These are prices from B&H. I wanted to stick to the same place for a fair comparison. Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM Lens $1,099 Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Lens $1,349 Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens $2199 Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM Lens $2,699 Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM Lens $12,999 Why such a huge jump in price from the 500mm to the 600mm? Does the 600mm being a prime lens make the difference or is there something else?
The big price increase from 500 to 600 is the aperture. 600mm F4 and 500mm 7.1 is a big difference for wildlife shooters who shoot in early morning and late evening when wildlife tends to be most active. The other big benefits of the 600 F4 prime is the ability to use the 1.4 and 2x TC to get to 840mm F5.6 and 1200mm F8 with no problems with auto focus. Some DSLR bodies don't auto focus higher than F8. With my 1DX2 and R5 I can use the 2x and have use of all the focus points were some bodies only let you use single point. The big primes are expensive and hard to justify for most people. The 100-400 IS II is a great lens and I'm sure the 100-500 will be good on the R mount bodies and will be what most people will buy but the 600 F4 is just incredible all around.
