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| Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras | 
 enlarge | Brand: Canon
Category: Photography
List Price: $649.99
Buy New: $524.95
You Save: $125.04 (19%)
New (37) Refurbished (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  125 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Optical Zoom: 4.3
Maximum Focal Length: 300
Minimum Focal Length: 70
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 4.7 x 4.5
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 0345B002
Model: 0345B002
UPC: 013803050851
EAN: 0013803050851
ASIN: B0007Y794O
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Quite happy with the lens March 22, 2006
80 out of 83 found this review helpful
After debating between this and the 70-200 L series I decided to purchase this lens. I have been pleasantly surprised by the results. I also own the 17-85 and the 50mm 1.8 lenses and I have found that I have gotten the "most pleasing" results from this lens. The pictures have been very sharp from my 20D - even in the 200mm - 300mm range. I've also been happy with the quality of the bokeh.
The primary drawback I see is that the AF tends to hunt a fair amount when confronted with low contrast images. That being said, I used it for some flying bird shooting at the wildlife refuge and was surprised to see how many of the shots were in sharp focus. However, it was a little bit of all or nothing. Several shots were also wildly out of focus. Since the lens is fairly slow to focus, you never know what you're gonna get with such a fast moving object against the distant sky.
I had much more consistent results when shooting soccer, softball and football in the park. The AF speed did not present an issue for any of these activities and the results were excellent.
I wish the lens were a little less expensive but I the prints I have gotten from my 13 X 19 printer have been worth the extra money.
Canon Lenses March 16, 2006
23 out of 26 found this review helpful
This Canon Lens upholds the tradition of fine products from the Canon line of photographic accessories. It takes very clear, sharp, hand held pictures with the Image Stabilizer capability activated. It negates the necessity of carrying a tripod every time one wants to take long telephoto shots. It should be a must for any serious photographer that wanders the countryside, taking candid pictures, and wants to lighten the load of equipment carried.
 Good Lens+ Long Reach+ Price Right March 2, 2006
30 out of 30 found this review helpful
Have used this lens for a few months now and am very happy with it. The long reach specially with the 20D is definitely a plus. The lens is a little slow but the IS allows you to take at 2-3 stops than normal for static subjects. If I would rate it with 10 being best, optical quality is 8, focus speed 8, construction is 7 because of zoom creep and loud IS, price 9.
Nice Lens February 19, 2006
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
This lens does everything it should very well. Really allows you to take a close look at something with great image quality. The only thing I wish was better about it is the aperture. The 4-5.6 is not bad by any means, but can be limiting when you are trying to stop fast movements. However, as long as you plan for it and the conditions are constant, you can work around it. All in all this is a nice lens.
 Not a bad lens. Better than the old 75-300mm IS, but get the 70-200 f/4L instead. January 29, 2006
293 out of 319 found this review helpful
I owned this lens' predecessor, the 75-300mm IS. That lens was horrible. When I read many good things about this new 70-300mm IS lens, I thought it was time to upgrade. But, it was difficult to decide whether buy this lens or Canon's 70-200mm f/4L professional lens. I bought this lens and it was my mistake.
While it has numerous improvements over the 75-300mm IS, there are still some shortcomings with this lens that keep it from competing with the similar-priced 70-200mm f/4L.
First, starting at around 150mm-200mm and getting worse as you approach 300mm, this lens gives images that look soft (no, I'm not using any filters!). This is not an issue of focus, but of low-cost consumer-grade optics. You can stop the lens down and get some improvement, but then you lose your depth of field. (EDIT: The sharpness problem with my lens was the result of using it in portrait-orientation, a defect among the first batches of this lens. Canon repaired the lens for free and it became sharper, no matter the orientation, but still not as good as the 70-200mm f/4L).
Second, the focusing speed is slow. New in this lens is variable-speed focusing; as the zoom passes 200mm, the focusing speed slows. I assume this is to prevent the missed-focus hunting common with its predecessor. But, this makes it harder to track moving objects and keep them in focus.
Third, this lens suffers from very ugly purple chromatic aberration. This lens really shows this problem too, in that even small bright objects develop purple halos.
Finally, the lens gets larger as you zoom, the lens gets larger when you focus, the front of the lens moves when focusing, the focus ring moves when auto-focusing, the zoom retracts by itself when pointed upward (EDIT: last item was fixed by Canon during the above-mentioned service), and I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting... But none of these problems exist with the 70-200mm f/4L.
This is not "the hidden L lens" as one reviewer said, it is nothing but a common consumer lens with a big price tag. The IS feature is the single sole benefit. If you have very shaky hands you might just need this lens. If you have very steady hands, with IS you can use this lens in the dark of night (assuming you have a very still subject). The 200-300mm range is nice in theory, but a tack-sharp photo from the 70-200mm f/4L at 200mm is going to look better cropped than a 300mm full-frame photo from this lens.
If what you want is a very high quality lens that will give you sharp photos in daylight; buy the 70-200mm f/4L lens instead, it even comes with a hood. The hood for the 70-300mm IS lens is another $40, making the 70-200mm f/4L a lower priced lens (and it even comes with a bag!).
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