100-400 L IS)

Image Stabilization. Zoom Range. Build Quality.

Zoom design (push-pull)

I have heard many complains about these lens, most of them about it's zoom design, size and weight. And I disagree with almost all of them. It is an excellent lens, with an incredible zoom range, Image Stabilization, great construction, durability... Yes, it is a push-pull zoom design, it is not as sharp as the famous 70-200 2,8L, it is big and heavy, but what were you expecting from a professional lens with such a zoom range?. Everything depends on what you expect. I can say that I love this lens, is almost as tack sharp as my 80-200L is, you have to be careful with dust in the barrel (especially when full extended...)and it can broke your neck after a day carrying it. For taking daily pictures outdoors is perfect, as well as for nature, people, sports, even portraits. For me, a must have, very flexible and IS really works!!. Depending on how much coffee have you drank that day, no problem of taking pictures handholding the lens at 1/125 - 1/60 and 400mm

Customer Service

Not Needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon 75-300 USM Canon 80-200 f2.8L

Dual mode IS Focal length versatility Build quality (metal) Quality photographs Fast foucsing

off white color(scratches, and stands out big time - not a good thing in some places) push pull zoom concerns me regarding dust and sand, although no problems thus far. noticeable affect on batteries when IS is used

Wicked lense. Awesome range. Focusing is fast, decent brightness at 400 considering it's a 5.6, and then tac on the IS....extremely helpful. Can shoot handheld at 400 down to 1/60th. The difference in your end results between this lens and the 75-300 is not night and day, and not neccesarily worth twice the price. The difference is build quality. If you can justify the coin, you'll be satisfied with it.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

sigma 75-300 canon 75-300

-optics -build like a tank -IS (main quality) -value never drops down

-bit soft @ f5.6 @ 400mm

I didn't know what to buy, the sigma 50-500 or the canon 100-400, it has become the canon and i have no regrets. I have compared it with the sigma 50-500 (my friend ownes one) and the conclusion is optical almost the same but the canon is slightly sharper, under 300mm you realy can tell the difference. The canon is much lighter to cary around. the canon also has a metal body and looks better build. The true reason why i bought the canon was the IS, now u can shoot nice sharp images without a tripod on 1/125sec @ 400mm. This gives u the chance to use this lens on iso 100 or 200, the sigma pushes you to iso 400 or even higher. From 100-300mm the lens is very very sharp, even wide open, when used @ 400mm you need to stop it a bit down, prefered to f8 (f8 to f11 is the lens her best working range in my opinion). F5.6 @ 400mm can be a bit (to?) soft. Some strange thing about the lens is her bokeh, when something falls just out of the DOF it can give you a strange bokeh (offcourse you can handle it with photoshop, but still ...) The push pull design isn't a problem for me, sometimes it even comes in realy handy because you can zoom in and out superfast. Now some examples (resizes) Some motersport images, used IS mode 2, you will directly see what this lens is able to (at least when you know your gear) http://users.skynet.be/freewallpapers/mettet1_A.jpg http://users.skynet.be/freewallpapers/mettet3_A.jpg http://users.skynet.be/freewallpapers/mettet8_A.jpg now some animal pictures shot with the lens on IS mode 1 http://users.skynet.be/freewallpapers/zwin5_A.jpg http://users.skynet.be/freewallpapers/zwin1_A.jpg http://users.skynet.be/freewallpapers/tuinvlinder8_A.jpg

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

sigma 50-500

Wide range from 100-400mm without sacrificing image quality. Is works great.

A bit heavy. IS takes a second to spin-up after you half depress the shutter.

This is an incredible tool for sports photography and quickly replaced my previous lenses. It's sharp, focuses quickly and the push/pull zoom becomes second nature after a few uses.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 135-500 Canon 70-200/2.8L

Image quality generally superb. IS. Build.

Focus speed much slower than I expected. Flimsy lens hood. Weight, size and cost. 160mm effective minimum focal length on my 10D a bit restrictive..... but with all these things I am being picky!

I've only had this lens a short time but the images it has produced have really impressed me with their sharpness and contrast. My copy of the lens seems much better than alot of the reviews elsewhere suggest - even wide open it is very sharp. At the longer focal lengths it beats my 35-350L for quality but to be fair it is nowhere near as flexible being effectively 160-640mm on a 10D. It is better balanced than the 35-350 though it actually weighs more.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Canon 35-350L, Canon 75-300IS