Review: Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM zoom lens

Like most zooms, this big one from Canon is a compromise. It’s not as sharp at the top end as the Canon 400mm/5.6 fixed lens. It’s heavier than the 70-200mm zoom, which is in the same price range, and not as fast. It’s a push-pull design, which some people worry sucks in dust over the long haul.

It’s also one of the first lenses I bought when I switched to Canon a few years ago, and I rarely leave home without it. With this and the 28-135mm IS zoom I’ve covered an entire trip to Mexico or informal portraits at a friend’s birthday party without a problem. Add a wide zoom like the 20-35 and you can do just about anything.

The big zoom is great for everything from travel to sports, portraits, fashion and wildlife. I often use it as a single walkaround lens when I’m on foot taking pictures, despite its weight (three pounds). It’s great for picking out a section of landscape for foreshortened emphasis. It can even be used for bird photography for large or approachable birds. At the shorter end it makes a good portrait lens And it has a great short focus distance of 1.8 meters, or 5.9 feet.

The image stabilization is nothing short of miraculous. At 400mm you can create perfectly sharp photographs hand-held at 1/90 of a second; it also makes up for unsteady footing, like in a boat at sea or on an airplane. With a car door to brace on you can shoot even longer exposures. The autofocus is quick and quiet, and allows you to set two focus ranges for quicker response: 1.8 meters to infinity or 6.8 meters to infinity.

The lens is incredibly solid in construction, like all Canon L lenses, and looks like it can handle rough and tumble use day in and day out. I’ve never babied mine through numerous trips to the desert, in ocean spray, in Oregon rain, and to Mexico, and have had no problems.

There are a few downsides. The weight, of course, can get to you after a full day of walking around. The push-pull zoom is restrained by a locking ring that slows the zoom, so it doesn’t slide out when the camera is pointed down. The ring works, but has only two effective positions, locked and unlocked. When walking around with this lens on the camera around my neck, I have developed the habit of locking it into the 100mm position; you can quickly unlock and extend when you want to shoot long. Finally the lens hood is adequate but flimsy and generally cross threads itself when you’re in a hurry to put it on.

And, of course, there’s the high price, still about $1,400 new.

Dec. 9, 2004