Canon EF 200-400mm f4 L IS USM with Internal 1.4x Extender L

[x5x3]

being curious I wondered how much this costs - wex have it on pre-order for £12K so guess I will not be getting one then

[nellyleelephant]

I expect it will drop an amount fairly quickly, that price will be based on RRP, the other superteles go for under RRP.

Still, can't see it being less than 10.5 to 11k!

[14-7]

An absolutely stupid price for a 200-400 lens in my opinion.

I was expecting £2-3k but when I saw the actual price I shook my head whilst saying "What on earth are they thinking".

You could buy a few prime lenses for that price and have better quality than a (that?) zoom could ever provide. I suppose all they are doing is reducing the amount of kit you lug around but for a few £k I would rather carry an extra 2-3kg of kit.

Maybe I've missed the point of it.

[markmullen]

You could have primes but in the middle of a premiership match, or Wimbledon final they don't have the flexibility.

I had a play with this bad boy at Photokina, the most surprising thing was its size and weight, it's a chunky old thing.

[RobDickinson]

14-7 said:

An absolutely stupid price for a 200-400 lens in my opinion.

I was expecting £2-3k but when I saw the actual price I shook my head whilst saying "What on earth are they thinking".

You could buy a few prime lenses for that price and have better quality than a (that?) zoom could ever provide. I suppose all they are oing is reducing the amount of kit you lug around but for a few £k I would rather carry an extra 2-3kg of kit.

Maybe I've missed the point of it.

Yes. This is to provide flexible for people who would have been using superteles

[S47]

Also it's ONLY an F4 lens - IMO canon missed the boat with this lens it ought to have been at least F2.8 to have been any use at all - c'mon an F4 200mm for £12K what use is that
I'll be sticking with my F2 and F2.8 primes

[nellyleelephant]

A 200-400 2.8 with built in TC would be a bit of a handful! The point of this lens is flexibility, make it huge (2.8) and you lose that.

[RobDickinson]

Considering we have a factor of 4 on weight and factor of 10 on cost over the f5.6 100-400L an f2.8 one would need a truck both for the money
to pay for it and to transport it home.


f4 is fine for most sports especially with todays high iso abilities. It probably wont do poorly lit night sports but then thats when you drag out your 400/2.8 anyhow.

[Mr Will]

High price and only f4. It is quite sharp though...

[DavidCane]

S47 said:

Also it's ONLY an F4 lens - IMO canon missed the boat with this lens it ought to have been at least F2.8 to have been any use at all - c'mon an F4 200mm for £12K what use is that
I'll be sticking with my F2 and F2.8 primes

I dare say that if you want 200mm f2.8, then youwon't be looking at this 200-400 F4/280-560 f5.6 lens. The 70-200 F2.8 or a 200mm F2 will already be on your shopping list if that's you criteria.

Certainly a lens I will considering hiring as a treat some time in the future for some motorsports photography. Prob 2015 though.

[2slo]

I think the realistic price which this lens will come down to will be around £8k. You'd have to be desperate to pay £12k for it now. It does appeal, not just for it's range but also for the fact that the extender is built in meaning no worries about changing lenses in adverse conditions thereby avoiding water, dust etc getting into the camera. For a one camera one lens solution it will sell and I'll be interested to look at it when it is in stock. Not sure whether it would tempt me over the other option of carrying two cameras with lenses covering most of the range though, e.g. 300 and 500mm primes.
Brief test of the 200-400mm lens with sample pics: http://www.andyrouse.co.uk/index.php?page_id=174

Edited by 2slo on Wednesday 15th May 14:37

Edited by 2slo on Wednesday 15th May 14:37

[LongQ]

RobDickinson said:

Considering we have a factor of 4 on weight and factor of 10 on cost over the f5.6 100-400L an f2.8 one would need a truck both for the money
to pay for it and to transport it home.


f4 is fine for most sports especially with todays high iso abilities. It probably wont do poorly lit night sports but then thats when you drag out your 400/2.8 anyhow.

Both of these.

Plus my guess is that Canon don't expect to sell many outside of the specialised market that is sport and they can afford to make it pretty much a D1X only lens with focusing at f8 in the dark along with a ridiculously high ISO that can be made to look fine when and where needed.

Anyone without that objective who wants to buy one - fine, go for it. It will probably sell well on eBay in a few years.

I would also guess there is some fairly exotic glass in there and so manufacturing runs will be batched and volume low.

In theory it could be a huge cost saving for agencies. In effect they have a 200-560 in a single lens which, if good enough. means they probably will not need 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 primes - so long as they hire fitness fanatic photographers.

[RobDickinson]

Its about the same weight as the 500 anyhow.

[LongQ]

RobDickinson said:

Its about the same weight as the 500 anyhow.

Actually, compared to my old FD mount 600mm, a lot of these modern lenses look a bit lightweight to me ...

[tog]

I was shooting with one of these last night - first time I'd even seen one and a colleague had hired one for a job we were doing. I must say it an absolutely fantastic piece of kit. The flexibility of being able to go from 200-560 in the blink of an eye is brilliant. It is really sharp, the stabiliser works beautifully, and it is not too heavy to use. It was a live music event, not sport, so super-high shutter speeds weren't essential and the f5.6 wasn't a problem, but in the dark 3200 on a 5D3 still gives good results. I can't put up any shots here, but if you need a very flexible long lens, and don't need a 2.8, then definitely give one of these a go.

[RobDickinson]

It does look very good. I may try borrow one from canon for a review..

[mikef]

£8.5K at B&H in NY incl sales tax, plus a cheap flight

Tempting


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/973129-REG/c...