Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras (Camera)
Just got it today. Researched this lens, and others, for many weeks. I read all the reviews by consumers and "experts" and determined that this lens had the least "negative" reviews in its class. This lens may not be a Canon L lens but at around 1 thousand dollars less it is a steal. I tested this lens on my Canon T3i at all zoom points both indoors and out. The "IS" works great and is pretty quiet. The "IS" function switch has two positions, "1" is for shooting still objects and "2" is for panning moving objects. The autofocus is spot on indoors under normal room lighting conditions. The autofocus is also pretty quiet. This lens far exceeded my expectations. This lens is relatively light for this type focal length yet it feels well built. It functions smoothly and is just a pleasure to use. The zoom lock switch is a nice feature. The 200mm & 300mm zoom points were sharp when shooting outdoors at buildings and trees. Some of the bad reviews I read about the 300mm zoom point being soft is not valid. The bricks and mortar lines on buildings were straight and detail was great. The tree branches were sharp as well as the pigeons on them and on the building ledges. I live in downtown Manhattan and face, Freedom Tower, it is still being built and I can see the cranes and steel frame of the building as well as the other buildings being built. The lens has no problem in taking spot on shots of the downtown area.
I also bought this lens because it can be used on both full frame and cropped frame Canon cameras. This EF lens is made in Japan and not China.
I will provide future updates as to whether its durability under normal use is up to par. Based on what I have already seen, this is "ounce for ounce" and "dollar for dollar" one of the best 70-300 IS USM Lenses around.
UPDATE: 3/17/2012 Night time shooting off my terrace was great. Using a tripod I set my Canon T3i manually to ISO 200 @ 1 second shutter speed with "IS" off. Pictures of lit up buildings in downtown Manhattan came out sharp and no flaring noticed at all focal lengths. Then I took the T3i indoors under normal incandescent lighting and used ISO 400 or 800, depending on zoom lengths, @ 1/10th second shutter speed with "IS" off & no flash. Pictures again just came out great at all focal zoom points. This is just a wonderful lens. Very happy with it.
Will update about durability as time moves on.
UPDATE: 3/19/2012 Today I extensively tested the "IS" feature. I was able to consistently hand hold this lens at 1/10th , 1/20th and 1/30th second shutter speed at all zoom focal lengths. You indeed need a steady hand and body to do this but the tripod will always give you a slightly sharper picture w/o using "IS". Hand held, with the onboard flash, the pictures of course come out sharp. I have no complaints at all about the "IS".
UPDATE: 3/20/2012 Today I extensively tested "Autofocus". Under normal indoor lighting the auto focus works fine at all zoom points. The auto focus, under conditions where your eyes find it hard to identify the color of objects, starts to bug it out. This however is very normal with any auto focus system on any lens. The system just cannot detect properly the bounce back from an object that does not reflect enough light for the sensor to determine proper distance. If you switch to manual focus and focus on a point your eyes can resolve, you can then snap the shot. Based on 4 days of shooting under outdoor daylight conditions, both sunny & cloudy, the auto focus was accurate. At night, outdoors, I was able to focus on lit up buildings w/o problem. Get this, I was able to use auto focus to take a picture of a single star in a blackened sky. When I looked at it on my LCD I could not believe it. The star looked the same as when I saw it with my own two eyes. I did this by placing the red dot of the central autofocus square directly over the star. It is really fantastic!
I will update my post when I have further information to report.
UPDATE: 3/21/2012: I have been mostly operating my T3i manually with this long zoom lens as well as other shorter focal length lenses that I have. I find that you can achieve a more life like rendition of the subject that you are photographing in the manual mode. Once you know the lens you are using the easier it is to approximate what settings are best. I look to photograph the subject as the human eye sees it and not as the auto-program thinks you should see it. The T3i, and other DSLR cameras, tend to overexpose the subject by using a higher ISO than necessary. I rather lower shutter speed than raise ISO on none moving subjects. Indoors I look to maintain a 400 to 800 ISO tops. If you cannot maintain this level of ISO, use a flash. When indoors I want the picture to look indoors. If it is night, I want the picture to look as if it is night. I use flash indoors only if I cannot achieve a picture that falls under an ISO of 800. That is my philosophy on taking real life like looking pictures. This lens operates very well manually and it takes great pictures indoors and outdoors.
UPDATE: 3/22/2012: I have come to the conclusion that faster & more accurate autofocus can be achieved under poorer lighting conditions when you use only the central autofocus square sensor. Just internally shut down the other peripheral sensors and choose the central red sensor. Then put the red sensor dot on the main subject or object that you want to shoot and the lens will have an easier time focusing. It works for me with this lens, and others, when you shoot under poor lighting conditions. It especially works well when the camera is focusing when using long zoom at 200 & 300mm.
0 comments:
Post a Comment