Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM

The Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM is an L-series telephoto zoom on the Canon EF mount, priced at £1,909.40 and rated 4.2 out of 5 from 370 ratings. It is number 5 in this guide. Its own numbers mostly agree with each other: the name gives a 100-400 mm range, the specification repeats 100 mm and 400 mm as the minimum and maximum focal length, and the stated zoom ratio of 4.0 is exactly 400 divided by 100.

Where it slips is the aperture and the bullets. The title sells a variable f/4.5-5.6 lens, but the specification lists a single figure, "Maximum Aperture: 4.5 f" — the 5.6 the lens reaches at the long end of the zoom appears nowhere in the spec table. The bullets also work against each other: one promises "sharp, high-contrast images", while another says the ASC coating "reduces contrast". The same spec block carries camera fields that mean nothing on a lens, including "Screen Size: 1 Inches", "Has Self-Timer: No" and a coating description still marked "[POSSIBLE] Super Spectra coating". The rating is the part that holds up: the histogram runs from 71 at five stars down to 13 at one star, and those entries average to 4.23, which is the 4.2 shown on the page. Everything here comes from the Amazon listing, not from any testing of our own.