Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM Assessment

Introduction

Ease of Use

Weighing in at 635g / 22.4 ounces and measuring 16.5cm in size (when set to the 100mm focal size), the RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM is a surprisingly compact and comparatively light-weight lens given the big focal vary of 100-400mm that is on supply.

It would not really feel in any respect unbalanced when utilizing it with a mid-sized digital camera physique just like the Canon EOS R6 physique that we examined it with, as proven within the product pictures, even and not using a battery grip fitted.

The lens extends additional by a further 8.5cm to succeed in a complete size of 25cm when totally zoomed out to 400mm.

The RF 100-400mm is barely shorter than the same RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM by about 4cms, however crucially its a lot, a lot lighter than its longer, quicker cousin, which weighs in at a whopping 1530g.

Construct high quality is superb for what’s in spite of everything a non L-series lens. Regardless of its largely plastic development, the RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM feels strong in your hand, and it commendably has a metallic mount.

Notice that this lens doesn’t have a weather-resistant design to assist defend it towards mud and moisture.

There are two switches on the left hand facet of the RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM lens. The highest one is a change for selecting between auto-focusing and handbook focusing. The underside one is a change for turning picture stabilisation on or off.

The built-in 5.5 stops of picture stabilisation are vital when hand-holding such an extended lens, and the system fortunately works very effectively, guaranteeing that you would be able to shoot at slower shutter speeds than 1/four-hundredth and nonetheless get sharp outcomes (clearly relying in your approach).

That is particularly vital on the older EOS R and RP cameras, which lack the extra in-body stabilisation supplied by the newer EOS R5 and R6, which due to this fact additional improve the RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM’s personal stabilizer, though solely by an additional half cease to six stops in complete.

The Lock perform change is a helpful function that helps defend the lens. Set the focal size to 100mm and transfer it to the Lock place to forestall the zoom mechanism from creeping when the digital camera is pointed down or in storage.

On the finish of the lens is the slim management ring. As on most different Canon RF lenses, this can be utilized to regulate sure key digital camera settings (TV, AV, ISO and publicity settings).

The fly-by-wire handbook focusing ring is pretty slender however it’s ridged that will help you to get a firmer grip on it.

There are additionally no arduous stops at both finish of the ring that will help you know when the minimal or most focusing distance has been achieved.

Notice that this lens usefully affords full-time handbook focusing even when AF is chosen.

Polariser customers ought to be happy that the smart 67mm filter thread would not rotate on focus.

Auto-focusing with the Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM and the EOS R6 digital camera proved to be fast, quiet and correct for almost all of the time.

The Twin Nano USM auto-focusing system makes use of each a hoop kind USM and an STM mechanism to ship quick, practically silent autofocus efficiency with full-time handbook focus override within the one-shot AF mode.

The lens can be very quiet, making it ideally suited for discreet conditions, comparable to on safari or for birding, in addition to to be used whereas filming movies.

We did not expertise an excessive amount of “searching” in any respect, both in good or unhealthy mild, with the lens precisely focusing just about all the time, due to the very good low-light capabilities of the EOS R cameras.

There’s a petal formed lens hood (EW-74B) and a gentle case (LP1224) accessible for this lens, however disappointingly each are elective extras that are not included within the field.

Focal Vary

The Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM’s focal vary supplies an angle of view of 24° at 100mm and 6° 10′ at 400mm.

100mm

200mm

300mm

400mm

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, sometimes seen as blue or purple fringes alongside contrasty edges, weren’t particularly obvious in our check pictures, solely showing in very excessive distinction areas.

Vignetting

With the Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM lens set to its most aperture, there may be some mild fall-off within the corners, which you may have to appropriate in post-processing. That is way more obvious within the Uncooked recordsdata than the JPEGs.

100mm / JPEG

100mm / RAW

400mm / JPEG

400mm / RAW

Distortion

There’s some gentle pin-cushion distortion at both finish of the focal vary in each the JPEG and Uncooked recordsdata, but it surely’s not too pronounced.

100mm

200mm

Macro

The Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM affords a minimal focusing distance of 88cm / 34.6″, with a most magnification of 0.41x. This lets you seize some good macro pictures when taking pictures on the 400mm focal size.

Bokeh

Bokeh is a phrase used for the out-of-focus areas of {a photograph}, and is often described in qualitative phrases, comparable to easy / creamy / harsh and so forth.

Within the RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM lens, Canon have employed an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades, which mixed with the somewhat gradual most apertures ends in pretty good bokeh in our view.

We do realise, nonetheless, that bokeh analysis is subjective, so we have included numerous examples beneath in your perusal.

Sharpness

To be able to present you ways sharp the Canon RF 100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next pages.