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Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Canon 500mm, 600mm & 200-400mm Lenses Delayed…Again

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Canon 600mm f/4L IS II

The Canon 500mm f/4L IS II and 600mm f/4L IS II lenses were announced in February 2011, with availability initially set for May and June for the respective lenses.  In May, the availability date for these lenses was pushed back to December 2011.

Canon dropped a press release yesterday to simply say that availability is “yet to be determined” for these lenses – presumably to make it official that Canon will miss the December ship date.  As for the 200-400mm f/4L IS lens, it’s TBD as well.

Official word from Canon is in the press release below. [Read more…]

 

Canon EF 500mm F/4L IS II USM and EF 600mm F/4L IS II USM Announced

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Refreshed versions of Canon’s popular 500mm and 600mm super-telephoto lenses will be available, respectively, in May and June 2011.

The Canon EF 500mm F/4L IS II USM and EF 600mm F/4L IS II USM offer reduced weight and greater durability over their predecessors.  The addition of two fluorite lens elements should also provide better image quality over the older lenses as well.

In addition to other features, the new lenses offer a feature aimed at HDSLR shooters, which Canon calls “Power Focus.”  According to Canon, “This mode allows manual rack focusing to be operated smoothly by turning a playback ring that is normally used for the focus preset function.  Both low-speed and high-speed focus shifting are available.”

All these improvements come at a price though.

The EF 500mm F/4L IS USM will retail for $9,499.00 (check availability at B&H Photo and Amazon), while the 600mm F/4L IS USM will retail for $11,999.00 (check availability at B&H Photo and Amazon).

Complete details and more images for the new lenses are below. [Read more…]