Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens Review

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Handling and Features

The design and build of this lens is typical of Canon's L series, with tough off-white painted metal and plastics used throughout its construction. The lens is dust and moisture resistant, and built tough enough to withstand the rigours of daily professional use. Even with the excellent build quality, this lens isn't overly heavy, weighing 1640g with the removable tripod mount attached, and it balances well with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III used for testing.

Autofocus is powered by an Ultrasonic motor, that allows manual focus adjustments to be made at any time, and AF speeds are very fast as a result. Applying manual focus adjustments is a pleasure, thanks to the smooth, precise and well-damped focus ring. Closest focus is 98cm throughout the zoom range, which is actually quite close for a 400mm lens, providing a maximum magnification of 0.31x at 400mm. Despite the modest maximum aperture, this lens can be used with Canon teleconverters on some of their latest bodies also.

As focusing is performed internally, the 77mm filter ring does not rotate, which makes the lens ideal for use with graduated and polarising filters. A hood is supplied with the lens, which attaches via a bayonet fitting. The zoom ring sports a novel feature, which allows you to control the amount of resistance in the zoom mechanism. This is great if you need to use the lens on a tripod, without the zoom mechanism creeping forward when pointed down, and is also good for quick adjustments, as the zoom mechanism can be loosened right up, making it move freely through the range.

The image stabilisation system fitted to this lens promises to allow sharp images to be taken at shutter speeds four stops slower than would be possible without the system enabled. So long as care is taken, and a pause left for the stabiliser to catch up, sharp images can be produced around half the time with shutter speeds as low as 1/25sec at 400mm, which is roughly four stops slower than the usual rule of thumb would allow for handheld shooting.

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