Canon 500mm f 4 L IS USM Lens High quality fast telephoto lens with Image Stabiliser
Closest focus 4.5m Filter size 52mm drop in Lens hood provided Weight 3870g
Content and images originally posted by Andy Bright
Reviews
rwhillman's review
This is a superb lens for bird photography, especially when used with a 1.4X. Because of image stabilization, it is possible to hand hold this lens for relatively short periods of time. The downsides to the lens are its expense ($5,500) and weight (with camera approaches 10 pounds). It is large, and you should plan on using a tripod most of the time. The lens is well designed for shooting from a car. If you are willing to deal with the expense and weight, you will have a lens that can't be beat.
Pros
- Quality of Optics
Cons
- Expense and weight
GYRob's review
i have had this lens now for around 3 months and one thing iv noticed is that it makes you want to take more photo\'s simply becasue it bring\'s those shot to you that other smaller lenses dont alow, the end result of this is that you end up with some rather nice photos and thats what it\'s all about. i use it mostly hand held for birds in flight and fast single seat jets and can hold it up to my eye for around 35 seconds then the weight takes over and it has to be put down for a little while then up to the eye and start again this is not a problem and one gets use to working this way and your not tied to a tripod /monopod . it stands up well on the lens hood so is always ready to be picked up for a shot . if you have the money it will get you thoes shots you see in books a very nice lens. Rob.
Pros
- Sharp - super fast af
Cons
- weight - price
gene's review
This is a great lens. The reolving power for fine detail is great and the images it produces are extremely pleasing to look at.
This tips the scale - it is a tripod lens. It can be hand-held for short periods or braced, but shines on a tripod.
It works excellently with 1.4x TC as well as extension tubes for close-up shots of small birds.
It's build quality is tops and it has professional features such as focus lock, 3 range AF, and pre-focus - though some of the controls are placed poorly for hand-holding (you can accidentally lock the focus for instance).
But wow, it can give you some beautiful images.
see 100% crops from this lens at http://www.pbase.com/gaocus/500f4_sampler and make sure you view them at original size.
Pros
- Great resolution of fine details
- color
- IS
- build quality
- features
Cons
- price
- add another $1k for a good tripod/head
