Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM

If you haven’t shot with Canon “L” series glass, you will (quite literally) gasp when you look at the quality of your images for the first time. This lens is that good.
I bought this lens to photograph birds primarily. To say I’ve been extremely happy would be an understatement. The IS component of this lens will astound you. I’ve also used this lens handheld at air shows as well and quite frankly, when I get home to look at my photos I’m nothing short of astonished at how well image stabilization works. Note, however, that most of my work is done on a tripod to photograph our beautiful feathered friends. If you’d like to see what I’m talking about you can visit my site in my profile or just Google “Christopher Tippins” and see for yourself how the lens performs. All of my recent bird photography and air show photography has been shot exclusively with this lens (see “New Photos”).
Also note that you will further be impressed to the nines when you are shooting at the short end of the focal length of this lens (about 6 or 7 feet, give or take). I’ve shot dragon flies, flowers and various other subjects and the detail is nothing less than spectacular. You will literally be able to count hairs on the back of insects/dragon flies, etc.
I’ve used it on two bodies – the Canon 60d and a recently acquired Canon 7d. It performs superbly on both as is to be expected.
Recently I was doing some shooting at a zoo and pushed the ISO to 1000 on the 7d to get some shots in low light at 1/15 of a second and got some tack sharp images (yes, I’ve had to run those shots through some noise reduction filters, however). I couldn’t believe it.
Note that Canon (and many people) recommend shooting with IS turned OFF on a tripod. While your mileage may vary, I find wind at the 400mm end of this lens to be a factor and leaving IS turned on helps considerably.
Image quality with this lens wide open is also impressive.
Also take note of this: I have a bud who shoots with this lens as well as a Canon 400 prime and I’ll be damned if I (we) can see any difference in the quality of the shots. I also recently purchased the Canon 1.4 telephoto extender (older type II) and I’m equally impressed with how well they work together as well, but that’s another review.
Note that I am of the type of person who is a very harsh (but fair) critic of products in general.
If you’re the same, you will NOT be disappointed in this lens.

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