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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
Buy New: Too low to display
New (46) Used (4) Refurbished (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  132 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:
 Nice Lens February 19, 2006
0 out of 2 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
311 out of 337 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!).
"The hidden L lens..." January 12, 2006
38 out of 40 found this review helpful
I bought this lens about a month ago when I purchased my Rebel XT.
I was initially dissapointed by the image quality but it turned out that I actually had a bad filter on the lens. Once I removed that cheap filter the lans came to life and has blown me away!!
If you read some of the forums there are actually Canon owners complaining that this lens is too good and has effectively devalued their expensive "L" lenses!
The only negative thing that I can say about this lens is that the front element rotates while focusing, making using a circular polarizer somewhat cumbersome. The Image Stabilizer really is a technological marvel though and will leave you wondering why every lens doesn't come with it (the answer is that it adds to the weight and IS isn't cheap).
This weekend was the first time the weather cooperated enough for me to try it outdoors. I went to a small local zoo and took a picture of a red fox from about 30ft away... through 2 wire fences... in sub-par lighting. I didn't expect much. The picture actually came out and is so sharp I am having it framed.
Buy this lens!
so far so good January 10, 2006
23 out of 25 found this review helpful
I have just bought the lens and took some trial pictures
1- the Auto focus is not great at 300mm.
2- it is impossible to take sharp pictures at night using image stabilizer at 300mm, however, between 70-160mm IS works great at night and to me, it is good enough.
3- regarding the construction, it looks little bit cheap comparing the L models.
4- the images taken under day light are really sharp even at 300mm.
I would strongly recommend this lens if you do not mind the negatives I wrote down above.
 gets a 9 out of 10 on a trusted review site December 13, 2005
37 out of 47 found this review helpful
If you would like a list of sites with reviews email
gumby (at) dontquotemeonthat (dot) com
I'm going with this lens over the 75-200 f/4L lens, the IS and extra zoom are worth the sacrifice of build quality and slight sharpness increase
Pros: It is light, fast, sharp and economical. It is currently my favorite carry-around lens. Adequate for birding and pseudo macro functions. Not a bad portrait lens. All of this is in the context of use with a 20D and Rebel. It is a full-frame 35 mm lens.
Cons: The lens face rotates with focus, so use of a circular polarizer is problematic. You choose MF or AF, but not both at the same time like the 100-400 L-Series.
Pros: Huge improvement on older 75-300. IS is excellent! Much more subtle in use than a white L lens
Cons: No ftm. Front element rotation
if your a newbie here's some info
A lens is "fast" when it has a low f-stop... ok so when you have a smaller number the apature is bigger which allows more light through, so this means you can up the shutter speed. and still have enough light reach the sensor.
ok so lets say you have an out door shot if you have say an f/4 lens the shutter speed could be 1/250 of a second and you would get a good exposer. Now this lens can only go f/4
but if you in the same outdoor setting, had an f/2.8 lens you could jump to 1/500 of a second and get the same exposer. and freeze the action mmore effectivly, this i believe is why it's a "fast" lens.
ok have fun and get it done
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