Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS for motorsports ??????????

[Harv]

Thanks to all who have commented and shared their opinions on a variety of alternative suggestions.

I already know how good the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II and the 300 f/2.8L IS are.  That's what I am currently using.  Their performance is stellar.  I also know that the focal length range I need is 70mm - 300mm.  It would be nice to have it in a single lens.  The 100-400 just won't do it for me.  I have owned that lens and know this from experience.

Corner sharpness is not critical for me in this application as you can see from the examples of what I am shooting that are posted below.  I know the 70-300L delivers excellent image quality as I have read and seen from images posted by others.  My concern is how quickly and accurately it will lock AF on subjects appearing suddenly and disappearing just as suddenly.  Often I only see the subject when clearing the top of a jump with only the sound of it coming as a warning.

I was hoping someone out there has used one in a similar situation and could comment on that aspect of the lens.

The images below should provide a sense of what I am dealing with.

[awinphoto]

Nothing quite like the fastest "motor sport" there is...
 
Canon 7D and 70-300 L

[Cardad]

I am really happy with this lens for motorsports

Good pictures, I'm looking forward even more to next week when I'll get it myself :-) ... and to me it proves one of the few advantages of a smaller max. aperture lenses (apart from being cheaper and less heavy): You can just dial in 1/1000s in Tv mode like you did and shoot away w/o wondering if you end up with a too shallow depth of field of 2.8.

Thanks for the comment and hope you will enjoy your new lens.  To me, 1/1000 is good for freezing the motion for the head on shots at 300mm.  I agree, in these shots, you are not looking for shallow DOF.  That said, I much prefer the slower shutter speed panning shots to show action.  Again, with sufficient light, wide aperture is not essential. 

The question for the pros and gear experts, and this also speaks to the question by the OP, is how significant (real world) is the AF speed difference between the f/2.8 and f/5.6 L lenses?

[Marsu42]

Only in someone's dreams do those two lenses compare in image quality for a full frame camera.  The 70-300L is an EF lens but is positioned more as a step up for crop camera users.

I already know how good the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II and the 300 f/2.8L IS are.  That's what I am currently using.  Their performance is stellar.  I also know that the focal length range I need is 70mm - 300mm.  It would be nice to have it in a single lens.  The 100-400 just won't do it for me.

Even if beating a dead horse: please be aware that comparing the 70-300L to the 70-200L+extender (ie. if you also want the 200-300 range) is like comparing it to the 70-300 non-L: It's a completely different class of lens, and that's why they don't cost the same! The white color and red ring seems to fool people to put them in the same category as 2.8 tele prime or zoom lenses, but the said lineup is just as JoeDavid said.  If you want to compare it to anything, it's the 100-400L which is in the same price range.

Concerning iq: Looking at my 50k pictures I shot last year, I have to say corner sharpness seldom matters for me. Even if cropping nature pictures to a "golden cut" the sharp zone is mostly not in one of the corners, but the bokeh or "sharp noise" like grass is. And furthermore I'm using a crop body, and the sharpness falloff is only visible on full frame.

At the same time, for my ease of mind I am quite happy if carrying around not 5000€, but 2000€ when crawling through the woods - less gear that can be stolen, dropped in the river or overrun by a truck ... L build quality and weather sealing don't help in these cases, and this is a thing that's seldom thought of :-p

Personally, I'd be happier if the 70-300L was not white and had a black ring, it's the *price-iq-weight-length-zoomfactor-is-af* combination and tradeoff that makes it attractive. And as proven here, you can pretty good shots out of it.

[Harv]

Thanks for all the comments and input, folks.  My 70-200/2.8L IS II and 300/2.8L IS will remain among my prized possessions.

In the meantime, I have a 70-300L now sitting in my cabinet awaiting real world testing when the racing season begins here in May.  I suspect it may perform just fine, but time will tell.