400mm f/5.6 - worth it? (1 Viewer)

[stevetb]

Hi,
At the moment I have a Sigma 135-400 for my 400D, and it is a great lens, pretty sharp for ~£200. But I am starting to see limitations, and I would like perhaps a bit more detail in my pictures and for them to snap into focus a bit quicker.

My question then, regards whether or not I would see a marked and noticable improvement in my pictures and the ease of getting them if I were to splash out on an EF 400 f/5.6 L. It is a lot of money for me, and I need to be able to justify it, so could i please have some opinions on this? :t:

Thanks a lot,
Steve.
Ps. this is the sort of thing I am getting atm.

 

[postcardcv]

Personally (having had and used both lenses) I would say that you would notice a marked improvement in both focus speed and image quality if you made the change. To my eyes the images that I get out of the 400 f5.6 are on a par with those that I get from the 500 f4 IS. I honestly think that the 400 f5.6 is the best walkabout birding lens available. Here's my favourite shot that I've taken with the 400 f5.6 - http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/189232/ppuser/3294

 

[GYRob]

YES its very close to the 500 f4 just took this with my 400f5.6 L only bird around at the moment just a quick shot . ISO 400 full frame and crop
Rob

 

[GYRob]

Personally (having had and used both lenses) I would say that you would notice a marked improvement in both focus speed and image quality if you made the change. To my eyes the images that I get out of the 400 f5.6 are on a par with those that I get from the 500 f4 IS. I honestly think that the 400 f5.6 is the best walkabout birding lens available. Here's my favourite shot that I've taken with the 400 f5.6 - http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/189232/ppuser/3294

Man thats a great shot .
Rob.

 

[IanF]

Same for me - it's on a par with the big Canon primes but at a fraction of the cost and with the added benefit of hand holding and being light enough to carry about all day long.

For the quality it's well worth the money :t:

 

[Roy C]

Here is one that shows the detail you can get with this lens. I took this shot yesterday while playing about with manual exposure in my garden.
It was hand held

 

[stevetb]

Thanks for your input and great images! It is pretty likely I am going to go for one, if not now, I will probably end up doing so in the future.

So, does anyone have one for sale or seen one 2ndhand at a good price?

Cheers.

 

[a.dancy]

The lens is excellent value brand new good luck with your search to buy one.

 

[chrisli]

It is one of the best super telephoto lens from Canon, sharp wide open and even when used with TC, I have also tried it with stacking two 1.4TC and the IQ is still accpetable. Cheapest and affodable among the telephoto lenses.

 

[postcardcv]

Thanks for your input and great images! It is pretty likely I am going to go for one, if not now, I will probably end up doing so in the future.

So, does anyone have one for sale or seen one 2ndhand at a good price?

Cheers.

I got mine last year from Ian Kerr, he imports lenses from the USA and his prices are excellent. He charged ~£640 for the 400 f5.6 which is a good deal cheaper than UK prices and not much more than you'd pay for a secondhand one.

 

[seggs]

i bought mine from a e-bay shop..last year for £710..imported model from the usa.
great portable lens!...
good luck in your search ac/dc

 

[Roy C]

I also bought mine from Ian Kerr (Kerso). Not sure of the current price but would guess around £630-£640. As Peter says he imports from the states but ships from Scotland so no extra duties or taxes to pay.

 

[mikeyb]

Hi,

Ian (Kerso) is £650 plus P+P for that lens right now but he told me it would be 10 days for stock to come in, a great price and having already bought a few lenses and a couple of flashes from Ian I can highly recommend him. All with full UK warranty.

You can email him on 2kerso@(missthisbit)gmail.com as it's best to confirm the price and stock update. I think he is in the U.S. just now so don't expect an early reply, he tends to sort through his mail at about 15:00hrs our time :t:

Mike.

 

[morrowm]

Hi,

Ian (Kerso) is £650 plus P+P for that lens right now but he told me it would be 10 days for stock to come in, a great price and having already bought a few lenses and a couple of flashes from Ian I can highly recommend him. All with full UK warranty.

You can email him on 2kerso@(missthisbit)gmail.com as it's best to confirm the price and stock update. I think he is in the U.S. just now so don't expect an early reply, he tends to sort through his mail at about 15:00hrs our time :t:

Mike.

I've just bought a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS from Ian (Kerso) and the price and service was excellent.

 

[Tav94]

Get one a great lens,shot of the Tree Pipit taken with the 400 and a Kenco 1.5 hand held.
Chris Buckland.

www.freewebs.com/tav94

 

[gmax]

Get one a great lens,shot of the Tree Pipit taken with the 400 and a Kenco 1.5 hand held.
Chris Buckland.

www.freewebs.com/tav94

Good shot Chris :t:

 

[condyk]

It's a truly great lens and I've had two excellent copies both as good. I even got some great shots a week or two back with the 2.0x at 800mm ;-)

 

[Mike Rudkin]

Traded my Canon 400 in against Sigma 150-500 yesterday.Only take 2 handheld shots without OS so far but am happy.Will post when I sort out how to lol. Mike

 

[condyk]

Be very interested in seeing those OS shots

 

[wings]

The 400mm/5.6L lens gives the biggest bang for the buck (or shall I say, quid) It is my prime birding lens. It would have been nice to have IS though, and if Canon made one and added $300-$400 to the price, I'd say it is an unbeatable price/performance combination.

However, I find that all my shots have to be taken with a sturdy tripod.