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Thread: Canon Will Exhibit The Prototype EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXTENDER 1.4X Lens

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    Co-Founder James Shadle's Avatar
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    Default Canon Will Exhibit The Prototype EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXTENDER 1.4X Lens

    LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., February 7, 2011 – Canon Inc. today announced the development of a new super-telephoto lens, the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXTENDER l.4x, for use with all EOS SLR cameras. A prototype of the new lens will be exhibited at the CP+ tradeshow, held in Pacifico Yokohama, from February 9 - 12, 2011.
    The EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXTENDER l.4x is being developed as an L-series super-telephoto lens with an integrated 1.4x extender and high-performance Image Stabilizer technology. The new lens will offer exceptional flexibility by incorporating a built-in 1.4x extender that increases the maximum focal length to 560mm for sports and wildlife photography. High-quality images with high levels of resolution and contrast will be possible through the use of advanced optical materials such as fluorite crystal. The new lens will also include dust- and water-resistant construction designed for extended usage under harsh conditions.
    Canon will continue to respond to the needs of various users ranging from beginners and advanced amateurs to professional photographers, in an effort to enrich their photographic expression with SLR cameras by continuing to develop attractive new lenses with improved optical technology.
    About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
    Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2009†, with 2009 global revenues of US $35 billion and is listed as number six in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World’s Most Admired Companies 2010 list. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei – "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" – Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.
    Last edited by James Shadle; 02-07-2011 at 12:19 AM.

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    BPN Member David Pugsley's Avatar
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    Wow, this lens is a mind-melter. Kudos to Canon for thinking outside the box on the engineering. I'd guess this lens will be at least $7k when it arrives.

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    Co-Founder James Shadle's Avatar
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    Icon3

    I've got an idea.
    How about building a 200-560mm zoom without the 1.4 converter.

    I know -

  4. #4
    Ákos Lumnitzer
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    OOOOH another toy for the masses, but certainly sounds great! :) Maybe more Canon 500 f/4L IS USM lenses going cheap..... I love technology.

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    Cecil Kirksey
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    If price is somewhat near the price of the current 300mm f/2.8 L IS I I would consider it. But I suspect the price maybe near $7000.

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    Quote Originally Posted by James Shadle View Post
    I've got an idea.
    How about building a 200-560mm zoom without the 1.4 converter.

    I know -
    Heck - I'd even settle for the 200-400 f/4 without the 1.4TC!

  7. #7
    luc hoogenstein
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    Sounds tempting indeed, though I already would have been happy if Canon came up with a 200-400/f4 IS alone, without a converter (like Nikon did a few years ago). In the end, it's a 280-560mm zoom I assume (don't think the converter will be removable?). Hopefully Canon will give a price indication in Japan!

    best,
    Luc

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Well for what it's worth and based on Nikons 200-400 being about £5000 at present in the UK, then Canon's 200-400 won't be far off £6-6500, so just under $10,000. No sure if they will change their policy on World-wide warranty with all these new launches.

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    pradeep jain
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    Any idea which year will it be released, appears quite appetising

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    Steve my baby's university fund is going to be in jeopardy after reading this :) ;)

    Will wait for detailed tests/reviews before jumping in - but this does make it interesting...
    Now if only Canon can get the hood over the Nikon low-light capabilities in their high-end cameras...
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Good to see your priorities are still correct.

    Check your mail later, email that is

    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    I am thinking that the price will be a lot closer to Steve's 10K than the pie-in-the-sky 7K estimates....
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  14. #14
    Ken Watkins
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    Lokks very clever to me, here is a more detailed "review"

    http://dancarrphotography.com/blog/2...der-1-4%c3%97/

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    This is my personal assessment of the lens.

    Current BHPhoto street price is $6,799 for the AF-S NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II Lens (3.4kg) and it does not have a built-in teleconverter.

    MSRP would be above $7,000 and after the London 2012 Olympic Games around $6,000+. Another indicator for price is that lenses that have a related aperture diameter of 100-107mm tend to sell for $4,500 to $7,000.

    Now about this lens.

    For whom is this lens for? Sports & Wildlife shooters.

    - If you do not have a focal length of 200mm or longer this is a very tempting lens to acquire.

    - If you do have a focal length of 200mm or longer but is slower than f/4 this is a very tempting lens to acquire.

    - If you only want one super telephoto that fits mostly outdoors application then this is a very tempting lens to acquire.

    Extender 1.4x not engaged
    - FF crop camera would be 200-400 @ f/4
    - 1.3x crop camera would be 260-520 @ f/4
    - 1.6x crop camera would be 320-640 @ f/4

    Extender 1.4x engaged
    - FF crop camera would be 280-560 @ f/5.6
    - 1.3x crop camera would be 364-728 @ f/5.6
    - 1.6x crop camera would be 448-896 @ f/5.6

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    Using the weight difference between the Canon & Nikon lenses below I tried to come up with the weight range of the 200-400mm IS. This assumes that Canon continues the trend forward.

    2007-Today Nikkor Super teles
    200-400mm VR II 3360g $6,799
    200mm VR II 2930g $5,999.95
    300mm VR II 2900g $4,635
    400mm VR 4620g $8,899.95
    500mm VR 3880g $8,499.00
    600mm VR 5080g $10,299.95

    2008-Today Canon Super teles
    200-400mm IS
    200mm IS 2520g $5,700
    300mm IS II 2350g $7,000 by March
    400mm IS II 3850g $11,000 by March
    500mm IS II 3190g $9,499 by May
    600mm IS II 3920g $11,999 by June

    Formula:

    a) (Canon / Nikon) * 200-400mm VR II = 200-400mm IS w/o Extender EF 1.4X III
    b) (Canon / Nikon) * 200-400mm VR II = 200-400mm IS w/ Extender EF 1.4X III

    a) 2,593-2,890g without the 225g of the Extender EF 1.4X III
    b) 2,818-3,115g with the 225g of the Extender EF 1.4X III

    MSRP should be above US$7,000

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    Very innovative idea. I hate taking using the extenders in the field, especially here in South Texas.

