This new lens from Canon has gotten quite a bit of attention since it became available a few months ago. Many photographers have praised its versatility, build, and image quality while others have scorned it as little more than a glorified lens for the weekend soccer dad. I’ve been intrigued by the lens since it was announced.
I have a hole in my lens lineup in the medium to telephoto range. While most professional photographers have one of the incarnations of the Canon 70-200 f2.8 zooms, I have an old Tokina 80-200 mm f2.8 lens. This lens is actually quite sharp but it’s very long, very heavy, lacks image stabilization, and the autofocus is subpar compared to more modern lenses.
What I wanted to fill this gap in my bag was a lens that was compact, sharp, and blessed with great image stabilization. The 70-200 f2.8 zooms, though excellent, didn’t interest me because of the size and weight. If I want to do serious work at f2.8, I’ll use my 300 mm f2.8 lens. The 70-200 mm f4 lens (both the IS and non-IS versions) is very sharp and very light, but I had a sneaking suspicion that I would be putting a 1.4x teleconverter on it quite frequently to get a bit more reach.
The 70-300 seemed to fit my needs for a lens to explore my expanding interests in multiple-flash hummingbird photography, patterns and abstracts in nature, telephoto landscapes, and environmental wildlife portraits of both smaller and larger subjects. I had the chance to try it when my contact at B and H Photo Video in New York sent me the lens to use and share with participants on the two photo workshops that I led here in Costa Rica in June.
My field review follows. I did not go into lens stats or test shots with charts as there are other sites that are great for this kind of information. I evaluated it in terms of how it handled and produced in the challenging conditions of the rainforests and cloud forests that are my studio. What did I think? Keep reading to find out, but I’ll give you a hint — I’m not sending it back to B and H!
As always, if you enjoy this review and the Deep Green site in general, please consider making your next gear purchase through the affiliate links at the bottom of this page or the product links just below. You pay exactly the same, and I make a little commission to keep things running. To learn more, click the “support the site” link above.
Please note that though I do earn a commission if you buy a product at B&H through this review, I do not slant my reviews in favor of a particular piece of gear. If I don’t like something, you can be sure I’ll note that in the review. I’d like to thank B and H Photo Video for providing the lens so that I could produce this review. Again, the source of the lens has no bearing on the content or tone of this review.
Here is the equipment that I used to take the pictures featured in this review.
Canon EF 70-300 mm f4-5.6 L IS Zoom Lens
Canon TTL off-camera flash cord
Canon ST-E2 wireless flash transmitter
Phottix Strato Radio Flash Transmitter/Receiver
This lens is a beauty to hold and use. It’s solid and compact yet not too heavy. The build quality is outstanding. The zoom ring has just the right amount of tension, and though I’ve read complaints about the fact that the zoom ring and focus ring are reversed compared to many zooms, I didn’t have any trouble getting used to it. The weather sealing looks great, and I’m sure it will deliver as promised. I didn’t drop it in a river or anything to test it but we did have plenty of light rain and drizzle, and I experienced no problems with the lens and the Mark IV body even though I didn’t use a rain cover.
The lens barrel extends when zooming, but I did not find this to be a problem at all. The lens comes with a lock button to prevent the lens zoom from creeping, but the zooming mechanism is very well damped. I didn’t find it necessary to lock it, even when carrying the lens with the camera’s shoulder strap while hiking. The front element does not rotate so using a polarizer is no problem at all.
I found the lens very comfortable to use with my 1D Mark IV body (I also tried it with my 5D Mark I body, and it felt fine as well), both handheld and even on the tripod without the tripod collar. Ah yes, the tripod collar. The lack of a tripod collar is my biggest complaint with this lens for two reasons. First, given the hefty price tag on this lens, I really think the tripod collar should be included. Second, even if you want to buy the tripod collar separately, it’s currently unavailable. My B and H contact made a valiant effort to get one to go with the lens they sent down for review but was unsuccessful. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the lens worked when tripod-mounted, even without the collar, but the tripod collar would greatly improve handling.
My next biggest complaint with the lens is that the focus changes as you zoom when working at distances closer than 3 meters. So, if you are set up close to a subject and then zoom to change composition, you’ll need to refocus. Indeed, the change in focus is so noticeable that failure to refocus would render your image completely worthless (see example images below). When I discovered this characteristic of the lens, I was so annoyed that I discounted any possibility of actually purchasing the lens. In my experience, this is not normal for zoom lenses so I find Canon’s engineering laziness here inexcusable, particularly for a lens with such a hefty price tag. In the end, though, I found that this fault did not really affect my shooting. It still annoys me as a matter of principle but I don’t find that I’m missing shots because of it or that it’s a significant burden to refocus. At distances greater than 3 meters, the focus does not change. If I had to guess the reason for this glaring fault, I would venture that it was an engineering design whose flaw wasn’t pointed out by actual photographers until too late in the production process. I suppose that this is understandable given what we hear about the lens design process, but it’s still totally lame.
Another complaint commonly raised in regard to this lens is the floating f-stop. As you zoom, the aperture gradually closes from f4 to f4.5 to f5 and finally to f5.6 at the long end of the range. For those shooting in aperture priority, this is not that big an issue. For manual shooting it can be. Imagine that you have your exposure set and are shooting at f4 at 70 mm. Then you decide to zoom in to 300 mm. You’ve just lost a stop of light due to the aperture change from f4 to f5.6 so, unless you adjust your shutter speed accordingly, your image will be underexposed. My friend and tour client Dennis Goulet suggested simply treating the lens as an f5.6 lens when shooting in manual mode to avoid this problem, and this seems like a very sensible solution to me. For my uses, the floating f-stop is not a big issue at all.
