Canon 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS USM review

Don’t forget, you can also watch the Canon 70-300mm video review

The Canon 70-300mm telephoto lens was first launched in October 2005. It weighs 630 grams and uses a Canon EF lens mount which means that it will fit all Canon digital SLR cameras, as opposed to the EF-S lens mount alternative. It is important to note that the magnification levels when using this lens will vary depending upon the size of the sensor within your digital camera. When using a cropped sensor digital camera such as the Canon EOS 50D, the image will be magnified 1.6 times the actual focal length you are using. So, for example, taking a photo at 300mm will in effect be 480mm. If, however, a full frame digital camera is used, such as the Canon EOS 5D, the image captured will be the same as the focal length of the lens.

Canon 70-300mm lens construction

The lens body itself is plastic and the zoom and focusing rings feel smooth and tight when moving between focal lengths with no shuddering. When fully extended to 300mm, the lens increases in length by just under half its size again. This lens also has a switch to lock the zoom. This is useful when taking photographs either up towards the sky or towards the ground. When in this position, having the zoom locked will prevent lens creep. However, saying that, lens creep has not been an issue with the above lens for me even without the zoom locked into place. The 70-300mm also used Canon’s USM ring motor technology. This typically affords a quieter and quicker focusing mechanism compared to alternative lenses.

Image stabiliser

One of the main advantages of this lens is that it comes with an image stabiliser. These have been slowly added to the range of Canon lenses in recent years and they typically allow for sharp photos to be taken up to 3 F stops below what would be needed without image stabilisation. This typically comes into its own when the lens is zoomed in at 300mm or when in low light conditions. There are 2 modes of image stabilisation. Mode 1 will compensate for camera movement along the horizontal and vertical Axes, where as mode 2 will compensate only in the vertical axis. Most of the time, mode 1 is sufficient for most conditions, however mode 2 will be useful when trying to take a photograph of a moving object, such as a moving car. When image stabilisation is turned on, you’ll likely notice a low ‘rumbling’ noise coming from the lens. There will be a slight battery drain as well as a result of using the image stabiliser, however this is negligible.

Canon 70-300mm image quality

Alternative lenses

There are a couple of alternative lenses which offer the same range of focal lengths which work with a Canon digital SLR camera. Two popular alternatives are the Sigma 70-300mm and the Tamron 70-300mm. Both the Sigma and Tamron 70-300mm are slightly smaller than the Canon, and this is because they lack the image stabilisation functionality. They do offer a macro function however, something which is missing from the Canon as the Canon 70-300 can focus only upto 1.5m away from the desired target. The Sigma and Tamron are quite a bit cheaper than the Canon, but they do not have the image stabilisation or the USM ring motor. For a full review of these lenses, please check out their respective sections on this website.

Overall

Taking photos with this lens is a lot of fun. The lens feels sturdy and robust, has a quick focusing mechanism and the image stabilisation is a definite advantage over competing lenses. Images are sharp and clear, and when used with a cropped sensor digital camera, the magnification is astonishing when considering the size of the lens. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that it is considerably more expensive than 70-300mm lenses produced by competing manufacturers.