70-300mm L f/4-5.6 colors washed out?

[FunPhotons]

Hi,
A buddy got a 70-300mm and I've it on my 5DMKII and shot with it. I can't keep seeing the shots as washed out with pale colors, especially compared to the 70-200/2.8 II that I have. I've got camera color calibration and have used a ColorChecker to correct the shots (WB not full colors yet) and I'm still seeing pale. Finally, on at least a few shots online I've seen it seems the like they're washed too.

My imagination? Not sure what to make of it.

 

[Marsu42]

My imagination? Not sure what to make of it.

I've got the 70-300L and never had the idea - the only thing I can imagine if looking at shots from around the web: the 70-200/2.8 is faster and thus will use a lower iso setting when shooting at dim light or fast shutter speeds than the 70-300 @f5.6. And higher iso means degraded colors unless fixed up in postprocessing. But this is simply a sensor issue.

EDIT: removed mixup.

 

[FunPhotons]

I guess this is going nowhere unless you grab your friend's 5d2 and take the exact same shots with the same aperture/iso on the 70-300L and 70-200L.

What? My friend doesn't have a 5DMKII - he has some kind of Rebel.

What I said was I put it on my 5D MKII, with my color corrections and workflow, and tried to eliminate variables. I still get washed out pictures. Further I've seen shots taken with the lens online, and sure with all the variables of monitors, JPGs, workflows, etc, they still look washed - generally. I have seen a few that look OK.

Any shot taken with my 70-200 or 24-105 has wonderful colors, but I can't do the same with the 70-300 in the time I've taken with it. Has anybody else seen this?

 

[Marsu42]

What I said was I put it on my 5D MKII, with my color corrections and workflow, and tried to eliminate variables.

Sorry, I mixed that up. So if you've got some shots with all variables eliminated, why not post them? It would be interesting to see the difference.