Following are a few images of the lens itself. FYI, these were taken using my sons’ Canon Powershot G12 camera, which has really great image quality. My son Chris helped me set up a quick little studio with a spray painted sheet of construction paper in my home office. We took turns taking the pictures and used the Phottix radio flash transmitters (the G12 has a regular hotshoe, so you can put on any Canon flash or transmitter, including third party brands, a great feature for an advanced point and shoot) to wirelessly trigger two off-camera Canon 430 EX Speedlite with softboxes. No natural light entered the images; they were total flash exposures. Since you can see standard pics of the lens on B and H or various other websites, we did the lighting a little differently, and then tweaked them a bit in Lightroom for some different effects.
Thanks, Chris! You can check out some of Chris’ pictures here.
The Canon EF 70 to 300 mm f4-5.6 L IS zoom lens mounted on the Canon Mark IV — an attractive combo for sure.
Another view with the lens at the 70 mm focal length setting.
And here with the lens zoomed to 300 mm.
Canon reports that the front element has a coating that makes cleaning oily residues a snap. I wanted to pour some Quaker State on this one but B and H said I couldn’t.
Compared here to the Canon 17-40 mm f4 L wide angle zoom and the Canon 100 mm f2.8 macro. Though compact, you can see that the lens is built like a tank.
And again here with the 70 to 300 zoomed all the way out.
Here is the lens compared to the Canon 300 mm f2.8 L IS lens. A couple of stops of light sure makes a difference in the size of a lens!
The 70-300 is a dream to pack. It fits perfectly in my bag, even with the lens hood on in reverse position. In this position, the new 70-300 mm is more than 1 inch shorter than the Canon 70-200 mm f4 L IS lens and over 2 inches shorter than the Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS lens. I think the latter lens in particular would be hard to pack in the upright position. Packing a lens like this horizontally could eat up valuable pack space.
The zoom range of this lens is extremely useful for nature photography. The image here was shot at the widest setting, 70 mm.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, tripod, f5.6, 1/30, ISO 320, 70 mm zoom setting
Post: This is straight from the RAW file, no cropping, no change of any settings at all so that you can see the look of the files this lens produces.
And here is an image taken seconds later from the exact same spot but zoomed to 300 mm. This eyelash viper, taken at a friend’s snake house, was only about 12 inches long total, and here he’s curled up so you can see that the lens is great for semi-macro type work.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, tripod, f5.6, 1/30, ISO 320, 300 mm zoom setting
Post: This is straight from the RAW file, no cropping, no change of any settings at all so that you can see the look of the files this lens produces.
I found the new generation image stabilization of this lens to live up to the hype. Here’s an image taken handheld at 1/8 of a second with IS turned off. Not a bad effort given the circumstances but certainly not a sharp picture.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/8, ISO 640, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned off
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone and white balance tweaks in Lightroom and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
And here’s the next frame shot at the same shutter speed but with IS switched on. It’s still not tack sharp but being able to get a decently sharp handheld image at 300 mm (400 mm equivalent on the Mark IV, which has a 1.3x sensor) at 1/8 of a second is quite amazing! By the way, this was taken at the hotel bar at the end of a workshop day, but I wasn’t drinking so the test results stand. 
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/8, ISO 640, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone and white balance tweaks in Lightroom and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
Taking the ISO up to 3200 gave me a shutter speed of 1/30. With the new IS, I was able to get a pleasantly sharp image handheld and zoomed all the way out to 300 mm. Click here to see a full-size, unsharpened jpeg produced from the RAW file. I’m also impressed here with the performance of the Mark IV at ISO 3200. It’s not the cleanest, crispest image I’ve ever produced, but with some noise reduction and output sharpening, I would have no problem sending this file to be published in a magazine. Being able to produce a publishable quality image in this light and handheld with such a slow shutter speed at this focal length is really quite incredible!
Note, the full-sized file is pretty large so it may take a few seconds to load.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/30, ISO 3200, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone and white balance tweaks in Lightroom and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
Sharpness and focusing for distant subjects was also impressive with this lens. I shot this out the balcony of my hotel room overlooking downtown San Jose the late afternoon before my first workshop started. I shot handheld but rested my elbows on the balcony rail. The autofocus point was on the dark red metal building near the center of the frame.
Click here to see a full-size, unsharpened jpeg produced from the RAW file.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/320, ISO 200, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here but, as noted above, not to the full-size jpeg.
Now on to that annoying focus change issue at distances closer than three meters. I grabbed this 300 mm image of my ballhead in the lodge restaurant after dinner. Sharpness is looking fine, and autofocus locked right on. (This is a pretty impressive little jpeg by the way given the ISO of 5000 and the shutter speed of 1/15 of a second! No noise reduction and just a hint of sharpening. This is a small jpeg of course but still…)
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/15, ISO 5000, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone and white balance tweaks in Lightroom and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
And here’s where things fall apart. Same specs, same position, but now I’ve zoomed out from 300 mm to 180 mm without refocusing. Focus is not even close to being accurate. For both this and the image above I was resting my elbows on the table so this soft image is due entirely to the focus issue and not camera shake. In fairness, the autofocus is great on this lens, and refocusing would have taken but a split second. Nonetheless, I stand by my verdict on this issue — not cool, Canon!
