400mm DO F4 lens or 500mm lens

[Mat Bingham]

I think I have just about convinced the wife to let me spend about £5000 on a new lens. I am thinking about the Canon F4 DO IS lens or maybe a second hand 500mm lens. For the budget I have can you give me some advice on what you would recommend. I would be using it for bird photography. I have a 300mm F4 lens which I use for insects etc but want a lens with more reach. Is the 400mm lens comfortable for hand holding for long periods? What about using a 1.4 tc with the lens. Any advice would be great.:S3:

[arash_hazeghi]

I had 400DO for a while it was OK when used naked. But I did not like it at all with the TC, the sharpness was poor (in my standard). Note that Canon do not designate this lens as an "L" lens because it's not quite up to the spec. The DO technology is obsolete now and that's why Canon never updated the DO line of lenses. I don't think they actually make this lens anymore it must be from older stock. I would get the 500 without hesitation. IMO the 300 f/2.8 (MKI or MKII) with 1.4 is a much better choice than 400DO if you cannot handhold the 500.

[Grady Weed]

I would agree with Arash on the 300 2.8 L version 1 lens! It is a great birding lens, even with a 1.4 or the 2x I use occasionaly for the extra reach. Please keep in mind I image birds but not a lot of flight photography. However...many here do and successfully so using that combo. If I could afford it, the 500 mm prime lens, version 2 at B&H is $10,000, I would sell my sleep for it. You might pick up a 500 mm version, 1 used, here or other sites. Arash, Roger Clark, etc could steer you on that one.

Kind Regards.

[Don Nelson]

Matt
I've got both the 400DO and 500mm I currently.
The 400DO new price is 6299 not 500 (BH() -- Adorama lists grey mkt at 5595 and USA at 6469.)
I've had no problems with sharpness (Says Aritie looking at my images and Doug Brown simlarly).
You would need to boost contrast a bit more than with the non-DO lenses.
One concern would be resale value in the future - with all the negative press you might find it more difficult to resell.

If I were you, I'd go find a good used 500mm version I.


However, as Artie told me two weekends ago at Tualatin River, the price for these has been going up, not down, due to the substantially higher prices on the Mk II versions. Since a number of the Mark I's will come up for sale, if I were you I'd get one of those lined up rather than the 400DO. They're holding their value (FYI used prices are higher than what I paid for mine new. Go figure).

(I'm not offering mine - I'll keep it as I'm only ordering the 600 II. I already have a 800mm but that's not easily hand holdable for flight -- Doug Brown tried mine last summer for flight and agreed that its not as easy as his 600mm mk I nor my 500mm Mk 1).

[arash_hazeghi]

I will be selling my 500 when I receive the 600. will replace it with a 300.

I am going to offer it to my BPN friends first, I think I have proven it's sharp :bg3:

[Steve Canuel]

Mat,
I've had the 400DO since Jan 2008. The DO is a joy to handle and is much smaller and easily held than you'd think. Really excels during "from the lap", roadside shooting. I found the 500/4 to provide more consistent, reliable IQ but it's longer and heavier and sucked all the joy out of hiking in search of subjects for me. Lack of contrast complaints can be addressed in PP. Depends on your demands of IQ and intended output of your images on whether or not it's as good as the 500/4. I've personally gotten frame filling images with stacked 2x and 1.4x TCs that printed out quite nicely as an 8x10 after a little PP TLC.

[Doug Brown]

<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">Can't say I'm a big fan of the 400 DO. The form factor is nice, and the bare lens produces sharp images. But I'm not crazy about IQ when you throw a 1.4x into the mix. If you want relatively light weight, I'd consider a 400mm f/5.6 or a 300mm f/2.8 with extenders. Of course the 500mm f/4 is the gold standard (along with the 600 f/4). I can hand hold either all day long, and the weight savings in the new versions will make it even easier for photographers to hand hold for extended periods.