Canon EF 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM review - Distortion

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Canon EF 70-300 mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM

23 June 2017

Arkadiusz Olech

6. Distortion

The chart below shows distortion results of the tested Canon and its direct rivals for the APS-C/DX sensor.

	Canon EF 70–300 IS USM II	Canon EF 70–300 L IS USM	Sigma 70–300 OS HSM	Tamron SP 70–300 VC USD
70 mm	−0.73%	−0.58%	−0.09%	−0.10%
135 mm	+0.37%	+0.50%	+0.56%	+0.80%
200 mm	+0.59%	+0.73%	+0.75%	+0.82%
300 mm	+0.75%	+0.76%	+0.77%	+0.81%

In this category results reached by all lenses are very similar to each other. At the shortest focal length you deal with slight barrel distortion which change into a bit of pincushion at the longer end of the focal lengths spectrum. Their level never exceed 1% for any focal length or for any lens which means there are practically no distortion-related issues.

Now let’s check the situation on full frame – appropriate results are presented in a chart below.

	Canon EF 70–300 IS USM II	Canon EF 70–300 L IS USM	Sigma 70–300 OS HSM	Tamron SP 70–300 VC USD
70 mm	−1.93%	−1.61%	−0.04%	−0.09%
135 mm	+0.91%	+1.29%	+1.55%	+2.12%
200 mm	+1.45%	+1.84%	+1.79%	+2.05%
300 mm	+1.79%	+1.87%	+1.89%	+1.89%

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It is clear the tested Canon at the shortest focal length is the weakest – as the only lens it shows easily noticeable pincushion distortion. Still, because of that its longer end of the focal lengths spectrum fares better than the rivals. You get nothing for nothing…