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/15, ISO 5000, 180 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone and white balance tweaks in Lightroom and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
The new 70-300 mm lens is an absolute dream for hummingbirds. Unlike most hummingbird photographers, I prefer compositions that emphasize the plant and hummingbird equally. The ability to compose precisely with the zoom is fantastic.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Phottix radio triggers, 4 Nikon SB-600 flashes (I was working with my friend Fab, who is a Nikon shooter so we used his flashes), Manfrotto tripod, Canon cable release, f11, 1/160, ISO 400, 220 mm zoom setting, IS turned off because it wouldn’t be of any benefit for this kind of work
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom, cloned out one extra chatchlight from the hummingbird’s eye, and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
And man is this lens sharp! In this kind of photography, you are stopping down the lens to somewhere between f8 and f16 so most lenses are going to perform well, even cheaper consumer-grade zoom lenses. But I think this lens has yielded some of the sharpest hummingbird images in my files.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Phottix radio triggers, 4 Nikon SB-600 flashes (I was working with my friend Fab, who is a Nikon shooter so we used his flashes), Manfrotto tripod, Canon cable release, f13, 1/160, ISO 400, 270 mm zoom setting, IS turned off because it wouldn’t be of any benefit for this kind of work
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom, cloned out one extra chatchlight from the hummingbird’s eye, and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
I love using a zoom lens for this type of hummingbird photography but with a 70-200 mm zoom, I find that a 1.4x teleconverter is often necessary. This costs you a stop of light and some image sharpness as well since the addition of a teleconverter is always going to degrade the image to some degree. With the 70-300 mm this isn’t necessary. I was able to step in a little closer and then zoom to 300 mm to capture this full-frame image.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Phottix radio triggers, 4 Nikon SB-600 flashes (I was working with my friend Fab, who is a Nikon shooter so we used his flashes), Manfrotto tripod, Canon cable release, f13, 1/160, ISO 400, 270 mm zoom setting, IS turned off because it wouldn’t be of any benefit for this kind of work
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom, cloned out one extra chatchlight from the hummingbird’s eye, and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
I was quite pleased with the overall look of the images produced by the 70-300 mm lens. In addition to the sharpness, I found the contrast and color rendition to be very pleasing. The lighting here was set for a softer, more overcast day effect, and the lens and camera reproduced the subtle tones very well.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Canon ST-E2 flash transmitter, 3 Canon 430 EX Speedlite flashes, 1 Canon 550 EX Speedlite flash, Manfrotto tripod, Canon cable release, f13, 1/160, ISO 400, 180 mm zoom setting, IS turned off because it wouldn’t be of any benefit for this kind of work
Post: I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom, cropped just a bit, cloned out one extra chatchlight from the hummingbird’s eye, and applied a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
The new Canon 70-300 mm is certainly not a macro lens, but I found it very useful for closeup work, particularly for my interest in including some habitat elements. The f5.6 aperture provided shallow enough depth of field for the effect I wanted here. Autofocus locked on quickly and accurately to the masked tree frog’s eyes, and the IS allowed me to obtain a sharp image working handheld.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/200, ISO 640, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
Using the 300 mm focal length (with its narrow angle of view) allowed me to capture a shallow depth of field effect even with a fairly wide composition for this red-eyed tree frog on a rainforest liana.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f7.1, 1/100, ISO 800, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
Taking a couple of steps forward and switching to vertical gave me a different image. Again, autofocus worked great, and the IS allowed me to obtain a sharp image.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/160, ISO 800, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
Yes, you can even use this lens for bugs! If I had wanted a tight closeup, however, I would have had to switch to a true macro lens.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/100, ISO 800, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
This isn’t the best image I’ve ever taken but I was amazed to be able to pull off an acceptably sharp image in a dark cloud forest by handholding at 300 mm. I was at the lens’ maximum magnification — as closely as I could focus and zoomed to 300 mm. Shouldn’t I have used a tripod? Sure, but I was testing the limits of the lens here, and it’s good to know that handholding, sometimes the only option with a moving or fleeting subject in the tropical forest, is a viable strategy when necessary.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/80, ISO 1000, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
I was quite happy with this image of a Gulf Coast Toad (Bufo valliceps) taken at my friend’s reptile zoo. The sharpness is of course right on, and the bokeh (out of focus background quality) is pleasing. I worked here on a tripod, using mirror lockup to ensure maximum sharpness. Despite the IS qualities of this or any other lens, tripod and mirror lockup is always the way to go for ultimate sharpness with stationary subjects. I used my Phottix radio triggers as a wireless camera release (a really cool bonus feature of these units) to hold an off-camera flash with softbox. The flash was triggered by a Canon flash transmitter.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Manfrotto tripod, Phottix trigger as remote camera release, mirror lockup, Canon ST-E2 flash transmitter, 1 Canon 430 EX Speedlite flash with softbox and set in manual output mode, f5.6, 1/25, ISO 320, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned off
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
I’m moving my wildlife photography further and further away from more typical frame-filling portraits of animals. The new 70-300 is absolutely fantastic for me in this regard. Its light weight allows me to be mobile and set up quickly, and the zoom range out to 300 mm opens up great possibilities when I can’t get close. I took this image of a black river turtle during my recent Art of Biodiversity photo tour, using a Singh-Ray blue/gold polarizer to accentuate the color of the reflections in this backwater stream. Manual fill-flash from my flash with a Better Beamer allowed me to give just enough light to open up the shadows in the turtle without killing the reflections in the water.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Singh-Ray blue/gold polarizing filter, Manfrotto tripod, Canon cable release, mirror lockup, 1 Canon 550 EX Speedlite flash with Better Beamer and set in manual output mode, f8.0, 1/30, ISO 500, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned off
Post: I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom, a slight crop, and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
I took plenty of wide angle images of this beautiful cloud forest stream in a national park near my house but then settled in for some details with the new 70-300 mm zoom. It was a dream to work with (though it would have been easier with the tripod collar!). I was pleased with this image, which is a full-frame shot. That’s me below shooting the image (thanks, Fab, for this shot), which is a small section of the righthand rock in the cascade at the middle/upper right side of the frame.
