RF 100-400 f5.6 IS USM Pros and Cons

[Dml13]

I'm interested in purchasing a refurbished lens. In particular the RF 100-400 f5.6 IS USM I like to shoot kids, portraits and landscaping. I’m not a professional photography. Any positive and negative on this lens? I just purchased a Canon R6 camera.

[JoeySnaps]

Well, I can tell you that it's a surprisingly good lens, very good optically and although it's lightweight and smaller than any other RF lens that reaches 400mm, it's reasonably well built. It doesn't come with a lens hood or even a case of any kind, which is a pity, but for the price I can't complain.

Third party lens hoods are freely available on Amazon et al.

[Dml13]

Thank you

[Waddizzle]

It is a great lens.  A better question is who is selling the refurbished lens?  

I would only buy refurbished gear directly from Canon USA.  It comes with the same one year warranty as the lenses being sold at the standard list price.  The main difference is that refurbished gear from Canon comes in a plain brown box.

[Dml13]

Thank you, it is def going to be purchased through Canon USA

[shadowsports · Accepted solution]

I bought one as well months ago, but new.

Works great.  Have been using it to take images of planes at a small airport near work.  Its f8 at 400mm.  Like JoeySnaps says, super light.  No extras, and retracted, no longer than my adapted EF 70~300 USM II.  It focuses well and is zippy.  You are in luck, as Canon has refurbished copies available.  If you want one, I suggest you grab it quickly.

I just bought a RF 1.4x TC yesterday and plan to try it on the 100 ~ 400.  You lose 1 stop and gain about 160mm of reach.  I'm still a few months away from a legit 100 ~ 500, but am hoping a 200 ~ 500 patent turns into a real lens.