| Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L
IS USM zoom lens field-test. There used to be a time where I became very excited whenever a new L-series Canon lens was made available, from the days of the FD-type to the new EF version for the EOS System. However, after having bought my EF 300mm f/2.8L USM super telephoto in 1992 to complement my EF 20-35mm f/2.8L AFD and EF 80-200mm f/2.8L AFD zoom lenses, the excitement has finally fizzled out. The EF 35-350mm f/3.5-5.6L USM lens, did attract my attention for a while, mainly due to its 10x zoom ratio but I couldn't find a reason to buy one. I saw Canon's first EF telephoto lens incorporating the Image Stabilizer system, the EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, at the PMA '97 Show held at New Orleans, USA. I was impressed with the lens' lightweight as compared to my EF 300mm f/2.8L USM non-IS version. But I also realized that buying the f/4 version meant I would be using the f/2.8 lens less. With the introduction of the EF 100-400mm USM zoom lens in September 1998, Canon has increased its Image Stabilizer series to a total of four (there were also the EF 75-300mm and EF 28-135mm zoom lenses) but the actual number is now eight with the recent launch of the super telephoto IS USM lenses.
I was impressed with this zoom lens when I first saw it during the official launch of the Canon EOS-3 in Malaysia, together with the EF 35mm f/1.4L USM wide-angle. Test shots, mostly indoor portraits of the other guests at the launch with the lens fitted to an EOS-3 revealed stunning image quality. The built-in Image Stabilizer feature handled camera shake very well. I was able to shoot with this lens with shutter speed as slow as 1/15 sec. at the 400mm focal length. While the lens made an impression on me, the excitement wore off pretty soon after the long wait for a unit to be tested for this column. It seems that the lens has quite a long waiting list not only in this region but the rest of the world as well, hence the delay in getting a test unit. Priority has to be given to the Canon customers who have booked the lens through their dealers nationwide. It was only a few months ago that the Canon Professional Services (CPS) division of Canon Malaysia finally received its first EF 100-400mm IS USM lens. The lens arrived after the Malaysian Motorcycling Grand Prix, where the races would have been the perfect test subjects. Since I also had numerous Canon products at my disposal for this column, I decided to let the other CPS members test the lens first and wait until the next racing event to come along, which was the Proton Merdeka Race. << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . |
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