Canon EF 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM
11. Summary
- high build quality – the most solid 70-300 mm class lens we’ve dealt with so far,
- excellent image quality in the frame centre and for all focal length and apertures to boot,
- good image quality on the edge of the APS-C frame,
- good image quality on the edge of full frame in the 70-200 mm range,
- chromatic aberration splendidly corrected,
- low distortion,
- slight coma,
- negligible astigmatism,
- efficient and silent autofocus,
- brilliant image stabilization.
Cons:
- average work against bright light,
- a bit too high vignetting on full frame.
The Canon EF 70-300 mm f/4.0-5.6L IS USM is doubtlessly the best 70-300 mm class instrument we have had the pleasure to test so far and we think here about both mechanical and optical side. Although we must pay quite a lot for it, we know the money are well- invested as the lens will offer us a great image quality for long years to come.
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I am still of the opinion that the launch of that lens was not an event the Canon system users waited impatiently for. Launching an instrument which can be substituted easily by a set of the EF 70-200 mm f/4.0L IS USM plus a converter 1.4x is a bit thoughtless, especially that such a set is not exactly more expensive either. Such thoughtlessness is even more strange because, in the case of longer focal length lenses for amateur photographers, Canon has other instruments in its line-up which could do with some modernization – we should mention here such models like the 100-400L or the 5.6/400L. New versions of these instruments would be definitely better received by the system users than another 70-300 mm device, one among a dozen or so already available on the market.
Sample shots
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.7 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/6.3, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 9.05 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 6.15 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/4000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.61 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.08 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 11.75 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 8.9 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 70 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 8.05 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 135 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/100 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 6.58 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 116 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 8.91 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 135 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.68 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 135 mm, f/6.3, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 12.34 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 108 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 8.54 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 135 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/125 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 6.39 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 135 mm, f/9.0, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.68 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 221 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.82 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 200 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/125 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 8.6 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 200 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.59 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 200 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/2000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.49 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 170 mm, f/9.0, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 10.2 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 200 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 11.32 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 200 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 8.8 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/11.0, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.67 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/11.0, exp. 1/640 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.36 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.33 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/640 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 11.12 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 10.21 MB |
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Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 6.12 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 6.52 MB |
Camera: Canon 1Ds MkIII Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 5616 x 3744 pix, 7.52 MB |
