Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras | 
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| Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
List Price: $8,900.00
Buy New: $5,459.00
You Save: $3441.00 (39%)
New (9)
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Minimum Focal Length: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 13.5
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4 x 3
MPN: EF 400MM f/4 DO IS USM
Model: EF 400MM f/4 DO IS USM
UPC: 013803004991
EAN: 0013803004991
ASIN: B00006I53U
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | EF mount; super telephoto lens | | • | Fluorite glass; diffractive optics; image stabilizer; internal focusing | | • | 400mm focal length | | • | f/4 maximum aperture | | • | Micro UltraSonic Motor (USM) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM is the world's first super telephoto lens incorporating the exclusive Canon-developed multi-layer diffractive optical element for camera lenses. The optical element, which incorporates light diffraction, is a major technological breakthrough, and it features an exceeding ability to correct chromatic and spherical aberrations and render high-quality images. By including this optical element in the lens design, the lens has achieved tremendous savings of 26% in overall length and 36% in weight compared to comparable lenses incorporating only conventional refractive optical elements. Moreover, the size and weight advantage comes at no cost to image quality, with the EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM delivering performance equivalent to conventional models in its class.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Wonderful lens! You'll take it with you everywhere. November 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I hesitated for weeks before buying this lens. It's expensive (only $1,000 or so cheaper than the wonderful 400mm 2.8 Canon lens), it's 4.0 instead of 2.8, it's not an L lens (since it uses the less common diffractive optics), and the user reviews of the early production lenses were mixed (the latter reviews are much better). However, I finally decided to buy because I needed a 400mm lens for a mix of sports and outdoors photos, and I knew that I would rarely use the much heavier and longer 400mm 2.8 lens. It is true that the 400mm 2.8 has photographic advantages over the 400mm 4.0 DO, but those don't mean anything if you don't have the lens with you when you need it!
In the month or so I've had the 400mm DO, I've taken it with me on trips--in planes, inside the cabin, with enough space for two camera bodies, and 24-70mm and 70-200mm zoom lenses--and I've shot sports handheld _exclusively_. The autofocus is very fast, the image quality is _astounding_, and I can only say good things about this lens. Perfect 10 for me!
 Light enough for a walk-around August 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an often maligned lens, due to its high cost and the lower contrast compared to regular lenses. Both are true and the latter is easily fixable in the digital workflow. The upside that no other lens can compete with is, that one can carry it for miles without undue strain, handhold for substantial periods of time, like waiting a few minutes for some wildlife to move into position, or for some sports action to happen. Obviously, there are even lighter 400mm lenses, but those have typically no image stabilization and a very small maximum aperture.
At this point for me, this is my one size fits all super telephoto lens. There are sharper lenses, longer lenses, faster lenses, etc. but this one can do almost everything, and do it good enough.
The best 400mm lens to carry outback November 14, 2006
28 out of 28 found this review helpful
This is my lens for handheld images of birds in flight. It's sharp and exhibits no color fringing or other chromatic aberration. By comparison, my Leitz 400mm f/6.8 Telyt shows a fair amount of color fringing outside the center region. To be fair, the Telyt is a much simpler design.
The Telyt does have higher contrast than the EF 400mm f/4 DO IS, but a levels layer in Photoshop can fix that.
The 400mm f/4 DO IS is much lighter than any 400mm f/4 lens with conventional optics. DO lenses have a diffraction element that compensates for the color dispersion of spherical lens elements. It also reduces optical complexity and size.
The f/4 speed makes autofocus faster, and allows even better isolation of subjects using narrow depth of field. While bigger and heavier than Canon's 400mm f/5.6L, the f/4 lens is light enough at 4.3 pounds that it's still easy to carry. I've used mine on hikes above 10,000 feet to photograph bighorn sheep.
IS definitely makes a difference handheld, and on a tripod below 1/125 second. Canon's 400mm f/5.6L is a non-stabilized lens.
I've taken some of my sharpest wildlife images with this lens - you can see every feather in some bird shots. Highly recommended if you can afford one.
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