Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS DxOMarked (a good all-round choice)

DxOMark felt the pulse of another well known Canon work-horse lens, the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS (price & specs). They say it is “still a good all-round choice”.

• Comparison Canon EF 100-400mm f4-5.6L IS vs. EF 70-300mm f4-5.6L IS (click here)
• Comparison Canon EF 100-400mm f4-5.6L IS vs. Sigma 50-500mm f4-6.3 APO EX DG HSM vs. Sigma 50-500mm f4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM (click here)
• Comparison Canon EF 100-400mm f4-5.6L IS vs. Canon EF 200-400mm f4L IS Extender 1.4x (click here)

In the conclusion they write:

Without doubt this lens is a popular model and it’s not difficult to see why. It has pretty good image quality throughout the range – though sharpness is confined to a relatively small area centrally at the initial aperture. Edge performance improves when stopped down but it’s not ideal where shooting in available light is usually the only option.

A new updated version is long overdue but when it arrives will likely have improved full aperture performance and a ticket to match, but for the time being this lens is competitively priced and remains a solid choice.

The Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS is on sale for $1559 at major US resellers (price shows up after added to cart): B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA.