Developers Of Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III and EF 600mm f/4L IS III Lenses Interviewed

Canon EF 400mm
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Canon posted an interview with the engineers who designed and developed the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III and Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III telephoto lenses.

The interview is available as a PDF and you can see it here.

An excerpt:

Interviewer: Please tell me about the background, design policy, and your enthusiasm at the start of development.

Nagao (Development Leader): Pro photography situations require the ability to capture split-second, one-of-a-kind moments in high quality. I accompanied pro photographers as they shot, and I noticed how many times that they were all packed into a tight space while tracking a subject. In order to capture such photo opportunities, I realized just how important it is to have a piece of equipment that feels like a part of you and that can be manipulated with complete ease in such tense shooting situations. We then started research from the question of “what should the pinnacle of next-generation lenses be?” We listened to the opinions of experienced photographers, thinking of how we could provide the best piece of equipment to satisfy such users, and engaged in the development process with the ideal lens in mind, but without being caught up in the framework of the conventional lens. 

Shimada (Product Planning): The foremost product concept was a lightweight design. This means a dramatic sense of lightness that one can feel when holding in the hand, as we achieved with the EF400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and EF600mm f/4L IS III USM. The reason we are committed to a lightweight design is because even though the pro and advanced amateur photographers who use super-telephoto lenses have their own ideals when it comes to specifications and style, they all invariably request a lighter lens. We also took into consideration the common view that simply lighter is not enough — rather, the weight balance when holding the camera is an important factor as a professional tool of the trade. Of course one requirement that absolutely must be met is high image quality. Just how light could we make the lens while achieving high image quality? That was the key point of this project.


Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III Teardown (Lens Rentals)

Canon EF 400mm
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Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz of Lens Rentals disassembled the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III lens, a lens that costs like a used car.

From their conclusion:

The spring-loaded adjustable collar collection is something of a mystery to us and will remain so until we can spend some days doing optical adjustments on one. The use of the same motor as the RF lens is very interesting in several ways. Only some more tear downs will tell us if this is just a superior motor type that Canon is going to use in all electrically focused lenses (I suspect this is probably the case), or just in lenses with a lot of glass in the focusing element (another likely thing).

Canon has really been very quiet about this lens, despite the known changes inside. I had a lot of trouble finding out which elements are fluorite (two of them are, apparently). There has been some talk about improved focusing speed and accuracy, which I assume has something to do with the new electronic focus system, but not much.

The teardown is explained step by step with a lot of pictures, see it here.

All images © lensrentals.com and used with permission.

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III at a glance:

  • EF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/32
  • Super UD and Fluorite Elements
  • Super Spectra and Air Sphere Coatings
  • Ring-Type Ultrasonic Motor AF System
  • Customizable Electronic Focusing Ring
  • Optical Image Stabilizer
  • Weather-Sealed Design, Fluorine Coating
  • Detachable, Rotatable Tripod Collar
  • Rounded 9-Blade Diaphragm

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Canon Announces Redesigned EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III and EF 600mm f/4L IS III Lenses

Canon EF 400mm F/2.8L IS III
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I missed this on Canon EOS R announcement day. So here it is. The Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM is scheduled to begin shipping in December 2018 with an estimated retail price of $11,999. The Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM is scheduled to begin shipping in December 2018 for an estimated retail price of $12,999. Pre-orders are not open yet but you can get notified when they are available.

Canon press release:

Canon Redesigns Premium L-Series Super-Telephoto Lenses With Its New EF 400MM F/2.8L IS III USM AND EF 600MM F/4L IS III USM Lenses

New Compact and Lightweight EF Super-Telephoto Lenses Are Well Suited for a Variety of Photographers’ Needs

MELVILLE, N.Y., September 5, 2018 – Most professional photographers need to carry multiple lenses in their camera bags. Helping to lighten their load, Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, introduces two new super-telephoto lenses, the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM. Both lenses possess a dramatic weight reduction and high-image quality, making it ideal for shooters to easily transport and capture images during action-driven scenarios, such as sports and wildlife. Both lenses now hold the title of world’s lightest in their respective focal length*. The weight of the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM lenses has been reduced by 2.2 lbs. (more than 25 percent) and 1.9 lbs. (more than 20 percent) respectively.

“When developing updates to some of Canon’s most popular legacy lenses, one common question that is asked by photographers was ‘can they be lighter,’” said Kazuto Ogawa, president and chief operating officer, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “The significant reduction of weight in these two lenses addresses this customer need and delivers thoughtfully designed, high-quality optics .”

The new lenses are must-haves for advanced and professional photographers shooting wildlife, aviation, sports and news with Canon’s new EOS R full-frame mirrorless camera (with use of one of the three new Canon mount adapters), as well the EOS 1D and 5D series of DSLR Cameras. Both lenses feature two of Canon’s most advanced propriety lens technologies – Air Sphere Coating (ASC) and Super Spectra Coating (SSC), helping to reduce flaring and ghosting, and suppressing the reflection of light, leading to vivid images. These updated lenses inherit the excellent overall build-quality and ruggedness photographers have come to expect and admire from the Canon EF L series of lenses. In addition, the minimum focusing distance has been improved for both lenses, from 2.7m to 2.5m (8.8ft to 8.2ft) for the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM and 4.5m to 4.2m (14.8ft to 13.8ft) for the EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM.

