400/F4 DO

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Semi Official word on the 400mm F4 do lens is August with pricing and preordering in July, Probably late july. So start checking with the camera shops in july, Hope this helps.

-- Rob Olling (RobertOlling@msn.com), June 14, 2001

Answers

I'll better sell my car and start applying for VISA/MC now. If you have to ask how much will an extra short and light EF 400 4L IS USM cost, you can't afford it. But, heck, how will one of those babies cost?

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), June 14, 2001.

hmmm...college tuition on one hand...DO glass on the other...hmmmm

-- peter bg (pbg333@hotmail.com), June 15, 2001.

How many of us have noticed there's no "L" in the designation? I had to be pointed to that.

So allow me to be the first to post: "Has anyone here used the new Canon 400mm? There seem to be contradicting comments on its image quality. I look forward to comments from actual users."

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), June 15, 2001.

I'm guessing that 400/f4 do is just a rough discription. Do other lenses have an "AS" in the part number for aspherical, no. Do you see a usm in the description, no. I would say the actual part number will be #EF 400mm f/4L IS USM. Hopefully the lens will have IS mode #3 for on tripod. And as for sharpness its anybody's guess, I am speculating it will be as sharp as the 400f5.6 hopefully. I have a feeling the price will tell us how sharp it is. But I saw the post form Bob doubting the sharpness, and he my be right.

-- Rob Olling (RobertOlling@msn.com), June 15, 2001.

As far as I know it's not an "L" series lens. Those who have seen it at shows report it has no "L" designation on it and there is a green stripe around the front rather than the red stripe which is common to all "L" series lenses. Read into this what you want. I'd be inclined to suspect that optical performance may not be up to "L" series standards, though construction and operation may well be.

I'm still not aware of any "on film" published user tests of this lens (or prototypes or demo models). The only reports I've seen are from people who have looked through it at trade shows - not exactly a good way to judge a lens's performance!

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), June 15, 2001.



As far as the actual designation is concerned, the Canon website calls it EF 400mm f/4 DO IS USM. With the "DO" firmly in place.

-- peter bg (pbg333@hotmail.com), June 15, 2001.

If my memory serves me correctly, the L designation on Canon lenses is not because they are 'Luxury', BUT because the lens has at least one Fluorite or artificial Fluorite element, SO if the new DO lenses do NOT have any fluorite elements, they will not have 'L' designation, and AFAIK, the DO element/group has been designed to replace the fluorite elements.

-- Julian Radowsky (julianr@iafrica.com), June 16, 2001.

I don't believe all L lenses have a fluorite or artificial fluorite element. Most do, but not all, so I don't think that's it.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), June 16, 2001.

I believe that one consistent feature of L series lenses is that they all use either fluorite, and/or UD ("Ultra-low Dispersion") glass, and/or "Super-UD" glass. As a class, I believe that L series lenses are said to be apochromatic. If you read Canon's website description of the 400/4 IS DO lens, you'll see they claim this new lens is apochromatic. But, Canon appears to have achieved "apochromatism" in this new lens by virtue of the diffractive elements, rather than by using the above mentioned L series types of glass. So, if this new breed of lens proves to indeed be apochromatic AND optically very sharp, then perhaps we shouldn't get hung up on whether it is an "L" lens, since it would be providing an L series level of performance, albeit through a different optical formula. We shall see.

-- kurt heintzelman (heintzelman.1@osu.edu), June 17, 2001.

The July/August Special Issue of "American Photo" shows a picture of the EF 400mm DO IS USM in their "Editors Choice" lens section for 2001 (pg 61). In the photo no stripe is visable, though that may be do to the angle of the photo. It is also the only one of the eight recommended lens without a price.

-- Dave Rothstein (dhrothstein@aol.com), June 17, 2001.


I chatted with Canon rep at R&K photo in Auburn WA a couple weeks ago. He said the new 400 DO would indeed have tripod image stabilization. He had no inside info to share on release date or price, although he speculated it would be a fall release.

-- Rod Nygaard (rod.nygaard@boeing.com), July 27, 2001.

To clarify:

A canon lens will be designated L series for one of three reasons: 1. It has 1 or more Fluorite elements (the only one with more than one is the 1200 F5.6) 2. It has 1 or more UD or Super UD elements. 3. It has a Ground Aspherical Element (ie NOT a moulded or hybrid aspherical element, both of which feature in other EF lenses. Canon does not publicise what kind of element is used in what cases, although it is easy to guess that the ftm consumer lenses use moulded ones, and the cheap, plastic mount lenses (eg22-55) use hybrid).

For an example of the rigidity with which canon have kept to this system with the EF L series, look at the three, very similar, TS-E lenses. Only the 24mm is an L series, yet they all are built to the same quality, and all have the same price tag, and I believe have comparable optical performance. The 24mm requires an Aspherical element however, giving it an L designation.

The 400 DO IS therefore is NOT an L series lens. It contains no fluorite, UD, Super-UD or ground Aspherical elements. Hence why it has no red stripe, nor carries an L designation. The green stripe I believe is used to designate the diffractive element (some readers may remember that Canon used a green stripe to designate lenses with an Aspherical element before the L series was formalised). My GUESS is that the lens will be built to similar standards as the 400 f5.6L, 300 F4L IS, etc. I think it is a safe guess that the IS will be the latest version, with the tripod mode, and that the weather-seal will be included also (as we see on the new 70-200 F2.8L IS). Since early reports, and theory, suggests that the diffractive element is prone to flare, presumably a LARGE hood will be included also, with some of the furry, light absorbing material inside it (as on my 24-85, 70-200 and 300)

Not all L series are built to the same standard. My 70-200 F4L, which contains 1 fluorite and 2 UD elements, is not as well built as my 300mm F4L IS, which "only" contains 2 UD elements. The build is better than the consumer FTM lenses, but not as good as others. I do not believe it is because of the price point, as it is at a similar price to the 135 F2, which is better built than the 300mm F4L IS.

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), August 02, 2001.


I'll just toss this here instead of starting a new thread:

Michael Reichmann has now posted a review of the lens at his Luminous Landscape site:

http://luminous-landscape.com/400-do.htm

Very impressive indeed. ***

-- Rod (rod.nygaard@boeing.com), December 13, 2001.


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