Canon EF 300mm lens
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| This is what L lenses are all about 07/05/2010 This lens is so sharp that it will make your eyes bleed. Believe everything positive you have ever read about this lens. If you can find any negative reports on this lens, the reviewer is lying, or has never used one. There is not one aspect of this lens which is less than full marks. Some people may moan about the weight....but what do you expect for a lens of this quality. I can hand hold this lens quite comfortably, but saying that, I normally use it with a monopod. Colours are rendered beautifully, with absolutely no chromatic aberration whatsoever. Bokeh is lovely and milky. I use this coupled with the Canon 1Ds mk3 and focussing is out of this world.......fast and extremely accurate first time. No hunting at all. The only possible reason people would not enthuse about this lens is possibly the price, but if you are in the market for the best 300mm f2.8 on the planet, you will already know how much you will have to pay. If you are in the market for this lens....and you have the money......then don't hesitate at all, just buy it. You will definitely not be disappointed in any way. It feels right from the moment you touch it. When you see your first images from it, any doubts you had about the price you just paid will melt. If you really want one, but can't afford it, then get a second job, moonlight, sell your granny, rob a bank, get your partner to stand on street corners looking at people provocatively, or anything else you can think of to raise funds. You know it makes sense. By R. T. Slassor North East UK | |||||
| WOW 06/09/2010 This is a beast of a lens that can create some incredibly sharp images. Bolted to my Canon 7D (an APS sized sensor) this works out to be a 480mm f2.8 (35mm equivalent) lens. I have never seen images this sharp in my life. My primary use for this lens was football, night games. I now completely understand why professional sports photographers own this lens; it worked as easily in daylight as under stadium lights. I'd like to share bit of advice for the person considering this lens for football photography. This is probably way more lens than you want. With an APS sensor, like those on a Canon 7D, 60D, or the Rebel digital line, the telephoto is really too extreme. I found myself backing way off to get decent pictures, more like 30, 40, or 50 yards. The 200mm f2.8 USM with no image stabilization is an inexpensive (compared to this lens) alternative. I would guess that the 200mm f2.0 IS lens is more expensive but probably just as amazing as this 300mm. The 70-200mm f2.8 IS zoom is probably a good lens, but likely gives up some sharpness. You absolutely have to use a monopod with this lens, at nearly 6 pounds for the lens alone; it is hard to imagine holding the camera steady enough under stadium lights. And then let's not talk about the muscles required to hold this thing up. I did discover why professionals put their left hand on top of the lens instead of holding the monopod handle; it is much easier to aim this beast and the weight adds stability to the lens. The focus is wicked fast. I imagine the camera body has a little to do with this speed, but the combination of super fast motors, focus limit switch, and huge light gathering is a major benefit. This speed is a good thing and a bad thing. Whenever a ref ran in front of the camera, the focus is so fast; it almost acquired focus on the ref. The bad part, I don't normally take pictures of refs, and would prefer the players to stay in focus. The good part, if a player is moving fast in any direction, this lens keeps up with focus perfectly. How sharp is this lens? In daylight, I took a waist up picture of a person, essentially filling the frame. I can count the hairs on their arm. An image of a waterlilly, filled about half the frame, with a 3 inch dragon fly on the flower. I can count the barbs on the bug's legs. There is absolutely no chromatic aberration, no blue fringing around white highlights. For something this expensive, even if you have the money, it is a really good idea to rent one of these first. This is a very special lens. I've never seen sharper images and faster focus. But it is a beast; you certainly won't have to lift weights at the gym after lugging this around for three or four hours. It is also a very good idea to read the owner's manual, there are some buttons and switches that are just not intuitively obvious. It appears that Canon has announced a replacement for this lens, lighter weight and a third setting for image stabilization. If this lens goes through a price reduction, it will be a steal (the new lens sounds like evolution). By Daniel G. Lebryk | |||||
| In a word...Unbelieveable 03/06/2010 I had been looking at this lens for a long time. I was skeptical of the stellar reviews and extremely hesitant to drop the $[...]. I wanted to see for myself first so I rented a copy from [...] (BTW, great company). For seven days I shot everything imaginable with this lens. To keep this short, this lens is amazing. The auto focus is lightning fast and accurate. The contrast and color are phenomenal. This is the sharpest lens I have shot with to date. I ordered a personal copy the day BEFORE I shipped the rental back. This lens is worth every penny. By R. Morlando Menomonie, WI USA | |||||
| Outstanding Resolution 02/04/2010 Love: - Sharp wide open and that is what counts (sharpens nicely with software). - Sharpens more when stopped down an f-stop (outstanding resolution). - Fast auto focus (fastest I have seen). - Solid build (switches and rings are precise without play). - Replaceable flat front glass which protects the adjacent UD element. - Autofocus stop buttons. - Dust and water resistant. - Programmable preset focusing. - Removable tripod collar. Like: - Optical image stabilization (wish it had the newer 3-4 stop version). - Hard case (good for storing lens in your house, vehicle or airplane). - A good way to meet nice strangers (especially the ladies) who approach and raises questions about the lens. Dislike: - E-145 lens cap (will dislodge if lens is carried in the field with the hood reversed). - Paint will come off on the barrel at the ET-120 lens hood contact point. - Need to buy Canon touch up paint to repaint lens hood contact point on barrel. - Not a dislike but the strap's buckle can scratch the prism housing (position the buckle close to the lens away from the camera). - Weight (not really hand holdable and needs at least a monopod). - Cost (but it's faster and sharper than the Canon 300/4 versions). This is the sharpest and fastest autofocus lens in my collection. The 70-200/4 IS is a close second. Please refer to my uploaded photos By PJ GTA, Canada | |||||
| Yes, it is that good. 13/02/2010 Let's just recap what all the reviews say about this lens in one word: perfect. My review won't add too much more to what's already been said, but I will point out a few things about this lens that I really like. + It's the sharpest piece of glass I've ever seen. This lens is sharper wide open than my 100-400 at 300mm stopped down to f/8. + It has 3 focus limiter switches. This takes a while to get used to, but it also makes the autofocus incredibly fast especially for distant moving targets. + It takes a 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverter incredibly well. Even with the 2x attached, the lens is still very sharp. When using the focus limiter, the autofocus with the 2x is still fast enough to capture birds in flight handheld. There's no appreciable difference with this lens bare and with the 1.4x teleconverter. + Attached to my 1D2, the autofocus is so fast I can't visually keep up with it sometimes. Yes, it's that darn awesome, and no I'm not kidding... + The focus preset system is not really intuitively clear, however, once you get it down, it's really really helpful for setting up your shots when you know where your target is going to be. Bigtime plus for tracking faster subjects in predictable paths. There are no cons to this lens except one. It's HEAVY. I use mine on a tripod or monopod, however it can be use handheld even with the 1.4 attached for a good amount of time especially if you've got stronger arms and can hold it up. Overall, if I could give this lens 10 stars out of 5, I would. I was worth every single penny. By E. Martin Miami, FL USA | |||||
