New Canon telephoto lenses!
On Friday, Canon announced that it will show prototypes of new supertelephoto lenses of 500mm and 600mm focal lengths. The prototypes are officially called the EF500mm f/4L IS II USM and EF600mm f/4L IS II USM and are second-generation successors to the current products, which were introduced in July and September 1999, respectively. The improvements seem to be similar to those recently brought to the 300mm and 400mm lenses, including better image quality, better image stabilization, and lighter weight.
As reported by CNET, Canon said:
The weight loss is achieved in part by the elimination of two ultra-low dispersion glass elements and one fluorite element in favor of two fluorite elements. The new 300mm and 40mm lenses are 8% and 28% lighter, respectively, than their predecessors.
Other changes include a sharper image, less chromatic aberration, and better contrast. An oil- and water-repellent fluorine coating has been added to outside surfaces and sub-wavelength structure coating (SWC) internally to reduce ghosting and flare.
The 300mm and 400mm lenses cost $7,000 and $11,000, respectively, so anyone who wants to buy me one is more than welcome! 
A Canon video showing the manual labor in lens assembly explains the cost.
Two other Canon lenses introduced this week are the EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens ($1,400 in January) and the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens ($1,500 in October), which covers a wider range than most higher-end telephoto zooms, but its aperture is a narrow f5.6 when fully zoomed.
Two third-generation telephoto extenders were also introduced: the Canon Extender EF 1.4x III and Canon Extender EF 2x III, which will cost about $500 when they go on sale in December.
The above discussion may help to explain the prices of images taken by professional photographers (in addition to things like high California taxes, high gallery commissions, and business costs [ranging from business insurance to phone service to computers and software for photographic image processing, databases, and accounting]).
-Bill at
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