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    What's the chance this lens will be handholdable? From the pictures, I'd guess not.

    I wonder how it will compare to the 400mm f/4 DO + 1.4x TC? That is handholdable. Likely the newer lens will have better IS. The DO is not as sharp as most L series, but zooms are not as sharp as primes. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

    I'm thinking I'd probably prefer to have the 400mm f/4 DO since I rarely find any need for 200-399, and I like to handhold.

    The lens I really want is a 400mm f/4 prime EF-S. Given the number of bird folks who shoot with crop bodies, and the sheer mass of big lenses, I don't know why no one has made any long EF-S lenses.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Elliotte Rusty Harold View Post

    Given the number of bird folks who shoot with crop bodies, and the sheer mass of big lenses, I don't know why no one has made any long EF-S lenses.
    There is no need to make EF-S only long lenses. Making a good lens with a really wide angle of view is difficult and expensive. At the wide-angle focal lengths it is financially attractive to make EF-S only offerings because on "crop" size sensors cameras you don't need to get the same angle of view (at a given focal length) required for a full frame camera. Making a lens with a very narrow angle of view that will cover both full and "crop" size sensors is much easier - there would be virtually no difference between making a super-telephoto lens that covered full frame and one that covered a crop frame.

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    Elliotte,

    Below is an edited version of a comment I made in the BAA blog. I'm guessing the Canon 200-400 will be 1.5 lbs than Nikon's plus TC, and maybe only a pound more than the 400 DO plus TC. I regularly hand hold the Nikon 200-400 - but it helps a lot to use a Kinesis harness and have taken the Flight School workshop.

    --- BAA comment ---
    I’m more optimistic about the weight. The Nikon 500 weighs 8.6 lbs, the 200-400 7.4 lbs, the 300 6.4 lbs. The old Canon 500 and 300 are 8.5 lbs and 6 lbs, about the same as Nikon. The new Canon 500 and 300 are 7 lbs and 5.2 lbs. Ignoring the TC, there’s reason to hope the Canon 200-400 would be about 6 lbs. A stand-alone 1.4 TC is about 1/2 lb, the built-in one should add less. I’m hoping the Canon 200-400 will be between 6 and 6.5 lbs.

    Nikon has new-ish versions of the 500, 200-400, and 300 priced at $8500, $6800, and $5800. Canon’s new 500 and 300 are $9500 and $7000, so maybe the Canon 200-400 will intro at $8000 to $8500.

    Based on our experience with the Nikon 200-400 on D300 and D700, with and without a TC14, I think the Canon lens will be fantastic on a 1.6 crop body. Can’t wait to get one. Then to just save for a 600 for the long stuff. I have to admit though that A 70-200 plus 500 is a very interesting alternative.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Re: Canon 200-400
    A friend of mine is in Japan and saw the new lenses at a show there, (albeit prototypes) under glass and you could not view through the lens. Size wise, his assumption is that it's not much bigger than Nikons, perhaps on par with Canon's 500mm, but the lever to engage the 1.4 is clearly visible and perhaps not the prettiest of the range with a 'lumpy' end. :2
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    Jeff, as I Understand it the advantage to an APS-C telephoto would be a smaller, lighter lens. Since you'd need a smaller image circle, the objective could be smaller resulting in a much smaller, lighter, hopefully cheaper, more handholdable lens. A lot of the glass in an EF telephoto is just bouncing light off of black plastic.

    The disadvantage is that you'd get more vignetting and less sharpness in the corners than with an EF lens. However that could be remedied by making the lens a little bigger, just not as big as a full EF lens.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Elliotte Rusty Harold View Post
    Jeff, as I Understand it the advantage to an APS-C telephoto would be a smaller, lighter lens. Since you'd need a smaller image circle, the objective could be smaller resulting in a much smaller, lighter, hopefully cheaper, more handholdable lens. A lot of the glass in an EF telephoto is just bouncing light off of black plastic.
    .
    Elliotte - an f/4 super-telephoto lens at a given focal lenth is an f/4 lens, regardless of the image circle - the lens elements have to be a large enough to get the focal length to effective lens pupil ratio. If you want a lighter, more handholdable lens you'll have to hope for a quality 500mm f/5.6 or something similarly slow (which will undoubtedly still cover both sensor formats).
    Last edited by Jeff Dyck; 02-15-2011 at 07:50 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Dyck View Post
    Elliotte - an f/4 super-telephoto lens at a given focal lenth is an f/4 lens, regardless of the image circle - the lens elements have to be a large enough to get the focal length to effective lens pupil ratio. If you want a lighter, more handholdable lens you'll have to hope for a quality 500mm f/5.6 or something similarly slow (which will undoubtedly still cover both sensor formats).
    I'm not following the optics here. Yes, to the extent that you define an f number as the ratio of aperture diameter to lens length, then it doesn't matter. But the fact remains that an EF sized objective has a lot of glass that does nothing more than bounce light off black plastic on an APS-C sized sensor. It doesn't contribute to the image, just the weight. You could paint a black annulus around an EF lens and not change the final picture at all. There'd be just as much light actually hitting the sensor. If you trace the rays, you'd just be cutting off the rays that are never going to hit the sensor anyway.

    What am I missing? How does the larger image circle of a full EF sized lens actually contribute on an APS-C camera?

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