Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM Telephoto Zoom Lens

HailttRedskins · May 3, 2008

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-75-300m...9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1209826432&sr=8-9

I'm looking into getting a zoom lens and was wondering what everyone thought about this lens. I want to have some nice clear pictures for when I shoot things from far away, say at a sporting event of some sort, bird flying, zoo, etc.

Would this lens be good for that or are there better choices?

Thanks

JimmyO · May 3, 2008

Depends. That lens has a good range for sports, but in mainly bright daylight. I dont know your price range but there are alot nicer lenses, but of course they come with a bigger price tag

SanctuS · May 3, 2008

I have that lens or something very similar to it. It might be enough for some sports and wildlife at a zoo, but I have a lot of trouble getting close enough to birds to get good pictures with it. It is nice as a walk around lens. I would recommend the Canon 28-135 IS USM. From what I've read, it has better construction and the USM autofocus is very fast and quiet...something I wish I had.

RebelTasha · May 3, 2008

I have this lens, I was just looking at the other post a few up about the Tamron that claims Macro in its title, I can get macro with this lens but is the Tamron better at Macro I tried to look at specs but Tamron specs werent' very clear..
This lens is slow, if you are taking fast sports shots I'm not so sure it would be fast enough.
I have actually started using it a lot, at first after seeing how slow it was and how steady you have to hold it I thought I'd never use it and it sat in it's box. Now I just bought a bigger bag specifically so I could keep the lens attached to my camera it is awesome for nature walks... Beautiful color for close up flower shots, bees... (still needs to be faster for bees really but bee may stay still for a good shot).
Actually look at my flicker other than the fisheye type ones, skatepark, my kids pics and the light box ones the rest were taken with the 300mm like I said I've only had it out once or twice but I'm really starting to love it..

As far as zoom a little more would be good but for the price I think it's as good as you are going to get.
For example I thought when purchasing it I would beable to get in a lot closer than this I wasnt' overly far away I was pretty far away though and this was very high up... But you can see I am way off on the bird filling the frame.

prodigy2k7 · May 3, 2008

its good for zoom but crappy for sports. When sitting down or using a tripod, pictures arent very sharp, a little soft, but *okay* shots.

I have the lens and im not very pleased with it, im into sports and i dunno, i get good shots in race horse photography when zoomed about 100-110mm but soccer i used about 250-300mm of the lens, and thats when I get some "okay" shots in soccer and surfing shots... Thats also when stopping to F10. I am going to invest a lot into getting a good zoom lens 100-400 or 70-200 im not sure which yet...

If you want to get this lens i suggest getting the IS version.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
$550 on B&H

I dunno, i just dont suggest getting the lens, its good for using a tripod and still images but sports its not that great.... ive had it for awhile and im ready to move on not looking back...

my 2 cents...

Do'Urden's Eyes · May 4, 2008

I have this lens as well, and its relatively sharp... i mean its not a quick lens at all. you need massive amounts of light to be working at shutter speeds above 1/400, or 1/500 (which is the minimum i use to reduce shake when extended to 300mm on my cropped sensor). not much use for indoors because to get to fast enough shutter speeds you'll need to increase the film speed which gets a bit noisey... dont get me wrong i still love this lens, for outdoors though. ive gotten MAD crisp shots of birds with it. filled an entire picture with a bird before. you can definately get close with 300mm