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Singh-Ray blue/gold polarizing filter, Manfrotto tripod, Canon cable release, mirror lockup, f6.3, 1/2 second, ISO 100, 244 mm zoom setting, IS turned off
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
This lens is great for nature pattern images, which is a growing interest of mine. I took a few shots of these fern leaves with one part in focus but ended up preferring the images where everything was slightly defocused .
Tech: Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/320, ISO 200, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied some standard tone tweaks in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
This isn’t the best image in the world, but I took it just to show that the lens performs well on a full-frame body too. I took this without a polarizer and then converted it to black and white. Sharpness around the edges of the frame looks good, and there is no noticeable distortion.
Tech: Canon 5D Mark I, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, handheld, f5.6, 1/200, ISO 400, 277 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I applied a black and white conversion in Lightroom and a bit of sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
A second later I added a Singh-Ray blue/gold polarizer to the lens, which gave the image a completely different feel from the one above.
Tech: Canon 5D Mark I, Canon 70-300 mm L IS zoom, Singh-Ray blue/gold polarizing filter, handheld, f8.0, 1/200, ISO 200, 300 mm zoom setting, IS turned on
Post: This is the full-frame image. I upped the blacks slightly and brought down the clarity a bit in Lightroom and then added some sharpening to the resized jpeg presented here.
I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to use this lens. It lived up to my expectations in terms of image quality, build, and image stabilization performance. In addition to nature photography, I think it would make a great lens for travel and sports photography.
As I’ve made clear in the review above, a couple of the lens’ flaws continue to annoy me. But in the end, I found the sharpness of the lens at all focal lengths and apertures, the pleasant bokeh, the fantastic next gen IS, the extended zoom range, and the build quality to outweigh the negatives. In regard to the zoom range, that turned out to be an important deciding factor as I evaluated this lens and considered the 70-200 zoom options (see below). After using the lens for a couple of weeks, I noticed that I frequently shot it at focal lengths longer than 200 mm. With one of the 70-200 mm zooms, I would be reaching for my 1.4x teleconverter quite often, and the resultant loss of image sharpness and the inefficiency of having to do so clinched my decision to go with the 70-300 zoom.
Had Canon included the tripod collar and not been so blatantly lazy in ignoring the focus change issue at close distances (if someone can give me a solid technical reason for this, I’ll consider recanting!), I would consider this lens to be quite close to perfect. As it is, I found it to be the best fit for my particular nature photography needs, and I have decided to purchase it and add it proudly to my backpack. I’ve no doubt that it’s going to open up new photo opportunities for me long into the future. I do want to get my hands on the tripod collar, but I may hold out for a bit to see if some generic brand becomes available. It’s hard to stomach paying Canon nearly $200 for a tripod collar!
If you are in the market for a lens of this class, you know my choice but your needs and interests may differ. If you are really into birds, the latest Canon 70-200 mm f2.8 L IS lens is supposed to be very sharp in combination with the new Canon Series III 2x teleconverter. This combination will set you back nearly $3000 after shipping, and the lens itself is not light or compact, but I’ve no doubt that this lens is a stellar performer. The Canon 70-200 mm f4 L IS zoom lens is a great alternative for a lower price (about $1450 with the tripod collar). This lens is lightweight and very sharp. It will work quite well with a 1.4x teleconverter though at the cost of convenience. A lower cost alternative would be the Canon 70-300 mm f4-f5.6 non-L IS lens. The performance is not great wide open, and the IS is old technology, but for around $550, it’s a viable option if you want it mostly for images where you don’t mind stopping down to f8 or beyond. Those favoring any one of these other lenses obviously could make good counter arguments against the new 70 to 300 mm zoom, and that’s fine. In the end, each photographer’s gear needs will be unique. If you think the new Canon 70 to 300 mm zoom meets your needs, then I highly recommend it as a pro caliber lens that, despite its price of around $1500, actually is priced reasonably in relation to similar options by Canon and the third party lensmakers.
There’s me, happy to be with my new Canon 70-300 mm f4-5.6 L IS zoom lens. As you can tell, I can no longer afford razor blades.
Please drop me a line as a comment below and tell me what you think of this review.
And if you end up with one of these lenses in your bag, stay in touch and let me know how you put it to use!
Cheers,
Greg
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Hi Greg,
from three reviews of this lens that I’ve read so far, I find yours the best – because of so good samples from the field showing various aspects of this lens. Well done!
… and the photos are excellent!
Very impressive and comprehensive review! I’ve heard mixed opinions on this lens, but you supported your thoughts quite well with narrative and photos
Hi, Arthur. Thanks so much for your comment, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the review. Jared, thank you as well for the good words on the review. As with any lens, it’s not for everybody, but it’s certainly lens that delivers pro quality results.
