This is the longest telephoto lens among Canon's lineup, and a terrific choice for any long-distance application-outdoor sports, wildlife, news photojournalism, and so on. It's actually lighter than Canon's EF 600mm f/4L IS lens, weighing just under 10 lbs. It uses a refined optical design, with two fluorite lens elements, one UD element, and one Super-UD-glass element, for outstanding correction of color fringing and superb contrast and sharpness. This super-telephoto lens uses magnesium-alloy barrel construction to enhance its light weight, and has weather-resistant gaskets throughout for use in harsh conditions. It's compatible with both the EF 1.4x II and 2x II tele extenders for even more reach: EOS cameras with 45 AF points will continue to provide autofocus at the center AF point when the lens is used with the 1.4x extender. Finally, it's image stabilized, providing up to 4 stops of correction for camera shake. This makes it even more practical in many situations.
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Stupid me! I didn't have a tripod worthy of this new lens so that was my next purchase. It is too heavy for hand held and just like any telephoto lens you will have to experiment to find the "sweet spot" settings that work best with your camera. If this is your first super telephoto lens just know that practice makes perfect in this case. I'm using it to shoot flying ocean birds from a deck.
I have owned this lens for about three months now, and all I can say that NO other lens will even comes close to beating the picture quality of this lens. I have tried the new 600mm f4 ii of canon. It is a fantastic lens, but in order to get the same focal length you need to use 1.4x TC (slightly larger at 840mm). The picture quality is not comparable to 800mm. I have seen so many review on internet that the new 600mm would make the 800mm obsolete, but I beg to differ. I have done extensive testing of the two lenses, and in every test the 800mm came superior in picture quality and sharpness and vibrancy. I also own Canon 300mm f2.8 ii and Canon 500mm f4 ii. They both are state of the art lenses, however, the 800mm is superior in picture quality compared to both of them. May be I have recieved the perfect copy. You can study the MTF charts and listen to all kind of reviews, but nothing beats what you see when the pictures are laid in front of you side by side. If you need the focal length and have the money, this is the lens to get. There is not much difference in weight when you use the 600mm f4 ii with 1.4x TC iii and 800mm, but believe me that there is a big difference in picture quality.
I picked this up to mainly shoot Bald Eagles. I have used this lense less than I thought I would, as it is very heavy and takes up a LOT of room on road trips. I have shot pictures of the moon using a 2x Canon extension and a Canon 7d which brings up the total mm to 2560. I can barely fit the moon in the frame of the picture. Who needs a telescope. Using this set up however raises the f stop to f11 which is fine with a full moon, or even half moon, but on regular subjects it does offer problems at 100 to 200 iso unless you have a lot of light. The focus is extremely fast and quiet. This lens is built like a tank, and the image stabilization is unreal. Not everyone can afford to have this lens in thier arsenal, but if you can.....buy one. I do recomend a different lens cap for this unit, as the boot really sucks. They are available and run around 60-70 dollars, but are well worth the investment for this lens. It is a bit spendy, but I don't think you will lose money down the road as with many other lenses.
I borrowed this lens from a friend to shoot the space shuttle launches. This is the most beautiful lens I have ever used. I was 7 miles away from the space shuttle, and this produced the best shots. I also used this to photograph wild birds. The focus was very responsive, and the lens performed very well. The lens is quite heavy so you will need a serious tripod, and it comes with a small suitcase of a carring case, that does not quite fit in the overhead bins of smaller planes. Consider a good quality tripod to be part of your purchase plans with the lens. Moon shots also fill the lens nicely. For those of use with tighter budgets, consider renting this lens first to get to know it better, you are sure to fall in love right away.
I would rate this lens higher, but I was trying to get a shoot of the wedding rings and it would not focus close enough. Also I wanted to buy a UV filter to protect the front element, imagine my shock that it would have to be custom ordered!!! Works ok hand held, hope they make one soon with VR. Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2016
Style: Lens Only
It took me 2 years to save up money working at my minimum wage job to purchase this beauty. Sure maybe its just a plastic composite tube with a couple glass circles inside but it was worth every darn penny! Every now and then on a cold night my 8 year old daughter looks at me from the tent we live in and said dad I'm cold and hungry.. I dont say a word and just show her my awesome lens and she immediately shuts the heck up
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2016
Style: Lens Only
The media could not be loaded.
A great performing lens when it comes to Wildlife and news photojournalism. Of course you can use this lens for sports as well. But it might be a bit tight standing at the field, because you might be too close. The major advantages are the huge focal length, F5.6 aperture and the low weight of 4.500g. Anyways great lens, sharp and nice bokeh.