Canon 500 f4 or not?

Hi all,

I have the Canon 500mmf4 IS II sitting in my room. I bought it used and have another couple of weeks to decide whether to keep it or not.

I am in two minds over this lens purchase. It’s a significant amount of money for me and I’m keen not to make a mistake.

I like and want it. One of the reasons I felt confident about buying it was that big whites generally keep their value and when I sell it ( as I will a few years down the road when I’m too old to use it - I’m 65 now) I assumed I would recoup my money.

However I believe Canon are planning RF 500f4 IS and 600f4 IS lenses which will make mine obsolete. I realise these will be pricey but I still anticipate a glut of the older lens on the used market as many pros and serious users upgrade with the release of the rumoured pro - level RF camera.

RF lenses are universally great performers but will no doubt be out of my range

On the other hand, Canon are also rumoured to be planning the release of DO version RF lenses of 500mm or 600mm f4 which probably compete favourably on price with my used lens and drive the value down.

All of this makes me less confident in my purchase and the attraction of keeping resale value seems diminished considerably.

Am I justified in my concerns? I could wait until next year and see what happens but it could realistically be 18 months or more before any of these new lenses are available.

Would you advise going ahead with my purchase, or holding off?

Thank you

buzzbob wrote:

Hi all,

I have the Canon 500mmf4 IS II sitting in my room. I bought it used and have another couple of weeks to decide whether to keep it or not.

I am in two minds over this lens purchase. It’s a significant amount of money for me and I’m keen not to make a mistake.

I like and want it. One of the reasons I felt confident about buying it was that big whites generally keep their value and when I sell it ( as I will a few years down the road when I’m too old to use it - I’m 65 now) I assumed I would recoup my money.

However I believe Canon are planning RF 500f4 IS and 600f4 IS lenses which will make mine obsolete. I realise these will be pricey but I still anticipate a glut of the older lens on the used market as many pros and serious users upgrade with the release of the rumoured pro - level RF camera.

RF lenses are universally great performers but will no doubt be out of my range

On the other hand, Canon are also rumoured to be planning the release of DO version RF lenses of 500mm or 600mm f4 which probably compete favourably on price with my used lens and drive the value down.

All of this makes me less confident in my purchase and the attraction of keeping resale value seems diminished considerably.

Am I justified in my concerns? I could wait until next year and see what happens but it could realistically be 18 months or more before any of these new lenses are available.

Would you advise going ahead with my purchase, or holding off?

Thank you

It’s a great lens and I can’t see the new ones being any better optically but they will be a lot more expensive which could actually push up used prices on the one you have.

the do versions, if f4 will be more expensive too.

the current 500 is £9300 here in the uk, I expect the rf version to be at least £11000.

i say keep the one you have and just enjoy it, don’t worry about what might come in the future.

As long as you anticipate putting the lens to good use, and it provides significantly better images than what you had before, then keep it. You can't base the decision on what it may be worth 5 or 10 years from now.

The best lenses always hold good value. It is a lens that can easily be used on just about any mirrorless body, not to mention the millions of EOS dslrs that are out there, and will continue working for the next decade, or more. It may lose more value than it would have but still not severe.

I have been buying and selling used lenses for 30 years, and it surprises me that as new lenses get more expensive so do the used ones.

I bought a used 400/2.8 in 2006 and sold it this year for the same price! So theoretically rented it for 14 years, and 40,000 plus images, for the interest I would have made on the purchase value.

You mention DO lenses and as much as photographers love the weight loss, these lenses suffer in IQ. So again not a huge threat for die hard users.

P.S.  You were very smart to buy it used and you are alresdy ahead of the game.

The more you use it the more you will get to appreciate it.  It is such an amazing lens that I regret selling mine for the 600 ll.  It’s portable, easy to carry and hand holdable.  The image quality is stellar and it’s hard to imagine how the new lenses will be any better.  
I would keep it.  after you retire, you will probably use it every day.  I wouldn’t worry about depreciation, as all gear depreciates after a while.  I’d just enjoy it.

RF will be more expensive as they will be all new. I would expect them to be better than the EF as they are newer and the RF mount.  So its a matter of do you need something now and do you want to spend a lot more. They released 600/11 and 800/11 DOs already which are a completely different price and performance point.

you could always take it with you

Over several years I've made good use of my EF 500 F/4L IS.  I've mainly used it at bird reserves in the UK, and I've certainly enjoyed my time using it.  I've also used it at one of the Cowes yachting regattas where it did really well.  However, this year most of the bird reserves in the UK are under severe restriction due to COVID, and I'm not doing any bird photography from public hides.

I'm not thinking of selling my lens at the moment, but that time may come - in England we're going into a lock-down at the end of this week, and I'm well into retirement.

1Dx4me wrote:

M Stewart wrote:

Over several years I've made good use of my EF 500 F/4L IS. I've mainly used it at bird reserves in the UK, ...

... in England we're going into a lock-down at the end of this week, and I'm well into retirement.

forget the lockdown and go out and have fun that is what i do, although i am in US

I'm getting out "taking exercise" which is permitted, and making use of the great outdoors.