It seems from reading the posts from “people in the know” that the long talked about Canon 200-400mm F4 lens will soon be a reality. There have been many posts by the the beta testers and other privileged people who have been able to get the lens for testing. Recently Northlight.com  images showed some pictures of the 200-400 F4 in action at Wimbledon. Overall the 200-400 looks like most of Canon’s high end glass, with a off white body and built in L bracket for mounting to a tripod or other holder.

This lens fills a huge need for Canon shooters in that Canon’s only other zoom offering that would come close to this is the tried and true 100-400 F5.6 go F6.3  However that lens is an older style, one that seems to gather dirt and dust quickly, and will not allow AF to work with many Canon bodies if even a 1.4x Teleconverter is used.  I have used the 100-400 for several years and it can produce a very good image, however you can expect the image quality of the new Canon 200-400 to be top notch.  Here are a few of the features:

1. All new design with Canon IS (which has several different settings depending on the scene and requirements)
2. A built in Teleconverter which allows you to shift to 1.4x.  This is 1st as far as I am aware and should be welcomed by most Canon shooters.
3. Overall lighter weight due to materials being used, something that has been the case with all the newer high end Tele-zooms from Canon

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