Photozone review of Canon EF 70 - 300 f/4-5.6 IS on 5DII

[bob_king2]

<p>Photozone have reviewed the above lens on a 5DII. Their results confirm my experience - a decent performer. I got mine for travel when I didn't want to carry my EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS L.</p>

<p>Does anyone else use this lens on FF? How do you find it?<br>

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff/558-canon70300f456isff</p>

<p>Cheers, Bob</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>While you're there, you might want to check out some of their other new/revised reviews on the 5D Mk ii.<br>

They keep adding new things and going back over older reviews.</p>

[colin carron]

<p>Bob, thanks for the link to the new review.</p>

<p>I use the 70-300 4-5.6 IS a lot with my Canon 5D and am reasonably happy with it as a long reach travel lens. I like the relatively small size and weight together with the good reach. In my view sharpness is very good but slightly below 'L' standards in the 70-200 range and drops off a bit 200-300 together with a bit of loss of contrast. But good value for money in my book for an all-round travel lens.</p>

<p>Below is a shot of some puffins taken at 300mm and showing the whole frame and the central crop. It was hand-held and the sharpness is down to the very good IS.</p>

<p>I was very interested in the new 'L' version of this lens - the 70-300 f4-5.6 L IS USM. This is the same length but a bigger diameter and heavier weight. I have been looking for reviews to see how much better the L version will be to the already good 'cooking' version. I recently came across this review :<br /> http://dancarrphotography.com/blog/2010/11/17/canon-70-300-f4-5-6-l-is-review-vs-70-200-f4-l-is/<br /> This makes the claim that the new L version is the same standrad as the 70-200 f4 L If tha is true it may be worth upgrading though the current price of the 70-300 L is steep. In the UK it has dropped from 1600 GBP (what?) to about 1100 GBP if you look carefully. But that is still more than the 100-400 L.</p>

<p>I will wait for more reviews and I hope more price reductions before thinking seriously about trading the very good cooking version for the maybe excellent and pricey L version.</p><div></div>

[model mayhem gallery]

<p>I am waiting on the Tamron 70-300 VC just the fact it is a $400 lens which is even being compared to the Canon L-series version says enough for me. I have the Tamron 28-75 F2.8 DI and I have personally comaperd it side by side to the Canon 24-70 F2.8. Image quality they are equal, build qulity and feel the Canon wins. However, price vs performace the Tamrons are for me a way better buy. I just can't justify paying 3 -4X the price for maybe a 10% increase in IQ. Granted if I were making tons of money doing photography I might go all L. But, it doesn't take L-series lenses to make great photos. </p>