The EF 100–400 mm 4.5–5.6L IS USM is a professional EF mount telephoto zoom lens manufactured by Canon Inc. The first version of this lens was announced in September 1998, and an updated version was announced in November 2014. It is a high performance telephoto lens most often used for sports and wildlife photography.
When used with a Canon APS-C (1.6× crop) DSLR camera or APS-H (1.3× crop), the field of view of this lens is equivalent to a 160–640 mm on an APS-C sensor, or 130–520 mm on an APS-H sensor. This is due to the crop factor inherent with APS-C or APS-H sensor digital SLR cameras.
While the original version has excellent optical performance, its design predated the mass-market availability of digital single-lens reflex cameras. The telescoping nature of the original design means that the lens zooms quickly, although not all users prefer this design. According to Roger Cicala, the head of the American lens rental house LensRentals.com,
The telescoping design means that the lens sucks in air when zoomed from shorter focal lengths to longer focal lengths. Unfortunately, with the lack of anything to prevent it, it also sucks in any airborne dust[1]
This lens is compatible with the Canon Extender EF teleconverters on newer EOS bodies. Autofocus works with the 1.4× Extender (and only with cameras that can autofocus at f/8) and image stabilization (IS) works with both 1.4× and 2× Extenders.
The new Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM was announced on 11 November 2014 (10 November in the United States due to time zone differences from Japan), with availability expected the following month. Among the changes from the Mark I version are:[2] [3]
| Attribute | 4.5–5.6L IS USM | 4.5–5.6L IS II USM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | |||
| Key features | |||
| Full-frame compatible | |||
| Image stabilizer | |||
| Ultrasonic Motor | |||
| Stepping Motor | |||
| L-series | |||
| Environmental Sealing | |||
| Diffractive Optics | |||
| Macro | |||
| Push/pull zoom | |||
| Technical data | |||
| Aperture (max-min) | 4.5–5.6 to 32–38 | 4.5–5.6 to 32–40 | |
| Construction | 14 groups / 17 elements | 16 groups / 21 elements | |
| 8 | 9 | |
| Closest focusing distance | 5.9 ft / 1.8 m | 3.2 ft / 0.98 m | |
| Max. magnification | 0.2× | 0.31× | |
| Horizontal viewing angle | 20°–5°10' | ||
| Diagonal viewing angle | 24°–6°10' | ||
| Vertical viewing angle | 14°–3°30' | ||
| Physical data | |||
| Weight | 1380 g / 3.1 lbs | 1570 g / 3.46 lbs | |
| Maximum diameter | 92 mm / 3.6" | 94 mm / 3.7" | |
| Length | 189 mm / 7.4" | 193 mm / 7.6" | |
| Filter diameter | 77 mm | ||
| Accessories | |||
| Lens hood | ET 83C | ET 83D[5] | |
| Case | LZ1324 | LZ1326 | |
| Retail information | |||
| Release date | September 1998 | November 2014 | |
| Currently in production? | |||
| MSRP (US$) | $1,699 | $2,199 | |