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

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Here's another shot taken the same day - at 300mm and reasonably close the depth of field is pretty small and the lens transitions to ooF very smoothly. Even busy lines like a fence and bare branches about 30 feet behind the horse are dealt with quite well. P.S. This was a 20 second edit. I used the "Lo-Fi" preset from the Instagram style collections and brushed in a little extra sharpness on the muzzle. Done.


Muzzled by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[sdsr]

All of those pictures looks nice, but this lens (from 200mm till 300) produces not very sharp images and the contrast is very low. No concerns from 70 to 200mm.
I have the 70-200L II, but sometimes I use the 70-300 when I do not want to carry a heavy equipment with me or when I am traveling to an insecure country.

Are you talking about the non-L version maybe? That I could agree with

Or it could just be sample variation. I started with the non-L and must have been lucky enough to get an unusually good one because it was sharper at 300mm than the first L I bought (and promptly returned). The second L I tried is sharper than both, throughout the range, and is one of my favorite lenses (for one thing, it's such a pleasure to use thanks to its superb build, ultrafast responsiveness and unfailing accuracy of focus, even in very low light).

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

The IS is pretty impressive on this lens. Granted, this is only 70mm, but handheld to blur the water at 1/10th of a second and the sharpness on the ice textures is flawless.


Momentum by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[RJB]

I dig this lens. Bulletproof, rapid af, excellent IS, small(ish), decent IQ. Only wish it was constant f4, but can't have everything...

Couple of sunbirds in the garden, on a 60D.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

I dig this lens. Bulletproof, rapid af, excellent IS, small(ish), decent IQ. Only wish it was constant f4, but can't have everything...

Couple of sunbirds in the garden, on a 60D.

Nice work. That second shot shows the surprisingly nice bokeh from the lens.

 

[zim]

Here's another horse shot. I am really pleasantly surprised at how good the bokeh (very smooth) is on this lens for a variable aperture telephoto zoom.

Dustin, have to ask you...how do you get such nice/soft tones? Love how you process your images!

That whole workflow was all within Lightroom (4), so no Photoshop there. I have invested in some presets for LR that I further customize. The basic look is from a preset collection (http://www.adobelightroompresets.net/lightroom-presets/ultrafaded-presets/) Preset 9. By the way, these preset collections often go on sale for 50% off. I then further tweaked the tone curve to bring a little of the low end back, used a preset brush to paint in a little sharpness and contrast to the forelock. I probably tweaked the sliders a hair, but I doubt that I have any more than about 4 minutes in processing this particular image. Another collection I use a lot in my workflow is the "Instagram style" presets. I usually customize the sliders somewhat after processing, as I am pretty familiar with the way that LR works at this point. I typically spend as much or more time in adding metadata, descriptions, and keywords as I do processing. I am careful about all of those things because a fair bit of my work moves commercially in one way or another.

Dustin, I'd also like to thank you for sharing this I've been really enjoying your photographs. I was wondering though do you use the RAW or JPG presets?

Regards

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Here's another horse shot. I am really pleasantly surprised at how good the bokeh (very smooth) is on this lens for a variable aperture telephoto zoom.

Dustin, have to ask you...how do you get such nice/soft tones? Love how you process your images!

That whole workflow was all within Lightroom (4), so no Photoshop there. I have invested in some presets for LR that I further customize. The basic look is from a preset collection (http://www.adobelightroompresets.net/lightroom-presets/ultrafaded-presets/) Preset 9. By the way, these preset collections often go on sale for 50% off. I then further tweaked the tone curve to bring a little of the low end back, used a preset brush to paint in a little sharpness and contrast to the forelock. I probably tweaked the sliders a hair, but I doubt that I have any more than about 4 minutes in processing this particular image. Another collection I use a lot in my workflow is the "Instagram style" presets. I usually customize the sliders somewhat after processing, as I am pretty familiar with the way that LR works at this point. I typically spend as much or more time in adding metadata, descriptions, and keywords as I do processing. I am careful about all of those things because a fair bit of my work moves commercially in one way or another.

Dustin, I'd also like to thank you for sharing this I've been really enjoying your photographs. I was wondering though do you use the RAW or JPG presets?

Regards

I use the RAW presets as I only shoot in RAW. They do still work with JPEGS, but are optimized for the RAW workflow.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

I just returned from vacation with the 70-300L along with the Tamron 24-70VC as my kit (along with a 6D body and a few filters). I am just starting to go through my pics, but am delighted with the image quality from this kit. It was pretty much perfect for what I was doing. Here's just a fun shot, straight out of camera, of my youngest in Colonial Williamsburg.


Colonial Relaxation by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

I continue to be impressed with the quality of the bokeh from this small aperture zoom lens.

 

[RS2021]

I just returned from vacation with the 70-300L along with the Tamron 24-70VC as my kit (along with a 6D body and a few filters). I am just starting to go through my pics, but am delighted with the image quality from this kit. It was pretty much perfect for what I was doing. Here's just a fun shot, straight out of camera, of my youngest in Colonial Williamsburg.

I love the look on his face! Set him free...the horse stalls needs mucking!!!

I continue to be impressed with the quality of the bokeh from this small aperture zoom lens.

Yes, in spite of starting at f/4, this zoom still provides excellent bokeh...obviously the longer focal lengths at MFD can wipeout the background.

 

[RS2021]

Here are a couple of non-scientific bokeh shots on a crop body done at 70mm and 300mm... I see I was lazy leaving it on "program" mode so the aperture setting is f/7.1 for 70mm and f/6.3 on the 300mm ....even with the stopping down, the zoom does well with bokeh.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Here's a shot that shows that the 70-300L handles the "transition zone" bokeh area quite well. This is, to me, one of the single biggest areas that it excels over the pretty great for the money Tamron 70-300 VC.


