Reviews by Mickw

If you have never seen or used one of these monsters then let me tell you. Sell your soul, wife, kidneys, whatever. The ultimate in image quality. Bought mine 2nd hand, hardly used. Absolutly mint.Opened the box and the torpedo that was within. This lens is big. Over two foot with the hood on. Built like a battleship. Weight? Its actually very light. Dont be fooled by its a heavy lens. Its a prime, has little glass inside and is built of magnesium.Yes compared to a small 50mm prime but its easily lugged around and a total joy to use. IS if you need it works great. Its such a beautifully balanced bit of kit. So what is it like optically? Perfect. If you have a 500mm zoom and get great pics then think. Just what will your pics be like with this baby. Compared to say a 500mm Sigma it whups ass in all catagories. Waterproof, very tough, optically perfect. Honestly, buy a good second hand one and when you see that first bang on pic of your fav bird you know why you bought one. You will miss some pics as its not a zoom. But work a bit harder, get it right and you see why the pros use them. Oh, and they look well cool too. Great combination is a 300mm f2.8 a 1x4 converter and a 500mmf4. Covers most bases.

I sold my wife, dog, a kidney, some blood, and all my wordly posetions. Do i regret it? Yes. I miss the dog.

Mick

A light, hand holdable, top quality product from Canon. An utter joy to use. Makes the 100-400 seem a heavy expensive unsharp waste. You shoot at high exposure so IS is an un necassary waste of time. Its a prime so its as sharp as a sharp thing. No sharpening needed if you do it right. Build quality as expected.

Down side is its not waterproof and its f5.6 so expect to use it in good light or up the ISO and spend time in Photoshop removing the noise.

All in all, you wont be dissapointed. Compare ISO exposures with the 100-400 at the-digital-picture.com then see why pros like primes. Yes they are harder work but boy are they good when you get it right.

Mick