Cheers,
Greg
Hi Greg,
Enjoyed the review and images made with the lens. And now i know what to do with the box.
I sent two emails to your email address but they have continied to be undiliverable for some reason. Is your email “gmbasco” working, or is the problem at my end?
More later,
Dennis
Hi, Dennis. I’ve been phasing out that e-mail. You can use my other addresses or if not, reach me through the contact form on this site. I’ll be going through that address to reply to people as I get a chance.
Thanks again for bringing the lens down, and I’m glad you enjoyed reading the review. B and H wants to send me the 1200 mm f5.6 but I can’t find anyone to bring it down
All the best,
Greg
Thanks for the review – love the hummingbird images!! The lens isn’t cheap, but it’s not so outrageously expensive and looks to be so useful that it’s going on my wish list.
Cool hat. Did it come with the lens? If not, where can I get one?
BTW, my 70-300L arrives tomorrow, along with a 1.4 Kenko TC.
Thanks for the review and candid remarks – I’ve been enjoying this lens since Feb 2011 but other users and myself continue to guess why Canon did a switch-a-roo on the zoom ring & focus ring. It just seems to me that Canon would have a ‘good’ reason – backed up with test-user feedback. Have you heard or can you speculate scientifically as to why Canon switched their location? Many users and on occasion myself – will inadvertently rub/move the focus ring – not good.
regards,
Will
Hi, guys. Thanks for your comments, and I’m glad you found the review useful. Phil, the hat — man, I wish! That would be the least Canon could do since they don’t include the tripod collar
Will, I actually have not heard or read anything regarding the position of the focus and zoom rings. It’s an interesting question, and I’m afraid I can’t venture an educated guess on why they chose to do it this way.
Cheers,
Greg
Got my 70-300L today and am enjoying it. The lens case that comes with it.. Is someone at Canon trying to be funny?
Greg, love your work! Is nature photography your main career?
I got one from CPS to test, I really like it so I ordered a couple. It’s a pretty handy lens, MUCH lighter than the beast that is the 28-300. The images are pretty sharp and the lens is very “handy”. I wish they would make a 24-70 with the IS ( I mention this only because the lenses seem to be about the same weight and balance when at 70 and 24 respectively )
Hi, Phil. Yes, I totally agree about the lens cases Canon provides. Have you ever bought one of Sigma’s pro line lenses? Their lens cases are really nice; they blow Canon’s clear out of the water.
Thanks for the kind words. Yes, nature photography, the photos I sell and the tours I lead, is my full-time job.
Cheers,
Greg
Greg
Iread your review and thought it was to the point both the pros and cons. Now if you remember I am a Nikon user but try to keep up with Canon just because a number of people I photograph with are Canon users.
Regards
Myer
Hi, Myer. Thanks very much for stopping by. Of course, I remember all those Nikon users
I too try to keep up on Nikon gear as it’s always interesting to know what other folks are shooting. Maybe I shouldn’t though, as I sometimes get Nikon camera or lens envy!
Glad you enjoyed the review.
All the best,
Greg
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Greg,
Yours is the most comprehensive “real” review of this lens that I’ve seen so far. Thanks for taking the time to explain how it was field tested and sharing real images. The pictures and user experience speak for themselves. Like you, I’m seeking a tweener… I’ve got a gap between my 100mm macro and 300 f2.8IS. I rented a 180L macro for a recent trip, but unsure I want to haul the extra bulk w/out the flexibility in future shoots.
While I’m not wild about variable aperture in the 70-300, your review has renewed my interest in this lens.
thanks and regards,
bruce
Hi, Bruce. Thanks very much for stopping by, and I’m glad that you found the review to be helpful. Your kit sounds very similar to mine, so I think it would be worth taking a look at this lens. Just let me know if you have any further questions about it; I’ll be happy to offer my opinion.
I love the 100 mm macro but I have been thinking seriously about something a little longer. Nonetheless, I don’t like the price or the weight of the Canon 180 mm. I have my eye on the Sigma 150 mm macro, which is a sweet lens. Light enough for handheld work but a bit longer than the 100 mm and super sharp. I would feel stuck on the tripod with a 180 mm macro (whether Canon or Sigma), and that just wouldn’t suit a rainforest photographer in my opinion.
My next lens review is slated for September, when B and H will be sending me a copy of the new Sigma 150 mm macro with OS, their image stabilization. So, if you’re not in any hurry, you might stay tuned for that.
All the best,
Greg
Greg,
I do think our gear iis pretty similar. I’m a nature generalist/ eco-travel photographer. Because I fly (internationally) & hike w/ gear, I’m a minimalist… wish I could carry only one body but the crop + full frame maximizes opportunities for both wildlife & landscape. Regrding the Canon 180 macro, I rented it for my recent trip to CR and used it w/ the 5D2. My wife used the 100 macro on her 40D… for nearly the same perspective. I will tell you this, the 180L is impressive, it is as sharp as the 300 f2.8IS. I shot the 180 @ f3.5 for shallow dof macros & as well as stopped down. I almost bought the lens on the spot for its sharpness on the 5D, but decided that the bulk was an impediment. I carry a narrow pack for hiking in the woods & possible stowage under the seat on planes. I ditched my 1D-series cameras because of travel bulk, and need to be careful when selecting optics for the same reason.
