Canon EF 500mm F4 L IS USM II

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens Review

This review was created side-by-side with the Canon EF 600mm f/4.0L IS II USM Lens review . These are very similar lenses that arrived at the same time, so you are sure to see many similarities between these reviews.

Perfect lens for wildlife photography.

I adore my Canon EF 500mm f4L IS USM super-telephoto lens. It's the perfect lens for wildlife photography. The 500mm focal length, equivalent to 800mm when mounted on a cropped-frame body, delivers decent-sized images of distant subjects, while the f4 maximum aperture allows you to isolate them with...

Because aperture blades form a near circle at the wide openings used for low-light shots, spot-light sources have a pleasing circular defocused effect.

Canon announced two new super telephoto lenses, which will be available later this year. They are upgrades of the current EF 500/4L IS USM and EF 600/4L IS USM . Both lenses feature lower weight, improved image stabilization and a revised optical design including the addition of a second Fluorite...

A superb lens, fantastically sharp, nice contrast, great focusing speed, very robust (able to take some knocks, though best avoided if possible!), great full-time manual focusing - very smooth, when not hindered (see below). Great with the Canon 1.4x tele-converter, focusing speed still great, etc.