Additional noteworthy features of the lenses include:

  • Upgraded Optical Image Stabilization from three-and-a-half stops to five shutter speed stops1 of correction over the previous f/2.8 lens
  • Improved, flexible focus control with a customizable electronic-focus ring
  • Two fluorite lenses and one super UD lens, helping to provide high image quality
  • Circular nine-blade aperture
  • 17 lens elements in 13 groups
  • Heat-shielding paint helps prevent lens temperature from rising during excessive exposure to sun
  • Fluorine coating on front and rear optical elements, helps to reduce smears and fingerprints
  • Inner focusing system with Ring Ultrasonic Motor

Availability and Pricing

The Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM is scheduled to begin shipping in December 2018 with an estimated retail price of $11,999. The Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM is scheduled to begin shipping in December 2018 for an estimated retail price of $12,999^. For additional information regarding the lenses predecessors please visit, visit usa.canon.com.

The Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM Lens

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III to be announced within a month? [CW3]

Canon EF 400mm F/2.8L IS III
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The rumor mill has it that Canon might announce a new lens before Photokina 2018. The rumored lens is the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III.

No specifications are suggested, just that the Mark III version will “focus on weight reduction and updated coatings”. Along with the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III, so the rumor, Canon might announce also another “big white lens”, for which no focal length has been rumored so far. At the time of writing we can not confirm the announcement of the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III. The Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II was released in 2010, so a replacement may be a bit early on schedule.

With Photokina 2018 being a month away, we should soon see serious leaks, specifications, and possibly some images of the upcoming gear. However, we still have no reasonable hints about what Canon will announce. There are a lot of speculations, and obviously everybody is hoping for the highly anticipated Canon full frame mirrorless camera (all rumors). We have been told Canon will stage a mirrorless related event in the second week of September, others seem to disagree. We too got some conflicting intel later on and at the time being we can not confirm with high confidence that Canon will indeed hold an announcement during the second week of September 2018, and that it will be related to Canon’s full frame mirrorless camera.

Announcement wise, and on top of the probability, ranking you’ll find the EOS M5 Mark II, a 32-35mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 lens for the EOS M system, and we all hope to see a Canon full frame mirrorless camera (at least one). Some yet unknown lenses may also be announced.

We didn’t get any new intel about the EOS 90D/EOS 80D Mark II or the EOS 7D Mark III. An announcement in 2018 is still in the realm of possibilities but appears to become more unlikely as time goes by.

Stay tuned, there is more to come in the next weeks.

Matt Granger compares Sony’s new 400mm lens with Canon and Nikon’s

FFE 400mm F/2.8 GM OSS
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Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS at a glance:

  • E-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
  • Extremely Lightweight: 6.4 lb / 2.9 kg
  • Rear-Weighted Design for Better Balance
  • Dual XD Motors for Faster Focus/Tracking
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/22
  • 3 Fluorite Elements, 1 ED Element
  • Nano AR Coating, 11-Blade Diaphragm
  • Power Focus & OSS
  • Weather-Sealed; Rotating Tripod Collar

Sony just announced a very interesting lens, the Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS. It’s just natural to want to compare this lens with top tier Canon 400mm and Nikon 400mm lenses.

Matt Granger seems to be the first one to post such a comparison. According to Matt Granger, the Sony 400mm “smokes the Nikon & Canon”, and is…

Lighter, fast and optically superior – the Sony lens is damned impressive! However there are two issues…

I guess there are no issues on the Canon and Nikon 400mm lenses.

[via Sony Alpha Rumors]

Canon patent for 400mm f/5.6 mirror lens (aka catadioptric lens)

mirror lens

Canon Japan filed a patent for a 400mm f/5.6 mirror lens. A mirror lens (or reflex or catadioptric lens).

I guess not everyone is informed on what a mirror lens is. So, here is what Wikipedia says:

Various types of catadioptric systems are also used in camera lenses known alternatively as catadioptric lenses (CATs), reflex lenses, or mirror lenses. These lenses use some form of the cassegrain design which greatly reduces the physical length of the optical assembly, partly by folding the optical path, but mostly through the telephoto effect of the convex secondary mirror which multiplies the focal length many times (up to 4 to 5 times). This creates lenses with focal lengths from 250 mm up to and beyond 1000 mm that are much shorter and compact than their long-focus or telephoto counterparts. Moreover, chromatic aberration, a major problem with long refractive lenses, and off-axis aberration, a major problem with reflective telescopes, is almost completely eliminated by the catadioptric system, making the image they produce suitable to fill the large focal plane of a camera.

Catadioptric lenses do, however, have several drawbacks. The fact that they have a central obstruction means they cannot use an adjustable diaphragm to control light transmission. This means the lens’s F-numbervalue is fixed to the overall designed focal ratio of the optical system (the diameter of the primary mirror divided into the focal length). Exposure is usually adjusted by the placement of neutral density filters on the front or rear of the lens. Their modulation transfer function shows low contrast at low spatial frequencies. Finally, their most salient characteristic is the annular shape of defocused areas of the image, giving a doughnut-shaped ‘iris blur’ or bokeh, caused by the shape of the entrance pupil.

Patent JP-A-2017-219642 discusses such a catadioptric lens.

  • Focal length: 400 mm
  • F No: 5.6
  • 2 ω: 1.96
  • Image height: 13.66mm
  • Back focus: 33.07mm
  • Lens length: 247.73mm

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