Tamy (my wife & co-shooter) uses the veenerable 100-400L as her wildlife, general nature lens, IS improvements aside, could you compare your new 70-300L in terms of long-end performance & autofucus responsiveness. Based on maximum aperture, these two lenses seem similar, and in the world of “long is never long enough” the extra 100mm would seem to give the older lens an edge for the same price.
I look forward to reading about the Sigma macro… Before selling my worldly posessions to buy a used 300 f2.8IS, I used (first) an HSM 300 f2.8 & later a 120-300 f2.8 HSM, I liked both lenses and would not feel a huge loss if I had to use them today ( though I’d miss IS & the weight savings/balance of the canon equivalent).
Bruce
Hi Greg,
Do you know – or have you heard – how the lens would work with either a 1.4x or 2.0x II EF Extender?
Hi, Bruce. I have no doubt that the 180 Canon macro is a great lens. I’ve used it before, and it’s great from a tripod for sure. I just think that, if you wanted a lens for macro work from a tripod, you can get the same quality from the Sigma 180 macro for less money. And for me, it’s just too big a lens for rainforest shooting. We’re all different of course, but I like to shoot from a tripod at times but be mobile and use flash at others, and this is the reason the Sigma 150 mm is intriguing to me.
On the 100-400, I’ll admit that I’ve never been a big fan of that lens because of the push-pull zoom (for both the dust issue and the difficulty in composing precisely with the zoom) and the lack of sharpness at the widest apertures and on the long end. (Yes, I know there are good copies and bad copies but still…) I’ve always read that the 100-400 isn’t that great a performer past 300 mm, but again, your mileage may vary. I can say that the 70-300 is very sharp wide open and right out to 300 mm. I also like the zoom ring much on the new zoom better than the push-pull of the 100-400. I really can’t speak to the AF performance between the two lenses because I’ve not shot the 100-400 enough to be able to say.
If your wife is happy with the 100-400, then I wouldn’t see a big reason to change. If she were looking to cut weight and size but maintain great image quality wide open and out to 300 mm, then the new zoom certainly would be worth a look. If she wants that extra 100 mm, then she’s probably good with what she has now.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Greg
Hi, Cheryl. Thanks very much for stopping by. The lens will not work with Canon teleconverters (old or new) because the rear element of the lens is nearly flush with the mounting ring. Tamron, Kenko, and probably Sigma TCs would work because their optical elements don’t stick out as far as the Canon TCs. That said, I haven’t tried it to see the image quality with TCs. My thinking is that this is a lens to be used by itself. For longer telephoto needs, I reach for my prime 300 w/TCs as necessary. My dream is to have the new Canon 400 mm f2.8 to pair with this zoom for wildlife. I’m pretty sure my wife will prefer that my kids go to college though, so that probably won’t happen
Cheers,
Greg
Hi Greg, back home and still catching up after the tour. The 70-300 was brand new to me on our tour. I decided to bring this lens rather than the 2.8 300IS and am very glad that I did. Advantages of this lens include its versatility in composing images by zooming, physical size, astounding image stability function, and truly superior sharpness! I was surprised at how much of the time that I kept this lens mounted on my camera. I got some handheld shots of the blue-sided tree frogs at Bougainvillea Hotel that are extremely sharp and the 300mm focal length was perfect. I would not have gotten nearly as good pictures with my 70-200mm 2.8LIS. Another thing that impressed me was the lens ability to withstand the rain and humidity we experienced. I had one occasion when my 7D body and 70-300 lens got rained on hard for 5 minutes in a sudden shower. I had no opportunity to get the camera covered up. The way the central barrel of the lens goes out and then back into the lens had me really worried about it getting moisture inside the lens. Had no problems at all after the soaking. Also no internal fogging, even in high humidity. Your comments about using it for closeup work proved very true for me also. I kept this lens mounted several times when others were going to their macro lenses. In actual use in field conditions, I did not find the variable aperture or focus changing at close distances to be a problem at all. I am from the old school of refocusing every time you change focal length. I wished the lens had a tripod ring the whole trip. It definitely would have balanced better. I understand that the earthquake in Japan has cause many supply problems but I will buy a tripod ring as soon as one is available. I agree that it should have been included. The quality of the case is another non-issue for me. I keep my lens in a camera bag, not in its case. I am finding that I keep this lens mounted to my 7D body and a 24-105 mounted on my 5DMkll body most of the time, in my backpack. With the 7D’s 1.6 crop factor, this lens is effectively a 112-480mm. It is a potent package for hand-held work and a dream on a tripod. Comparing it to the 100-400L is difficult. There are definitely times when the extra 100mm is useful in the 100-400. It is certainly sharper than the 100-400 but when stopped down both lenses take great pictures. The ring zooming is preferable and faster to use for me. The bulk of the longer lens keeps me from keeping it mounted unless I really need it. I believe the 70-300L will become my favorite (most used) lens. It is an exceptional lens.
Hi, Lindsay. Thanks so much for stopping by. I totally agree with your assessment of the lens, and I know you really enjoyed it on the trip last month.
It was great to work with you. Let’s stay in touch!
All the best,
Greg
Thanks Greg for this review although I had already bought this lens (with the part of the gift voucher winnings I received from Digital Camera Warehouse). I love this lens. I actually sold my beloved 70-200 f/4 L IS and my now aging Canon 300 f/4 L IS to a friend after I bought the 70-300 f/4-5.6. Its certainly as sharp, if not sharper at 300 than my old prime. It’s a lens which will surely stay in my Lowepro for a long time.
