by Kelvin Khor in 2006



I bought a new 400 F4 DO IS (with date code of year 2006) after some intensive research in the net. From what I’ve gathered, there are only two opinions about this lens; either a “Love” or “Hate” relation. The former group thinks this DO lens lives up to Canon “L” quality, an excellent performer and with good portability. The latter group thinks the opposite. Besides, it produces weird bokeh at certain light condition and with price so close to legendary 500 F4L IS, the 400 DO is just not worth the money.

As I was looking for a supertele lens for birding, I was considering between combo “300mm F2.8L IS + 2x TC” and “400mm F4 DO IS + 1.4x TC”. The 300mm is a Canon legendary lens with no complaint what so ever from all users. However, 400 DO has received mix reviews. It was a difficult decision. My criteria the new combo must have good image quality, Image Stabilizer, able to hand held over long period of time and good portability (light weight). Hence, I decided to take a calculated risk.

Here is my non-technical hand on review of this lens :p. And having both Canon 400mm lenses; DO and F5.6L, I decide to compare them. The 400 F5.6L is also a highly regarded Canon super-tele lens.

Unless other wise stated, pictures were taken in RAW, converted to 8 bits tiff via ARC, sharpening off and no color adjustment. Then cropped, added texts, converted to sRGB and saved as jpeg quality 10 in CS2. Camera and lens were set on stable tripod and ball head. Center AF, manual exposure and ISO100 were used. IS off.


First Impression

Without the hood, the 400 DO is shorter than 400 F5.6L. With hood on, it now looks more like one big Canon white lens. In term of weight, it is heavier. But due to its relative bigger size, it felt light in my hand. The build quality is as good as any other L lenses I have. Below two pictures taken with 400 DO, 400 F5.6L and 70-200 F2.8L IS side by side and with hood on and reverse.






Color Reproduction

With my untrained eyes, I see 400 5.6L produces a little more saturated color. Notice the different in red, blue, orange and green color in below picture? Judge for yourself. The colors produced by 400 5.6L are closer to real things. However, 400 DO is not far behind.




Sharpness

Spare me the resolution chart since I don’t have one. I was looking for printed characters in newspaper or magazine but I’ve none either. So, looking outside my apartment window at 11th floor, I found a well lighted wall.

All pictures below are 100% crop.


400 DO







All I can say is I’m impressed with the sharpness at F4. It is sharp corner to corner! My doubt of rumor floating around that this lens is not sharp has gone away. At F5.6, not significant improvement in sharpness is observed. And stepping down to F8, I can barely see slight increase in sharpness. At this point, all I know and care is I can use this lens at maximum opening without any concerns.


400 F5.6L





So, how is this 400 F5.6L stands up with its bigger brother? After squeezing my eyes lips over few cups of 3-in-1 coffee, staring at 100% resolution pictures over and over again, I can see just a little better sharpness in 400 DO. However, I doubt I can see the difference in the real world. Both lenses are excellent!


400 DO + Sigma 1.4x TC APO (= 560mm F5.6 IS lens)





Since I pretty much glue a 1.4X to this 400 DO, I tested the combo. With Sigma 1.4x TC, some vignetting is observed at corner, though not a concern in real world. I will try with Canon 1.4x TC II in future to compare amount of vignetting. Step down to F8, almost all vignetting is gone. Sharpness is still as good as without TC at F5.6. Step down to F8, slight improvement in sharpness is seen. With this result, I do not hesitate to use this combo at maximum opening (F5.6). Here is a 100% crop of a spotted-necked dove taken with hand held and IS on (focus point at eye). No post processing and sharpening were done.




400 F5.6L + Sigma 1.4x TC APO (=560mm F8 lens)

ISO200 was used for following two pictures.





Similar to 400 DO, vignetting was observed at maximum opening (F8). Step down to F11, almost all vignetting is gone. Sharpness improves at F11 but not by much. I can say that maximum opening is totally usable. The short coming is AF becomes slow, although still work with my 1DMKII. But AF has been reported not working on non 1 series camera.


400 DO + Canon 2x TC II (=800mm F8 IS lens)

It is so nice to have a portable 800mm lens. So, how good is 400 DO stacked with 2X? With a 2X, maximum aperture becomes F8. Center AF still work fine at mid day light (not sure about late evening). I can get a fast lock every time. I changed my setup this time. I slotted a SideKick into my Mahkin M10 and mounted above combo. With IS on and whole setup running loose, I simply shoot from my window. This is to simulate the actual birding method I use.

100% crop at middle of pictures. Shot in raw w/o sharpening.



And full picture of above after resize with USM setting of 60, 0.8, 1.



With 2X, the image quality suffer. Sharpness no longer holds its position at 100% view in my monitor. But is it really not usable at all? I reduce above picture to 33% of original size and apply USM. Guess what, I believe this combo is usable as long as you don’t print above A4 size. Again, I don’t have a printer with me so I do not print it. I just simulate A4 print at 33% view. You don’t have to agree with me :p. As every photographer knows, avoid using 2X if you can. This statement still holds.


Conclusion

What can I say? After whole morning of tests and limited occasions of actual shot with 400 F4 DO IS, I love it. It performs to my expectation. I’m glad I make the right decision.

You might wander why I need this lens since I already have the 400 F5.6L. My reason is simple. I want a light weight 400mm lens with F4 maximum aperture and IS. Is it worth as it costs 4.5X more than 400 F5.6L. Only the user can tell.

Update: Majority of birds photos in my gallery are taken with 400 DO lens. Some with Canon 500mm F4L IS. You can view them HERE. And only few with 400 F5.6L.

The End

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