EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM - Canon Promotional Photo
During my recent excursion to Palm Springs, I had an opportunity to play with the new Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS lens which was first announced back in August of last year. I had Canon send my an example of this lens though my membership in Canon Professional Services – a nice perk of the program. After having spent 10 days with the lens, I think I can safely say I saved myself $1600.00
I originally had my eye on this lens because of it’s size – the form factor makes a much more attractive option to bring along on a travel assignment than my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. It’s a very long, very heavy lens, and just doesn’t fit well in my Lowepro Slingshot 102 AW which is my preferred bag for travel. My problem with the new EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS lens is that it’s darn near as heavy as my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. My normal load out for my Slingshot 102 AW is the camera body, my EF 17-40mm f/4L and my EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS. And I’ve usually got room to bring along a 2nd camera body, and a flash. So while I could fit the new EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS in my camera bag, it would add an uncomfortable amount of weight for my preferences. The cost in both weight and dollars is simply too high for what little I would use it.
When I travel, I find myself rarely needing more zoom that what my EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS – we’re talking less than 10% of the time. I usually tend to shoot wide, landscape photos when i travel, “we were there” type portraits. If I’m in a situation where I REALLY think zoom will be important, I can use my Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW and bring along my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. That makes for a long day carrying that much weight, so I don’t do it often – but the capability is there. And using my Canon 1.4x Extender, I can get essentially the same range with my current EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM as I can with the new EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS lens.
Certainly the new EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS lens is an excellent lens with fantastic image quality – let me point you to a nice review of the lens over on Canon Rumors. For my purposes, I think a much better choice would be one of Canon’s non-L series zooms, of which there are several to choose from. There’s the ultra-compact EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM at $1399.00, or the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM at just $649.99 (a good friend of mine owns this lens and swears by it). There’s also the dirt cheap Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III at just $199.00, or the EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM at just $470.00. I think I’ll put a call in to Canon CPS and get several of these lenses to evaluate.
John B. Holbrook, II is a freelance writer, photographer, and author of ThruMyLens.org, as well as LuxuryTyme.com and TheSeamasterReferencePage.com.
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Your first impressions I find valid and on the mark. There are some that might have looked in expecting an in-depth review, however there has been no misrepresentation here, they are your first impressions. Thank you.