Sheila
Hi, Sheila. Thanks very much for stopping by. I’ve not compared the two directly but have a good friend who uses the 300 mm f4. While I think it’s a very good lens, I’m not surprised to read that you find the new 70-300 mm zoom to be just as sharp at the equivalent focal length. I agree that the new zoom is a lens that will be in my bag at all times.
Cheers,
Gre
Just thought I’d share a review of this lens from legendary photographer Eric Meola. He seems to like the lens as much as I do.
http://ericmeola.blogspot.com/2010/12/canons-new-70-300mm-l-lens.html
Cheers,
Greg
Greg thanks for review. It really helpful to know how lens work in practise, not only in laboratory. Good job!
Thanks, I’m so glad you found the review useful!
Cheers,
Greg
It is very useful.Thank you
Hi Greg, your excellent review of the lens brought out the good points as well as some of the warts. I agree that Canon is pretty tacky by not including the tripod collar with the lens given the hefty price. The focusing issue is another very annoying decision Canon made. Canon seems to miss obvious things. I used Canon equipment for about 25 years and 3 years ago I jumped ship and bought into the 4/3 system (Olympus) and never looked back. There were a number of reasons but an important reason was size and weight because bird/wildlife and landscape photography are my main interest. The articulating LCD is also very important to me. Haven’t muddied any clothes in 3 years. With image stabilization in the body all 4/3 lenses are stabilized. The Olympus 50-200mm F2.8 (100-400mm real world) mounted on my Olympus E3 is quite manageable, especially when hiking. Incidentally, the lens came with a tripod collar, lens hood and a great looking carrying case.
I read your blog faithfully and enjoy looking at your terrific photos. Hope to join one of your workshops in the not-to-distant future. Keep up the good work.
Hi, Banks. Thanks very much for stopping by. I’m glad you enjoyed the review, and thanks so much for the kind words on the site and my photos.
I have seen the Olympus system a few times, and it does seem to have a lot of nice features to it. I know that Rob Sheppard loves it as much as you.
I hope we can meet up in Costa Rica. Just let me know if you have any questions regarding the tours.
All the best,
Greg
Outstanding review !
Not only do you provide THE knowledgable and invaluable first person user experience, rather than a typical cut and paste magazine review, you’re article features specific and highly detailed examples of the usage and your purpose surrounding the lens. Not to mention the time taken to produce your article.
I too, have a 70-300 f4-5.6 L, specifically for bicycle racing and field sports which I am heavily involved in. But also for Wildlife, as I live in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and am continually practicing with rocky mountain sheep, grizzly bears, birds of prey (my favorite) and other large land mammals.
I only wish I could provide as a great review of my experience with this lens.
As for the lack of Lens Ring, I built my own.
http://www.combatcameragear.blogspot.com
Sincerely
Enjoy the craft.
May be an inappropriate question, but noted a comment that a 70-200 was sold in favor of this particular lens which certainly speaks well of the image quality of the 70-300. My question is would you use this at an indoor/outdoor wedding and feel as comfortable with it?
I am considering the canon 70-200 f/4 IS (2.8 version not affordable), vs either a Tamron 70-200 VC or the Sigma 70-200 OS. Appreciate any thoughts on this.
Looked at review of the Tamron 70-300 VC with pretty glowing report as well.
Hi, Bill. This is always a tough decision. I would look at it three ways.
First, if you need the longer reach of a 300 and are willing to pay the price of this lens, the image quality between it and the Tamron is no contest. The reviews I read compared the Tamron’s image quality to the old Canon 70-300, which is merely mediocre and not great at all at the widest apertures. That said, the new Canon 70-300 is about three times the price of the old Canon or the Tamron so it should be a lot better.
Second, if you absolutely need f2.8 for reasons of shutter speed and/or bokeh, then the Sigma or Tamron f2.8 zoom would be good choices.
Third, if you want to stick with Canon and stay in the intermediate price range and don’t need f2.8, then I think the 70-200 f4 would be a great choice.
I don’t do weddings, but my instinct is that if I did, the 300 mm reach would be less important than the advantages that f2.8 gives you in terms of shutter speed and shallow depth-of-field. I think trying the Sigma or Tamron f2.8 zooms would be a good way to go.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Greg
Thank you Greg. Very thoughtful and concise comments and opinion.
Lots to think about. At this point,the argument is all mine. I think my best bet would be to pursue the 70-200 f/2.8 for what I am looking for.
If anyone either owns or has used either the Tamron ro Sigma 70-200 F.28
Would really appreciate your thoughts.
I appreciate the quality of everyone’s replies to this site. Great site.
Thanks for allowing me to participate.
I don’t have experience with either the Tamron or Sigma 70-200 F2.8 but do have experience with the Canon 70-200 2.8L IS and it is a very good lens. Since it has been superseded by the new 70-200 2.8L IS II I would suggest that you look for a good used or Canon reconditioned lens of the previous generation. They are scarce and hold their value well, but they do become available as people trade up to the new generation lens. You would give up having the latest IS and sharpness, but the previous lens was, and is, a great lens that continues to satisfy many people today. Just a thought.
