70-300 DO usage for motorsports/bright light

[richard_martin10]

Does anyone have any experience using the 70-300 DO lens in motorsports, outdoor sports, or bright reflective

light? I've searched around and couldn't find anything specific, any help would be appreciated.

[john_t3]

I don't know why not because it has the latest IS and is fast focusing, however the DO element can be prone to flaring at some angles. If you use the hood it should about eliminate that flare. It's a handy lens, small for what it does, but make sure you either get a new one, supposedly they have been silently improved, or be prepared to send an older used one in for recalibration as it may be soft on the long end. Some people complain about softness with the DO, but it's images respond very well to sharpening in post.

[tommyinca]

The 70-300 DO lens is an outdoor "compact to carry" lens. I used one for some years. It is not more prone to flare

then other multicoated lens. The flare you normal read about is the light ring image of DO defraction rings inside out

of focus specticular high light from a point light source under certain angle (ie. an out of focus black ground from a

drop of water or a reflection of the sun

on a body of water). This happen once every blue moon and It is not that much worst from an over spherical

aberration corrected macro lens (ie: a real good one). People that look for these typically have not use this lens

much.

BTW: If you are

looking for best contrast or sharpness per dollar, this lens is not one of them.

[john_t3]

Popularly the "flare" is called a DO onion. You can see a slice in the lower right corner of the attached image. It is rare that happens, this one was due to the angle of the late afternoon sun and hood was off.<div></div>

[mark u]

Also note the artifacts reported here:

 

http://www.photo.net/equipment/canon/70-300do/

[richard_martin10]

When I'm shooting cars at the track sometimes I'm not able to get the best angle of sun for reasons out of my control. You sometimes get reflections off the cars that aren't a problem for me with normal lenses. See the example below. What concerns me is would those reflections ruin your shot in a DO lens? Would they wash out the contrast or create other problems?<div></div>

[john_t3]

I might be wrong, but those "highlights" on the car behind the driver's helmet and a few other places look like sensor blooming and would have nothing to do with the lens. That would likely be best treated with a ND or CP filter.

 

I just flipped through about a thousand shots made with that lens looking for more instances of DO "flare", but they must be so rare, I didn't spot any other than the one posted above. I also looked for some shots made with the EF 70-300 IS DO similar to your application, but didn't find any because though I do a lot of car shots, I have never used this lens for it.

 

Frankly, unless you have particular uses for the features of this lens, I would better recommend the EF 100-400L IS for Petit Le Mans.

[richard_martin10]

The 100-400 is not appealing to me because of the size. I'm actually quite happy with my 70-200 F4L and 70-300 IS, the appeal of the DO is the size and possibly replacing 2 lenses with 1 to lighten up the bag......Always looking for possible improvements!

 

It seems to me that the highlights on the car are simply sun reflections. It was early afternoon when that shot was taken, the sun was over and behind the car, a position that some people have said causes flare in the DO. I was thinking the only way to find out if its usable is to rent one and experiment as there seems to be little usage for motorsports for this lens.

[john_t3]

The DO was designed as a versatile and convenient travel and walkabout lens, and in that sense will certainly fill your bill. Renting one is certainly a good idea, however whether they give you one of the newest manufacture or one that has been recalibrated is another question, if you want to see the same results of a new one. I bought mine about four years ago and was somewhat frustrated with softness until I sent it in for recalibration. Since it came back it is clearly improved, but I certainly wouldn't prefer it to my 135L, 24-105L or 100-400L for the focal length range.

 

The shot attached below was taken under similar light conditions to the one you are describing, and while the reflections off the water are pretty extreme, there is nothing there more than the highlights in yours that would suggest flare because of the DO. It will be interesting to see how your rental turns out and whether you find it acceptable.<div></div>

[correct_exposure]

AF is fast. Easy to handle b/c of small size. I use DxO Optics Pro which has a module for this lens. Great results. Here is a tips site:

 

http://www.fovegraphy.com/70_300DO_TipsE.php

 

I think the lens performs better on a full frame body, however. Bokeh is smoother.