Botetourt and Nicholson by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Lady Virginia by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Such a great travel lens. I plan to blog about it today!


Capital Dreams by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

Here are a couple of non-scientific bokeh shots on a crop body done at 70mm and 300mm... I see I was lazy leaving it on "program" mode so the aperture setting is f/7.1 for 70mm and f/6.3 on the 300mm ....even with the stopping down, the zoom does well with bokeh.

That shows it quite well, particularly considering it was stopped down almost two full stops for the wide angle shot. It shows how the more modern curved aperture blades continue to keep the aperture round even when stopped down. When you shoot tele you deal with a lot of the "transition zone" that can make for some ugly bokeh. The 70-300L does a nice job with that transition zone. I have not really seen anything too ugly coming out of it. Having owned two copies each of the 70-200L (IS and non IS) f/4 zooms, I can safely say that I prefer this lens to those. I haven't used Canon's 70-200 f/2.8L zooms enough to have an opinion there, but the size of those lens makes them less of a travel option. I would probably love the 70-200LII for my event work, though.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

I continue to be impressed with the IQ and flexibility of the 70-300L. What a great find!


Seasonal Decorations by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

 

[ckwaller]

I had the good fortune of borrowing this lens from a coworker, last month. I fell in love with it instantly, and am scouring the net for a used/refurbished model (although maybe I should just pony up the approx $675 for a new model, haha).


Opera Soprano by CamWall, on Flickr


Color Bomb by CamWall, on Flickr

 

[RS2021]

When you shoot tele you deal with a lot of the "transition zone" that can make for some ugly bokeh. The 70-300L does a nice job with that transition zone. I have not really seen anything too ugly coming out of it. Having owned two copies each of the 70-200L (IS and non IS) f/4 zooms, I can safely say that I prefer this lens to those. I haven't used Canon's 70-200 f/2.8L zooms enough to have an opinion there, but the size of those lens makes them less of a travel option. I would probably love the 70-200LII for my event work, though.

Indeed, quality of the bokeh in stark gradient areas is a real differentiator and this doesn't always show up in "measurements". In this context, the 70-300L generates really plesant bokeh.

As for 70-200's, I own the f/4 IS and the f/2.8 IS II... While the 70-200 2.8II is a highly competent sharp zoom, it is not the second coming as some fanboys would have us all believe. It is sharp and versatile, but also heavy, and obvious. And most fair-minded people will agree the f/2.8II is not known for its silky bokeh... then again that may not be its main purpose. I periodically knock the 70-200 2.8II here simply because some fanboys just praise it to the heavens... I jokingly call it the "I-too-have-arrived-pricey-but-achievable-newbie zoom", just to poke them a bit .

Here is a 700-200 f.2.8 II image and the bokeh crop...it is competent zoom even on grey winter days but I never found the bokeh something to write home about.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

When you shoot tele you deal with a lot of the "transition zone" that can make for some ugly bokeh. The 70-300L does a nice job with that transition zone. I have not really seen anything too ugly coming out of it. Having owned two copies each of the 70-200L (IS and non IS) f/4 zooms, I can safely say that I prefer this lens to those. I haven't used Canon's 70-200 f/2.8L zooms enough to have an opinion there, but the size of those lens makes them less of a travel option. I would probably love the 70-200LII for my event work, though.

Indeed, quality of the bokeh in stark gradient areas is a real differentiator and this doesn't always show up in "measurements". In this context, the 70-300L generates really plesant bokeh.

As for 70-200's, I own the f/4 IS and the f/2.8 IS II... While the 70-200 2.8II is a highly competent sharp zoom, it is not the second coming as some fanboys would have us all believe. It is sharp and versatile, but also heavy, and obvious. And most fair-minded people will agree the f/2.8II is not known for its silky bokeh... then again that may not be its main purpose. I periodically knock the 70-200 2.8II here simply because some fanboys just praise it to the heavens... I jokingly call it the "I-too-have-arrived-pricey-but-achievable-newbie zoom", just to poke them a bit .

Here is a 700-200 f.2.8 II image and the bokeh crop...it is competent zoom even on grey winter days but I never found the bokeh something to write home about.

I think your points are valid, although these two lenses are not really comparable. I certainly wouldn't want to pack the 2.8LII all day traveling. I own the Tamron 70-300 VC (which I will soon sell after doing a head to head write-up for my site). It is actually a very competent lens that has given me some great images, but this particular area was it's great weakness. Take a look at this shot, for example:


Peaceful by Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott, on Flickr

I actually went in with a softening brush to reduce clarity on the out of focus area because it was so harsh in the original, and it still isn't great. I find the 70-300L really does a nice job in similar situations.

 

[TWI by Dustin Abbott]

I had the good fortune of borrowing this lens from a coworker, last month. I fell in love with it instantly, and am scouring the net for a used/refurbished model (although maybe I should just pony up the approx $675 for a new model, haha).


Opera Soprano by CamWall, on Flickr


Color Bomb by CamWall, on Flickr

Some nice images. I was very fortunate to find a basically new model for an incredible price used, but the biggest challenge is that they rarely go on the used market. There are some decent deals on occasion for a refurb through Canon, though. I've seen one for a little over a thousand like that towards the end of last year.

 

[Brand B]

There are some decent deals on occasion for a refurb through Canon, though. I've seen one for a little over a thousand like that towards the end of last year.

They had it in stock for $1018 a week ago or so. Out of stock now though.