Canon EF 400mm 5.6 L USM – quick review

My wife surprised me with a new Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens over the weekend.

She picked up a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Super Telephoto Lens (Check prices at B&H, Adorama and Amazon)

This lens is great.

I haven’t had a chance to use it much, but took it out first thing Saturday morning to try out.

I did catch a dove on a house across the street and decided to try out the Canon EF 1.4X II Extender (Check prices at B&H, Adorama and Amazon) and taped the pins to keep autofocus on my Canon 5D to get a 560mm focal length.

While this lens isn’t perfect (IS would make it perfect) it is a great lens. If you don’t twitch much while shooting (i.e., you don’t shake), you can easily handhold this lens.

I can’t handhold this lens thought…I have to use a monopod or tripod to keep this lens steady (even at high shutter speeds).  Without the support, all my photos or blurry…so…the IS would be nice to have and would make this lens perfection.

FYI – I use a GM5561T 6X Carbon Fiber Monopod (Check prices at B&H, Adorama and Amazon) with a Really Right Stuff High Capacity Monopod Head or a newly acquired Induro CT 314 8X Carbon Fiber Tripod (Check Prices at Adorama, Amazon, and B&H).

Related posts:

1. Canon 400mm 5.6 L Lens Review
2. Canon 7D DSLR – Product Review
3. Full Moon Shot and Stars – Canon 5D and 100-400mm L
4. Canon 5D & 100-400mm Lens – an ideal combo
5. Canon 50mm f/1.2 L Lens Review