Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS USM

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

It's odd how much the bokeh rendition and color from this lens reminds me of the 135L in certain situations.


Multiplicity by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[petach]

6D with the 70-300L in London, snapping The Shard

This is a 5 shot vertical stitch at f/8. I am amazed at the sharpness!



The Shard by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

6D with the 70-300L in London, snapping The Shard

This is a 5 shot vertical stitch at f/8. I am amazed at the sharpness!



The Shard by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

That is very cool shot, and nicely executed. 70-300L is a very sharp lens. One of Canon's hidden gems, to be sure!

 

[kirkcha]

A couple from the Breeder's Cup yesterday

 

[petach]

6D with the 70-300L in London, snapping The Shard

This is a 5 shot vertical stitch at f/8. I am amazed at the sharpness!



The Shard by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

That is very cool shot, and nicely executed. 70-300L is a very sharp lens. One of Canon's hidden gems, to be sure!

Thanks Dustin, this is a fantastic lens and one which will get a lot of use. I am sure that at certain focal lengths it is better than the equivalent primes.

 

[AdamF]

I have this lens and I read that the Canon Extenders will not work with the lens.

Question is, is there some other extender I can use with this lens and get good results ?

Thanks.

 

[dr croubie]

I have this lens and I read that the Canon Extenders will not work with the lens.

Question is, is there some other extender I can use with this lens and get good results ?

Thanks.

I've used the Kenko 1.4x 'Pro 300' version perfectly fine. Most of the Kenko range should fit, but that's the only one I've experienced.
AF doesn't really happen at 300mm in dim light on my 7D, but in bright light it's fine. IQ doesn't take much of a hit at all (to my eyes)

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

I have this lens and I read that the Canon Extenders will not work with the lens.

Question is, is there some other extender I can use with this lens and get good results ?

Thanks.

I've used the Kenko 1.4x 'Pro 300' version perfectly fine. Most of the Kenko range should fit, but that's the only one I've experienced.
AF doesn't really happen at 300mm in dim light on my 7D, but in bright light it's fine. IQ doesn't take much of a hit at all (to my eyes)

+1. I've been pleasantly surprised with the IQ from this combo.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

This lens has also produced some great landscape shots for me, too.


Paint for Me by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

 

[georgecpappas]

Here are a couple with the 70-300 and 5D3 in Iceland earlier this year. Tripod-mounted, live view focusing..Very good for critical framing of landscapes at distance….and outstanding travel lens.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Here are a couple with the 70-300 and 5D3 in Iceland earlier this year. Tripod-mounted, live view focusing..Very good for critical framing of landscapes at distance….and outstanding travel lens.

Agreed, and those are very stunning examples to demonstrate your point!

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I'm buying the 70-300 L this week yay !

The store has an unsold new copy of the lens from 2010 ( serial no. 72xxxxxxxx) which they will let me have at the old price but with full normal warranty from date of my purchase. It's a small but significant saving. I've tested the lens thoroughly and it's absolutely fresh, new and working perfectly.

Do I buy this lens or should I just opt for a recently manufactured copy?

:

take the deal, mine is from around then and it's awesome (better than my 24-200 f/4 IS at 70mm f/4 and 200mm f/5, if not quite as good in the middle range (still very good there though)). Yeah sometimes they do make silent fixes over the years, but I haven't heard anything bad about ones from 2010 and I sure like mine from then.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I have this lens and I read that the Canon Extenders will not work with the lens.

Question is, is there some other extender I can use with this lens and get good results ?

Thanks.

It may vary by body, but on a 5D3:

AFAIK the only ones that allow for AF are the Kenko C-AF 1.4X TELEPLUS MC4 DGX and the Kenko C-AF 1.4 TELEPLUS PRO DGX. The other Kenko crash out or don't AF AFAIK (interestingly though these Kenkos will crash out the 300 2.8 IS when used with a 5D3 and a Canon TC, so much so that the lens will refuse to AF even if all TCs are removed and the camera is turned off and on, you need to remove the camera body battery).

You do not need the f/8 firmware to make the f/8 AF work in the above scenario (which is awesome since you can still use Magic Lantern!).

AFAIK all other TC from other makers and from Canon will not allow for AF (other than reallly horrific AF where it will do nasty stuff that makes it sound like it will wear out of the AF quickly and with mostly wrong results).

 

[RustyTheGeek]

Love the image of the burro or donkey. Was it natural light or did you build the shot?

 

[ahab1372]

I really like the picture of the mule, Dustin

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Love the image of the burro or donkey. Was it natural light or did you build the shot?

That is shot only in natural light, very dim, so I shot ISO 6400 (which on a 6D is still amazingly clean). Shutter speed was 1/50th. I previously had the Tamron 70-300 VC before the 70-300L, and the one area where the Tamron has the Canon beat is in the image stabilization. I am actually disappointed in the 70-300L in that regard. I find that I need to be really conscious of using proper technique at lower shutter speeds, otherwise I end up disappointed. This shot, however, looks great at full magnification. That being said, it is also only 120mm, so its not like hard core stabilization was needed.

The Canon blows the Tamron away in bokeh, however, and sharpness and color rendition are both better with the Canon. The Tamron is a surprisingly strong performer considering its very low price point.

 

[georgecpappas]

Thanks for the comment; the previous two images were taken during August. I have been fortunate to go to Iceland during the winter. Here are a couple of images taken with the 70-300 and my 5D2 at the time. The one of the ocean waves was taken in diagonal, driving, cold rain. It sorely tested the water resistance of the 70-300 and the 5D2 body - the lens was dripping wet after I finished my sequence. I used a UV filter. During the winter trip, I had to keep towels and a large glad bag to cover my backpack when taking the gear indoors after a day outside to ward of condensation damage. Time and again, the 70-300 has proven its mettle.

I can't say enough good things about this lens.

 

[petach]

It is a rare occasion I use something as large as a 6d with 70-300L for street shots......but I love it for the separation it gives between fore/background.


Candid Whitechapel by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr


Candid Whitechapel by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr


Candid Whitechapel by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr


Candid Whitechapel by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

 

[sdsr]

One attribute of this lens that doesn't seem to get mentioned much, perhaps because it's not exactly fast, is how well it performs in low light - at least when attached to a FF body - when merely taking hand-held snapshots. A week ago I was wandering around NY with my 5DIII & 70-300L (I left everything else in the car) and ended up in Central Park as the light began to fade; and as it did, it began to snow. The light was magical and the camera/lens combination did a rather good job of capturing it. (They also did a rather good job of ignoring the snow - I had nothing to protect them with, not even an umbrella, so I just occasionally shook or blew the snow off as it accumulated and kept going until I decided to stop a couple of hours later.) No noise reduction despite the rather high ISOs (I think the grain enhances the look). The results could perhaps have been better with a faster lens or a tripod or someone better behind the camera, but none of those were available.... These four are in Central Park. In the next post I'll add three from a bit farther south.