Hi, Bill. My pleasure. I’m glad the response was helpful. I’m a big believer in the fact that there’s lots of great gear out there, and everyone will have different needs for their particular situation. I can’t stand when photographers claim that “this is the only lens that will do the job” or “you have to get this lens, no argument.” So, I think that looking into reviews and experience from folks who have used the Sigma and Tamron 2.8 zooms is a good next step.
I was just over at B and H, and it appears that the Sigma is twice as expensive as the Tamron, which makes sense because the Sigma has OS while the Tamron doesn’t have any form of stabilization. As far as I could gather, there is no VC version of the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 out yet.
So, if the stabilization is also important then it looks like the Sigma’s the choice. Except for Lindsay’s point, which is a really good suggestion. You may well be able to find a used Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS version I lens secondhand for about the same price as the Sigma. Definitely something to consider. Thanks, Lindsay!
Cheers,
Greg
Thank you all for your advice. Now for the looking part. LOL Enjoy your day.
Have fun, Bill. Report back on what you decide. I’ll be interested to know.
Cheers,
Greg
Thanks Greg,
Picked up a used but pristine 70-200 f/4 non-IS for a great price. Used it outdoors yesterday. Very happy with results. Will try to get some indoor shots this week to see how well this can serve in an indoor setting. Gent I purchased from said it will work indoors, just expect to use flash. Said he had no problems hand-holding without tripod. I am thinking for indoor wedding shots he is correct about flash, but I may need at least a monopod. Have about 3 weeks to get it together before event.
Next question since a 580exll is out of the budget, if a 430exll which I can get new online for for same price as a promaster 7500 third party. Thinking stay with Canon? Had a Promaster on a Pentax K-x which worked okay, but was limited due to limited of high sync for outdoor fill flash. Friend said I could do this with the camera. Not sure what he means. Starting to think I know just enough to be dangerous. LOL In any case I appreciated your excellent response on this great site.
This looks like a good choice for my first “L” lens, but I would like to get a teleconverter for a bit more flexibility. Which brand/models work, and would be recommended, with this lens?
Hi, Bill. Sorry for the late comment. I somehow missed your latest note. I’m glad to hear about your 70-200; that’s a great lens. Though I’m not a brand name snob, I do think that flash is one area where it’s best to stick with your camera maker. The 430 EX II would be a great option as it will do high-speed sync shooting with no problem. It also has a wireless slave function so it you ever get into off-camera flash that would be quite useful to you (you’d need a 580, the Canon ST-E2, or some radio triggers though). In any case, the 430 will work fine and will be useful to you if your kit should grow in the future.
Cheers,
Greg
Hi, Jim. Thanks very much for your note. See my comment from July 10, 2011 above for my thoughts on teleconverters with this lens.
Cheers,
Greg
Thanks for a great review … I ended up purchasing this lens. Have you tried it with a 1.4 teleconverter? Ironically, canon’s won’t fit on it, but Kenko’s will. I have not tried it but would be interested to know your thoughts (I know you wrote about using a teleconverter with the 70-200 mm). Thanks for your excellent work.
Hi Greg,
Happy new year to you and everyone.
Well, got through wedding okay, but as photography continues to a learning experience, I made a couple of decisions along the way. I bought a gently used 430ex ll and mirroring your advice will forever more use same brand dedicated flash.
Used the 70-200 f/4 sparingly, but did a fair job overall. This lens will probably never be my go to wedding lens indoors, but will always be with me for outdoor wedding, action, sports, and portrait work.
Just wanted everyone to know your help and advice as been spot on in all cases and would like to acknowledge my appreciation.
If you do not mind, will continue to participate on your great site. Can’t see anything but opportunity to improve.
Hope 2012 is a great year for you.
Hi, Anne-Marie. I’m glad you enjoyed the review. I did try the lens the other day with a Tamron teleconverter (1.4), and I wasn’t super impressed with the results. That teleconverter works well with other lenses so my conclusion is that the 70-300 isn’t really a lens that is going to take well to teleconverter use at wider apertures. If you were stopping down to f11 or f16 for landscape, I think it would be OK. I would expect a Kenko teleconverter to give similar results with this lens.
If anyone wants to shoot birds or wildlife and will be looking to go to 400 mm with regularity, I would be looking at Canon’s 400 mm f5.6 lens, which has fantastic sharpness — much better IMO than Canon’s 100-400 mm zoom, of which I’ve never been a big fan.
Cheers,
Greg
Hi, Bill. Thanks very much for your follow-up, and I’m happy to hear that your wedding went well. I look forward to seeing you on the site here in 2012 and wish you all the best as well!
Cheers,
Greg
Thank you … very helpful
Hi Greg,
Thanks for a very thoughtful review, this is one of the best review I came across. Its kind of hard to find good review sites, there are many sites with not-so-useful reviews mostly describing just the specs.
Regarding your note:”Had Canon included the tripod collar and not been so blatantly lazy in ignoring the focus change issue at close distances (if someone can give me a solid technical reason for this, I’ll consider recanting!)” :
I read somewhere that this lens is not a completely parafocal lens and this is applicable to the whole zoom range, not only for the short distance. There is vary minor focusing adjustment required when you change zoom while keeping object in the focus. I do not know why.
I own 70-200 f/4L but planning to replace it with 70-300L. I am amazed by the close-up ability of this lens.
Cheers,
Harish
Hi, Harish. Thanks very much for your comment and for your insights on the focus change issue. I can say that, after having the lens for over half a year now, I am completely happy with it. It’s super sharp, and the issues that I raised in the review really are not a big deal in everyday use.
Cheers,
Greg