Now that I have my 100-400mm Canon lens, I no longer need my 70-300mm lens. I was wondering if any of our Australian members who have a Canon DSLR camera would be interested in buying it from me ? New it retails for AU$1199 - not sure what they are selling for 2nd hand, make me an offer! It's a great lens - image stabilisation makes it quite possible to use hand-held at full zoom. Not too heavy (at least not compared to my 100-400 which weighs 1.4kg !!). It is just over 12 months old and has been on a 6 week trip to South America, plus has visited quite a few zoos here in Australia. There should be plenty of examples in the gallery - but I'm happy to upload more if you want to see what this lens can do.
For anyone who's interested, they're a great lens. I've been using one for a year or so now and love it to bits! (I'll pick up my commission later Sim ) How are you finding the 100-400, apart from the weight of the thing?
Yeah, it's great. One thing I like about it is the focus range select switch. This allows you to change the focus range from 1.8m-infinity to 6.5m-infinity. If the subject you are shooting is more than 6.5m away, it dramatically increases the focus speed by limiting the range of focus - making it far easier to get a great shot of something that is moving. Despite reading many reviews that said you really need a tripod to get decent photos at full 400mm zoom, I've found the image stabiliser works well enough for me to take full zoom hand-held shots (not all of them work out - but I get a reasonable success rate - if the light is bright enough). I often carry a monopod to help in lower light conditions - although when trying to take photos of small fast-moving birds, it is usually more of a hindrance than a help. I am getting used to the weight - just need to build up the bicep muscles a bit more to help avoid arm fatigue! I haven't had a chance to take the lens on an outing to the zoo yet - I'm looking forward to that.
I can also vouch for this lens, having owned mine for a little over a year. In fact, I chose the lens first, and with the money I had left bought a body. 100-400 - that's an L-series, yes? Hix
I'm heading to Africa for a month soon - I'll take it for a spin for you if you'd like it to have an overseas outing ;-)
Personnally I have the 70-200 L F:2.8. It's smaller range than your 100-400 but the light settings are better, which is considerably helpfull in Europe knowing of our magnificient weather conditions (hum....) especially in Germany and France... and particularly in inside exhibits like tropical halls. But for safaris, outside big enclosures and all these kinds of exhibits, your 400 mm will be absolutely perfect! The lens you sell is a good one, really. I used to have the same something like two years ago and sold it to buy the L one I currently have.
