When the lens arrived I immediately looked to see if there was any imperfection in the glass. There is, it fortunately doesnt mess with my images. The first picture is of the lens imperfection - very subtle. The other photos are taken at 300mm and I think theyre sharp. They have been processed in lightroom. The lens isnt light but that doesnt both me. The stabilization is solid for video. Its obviously not a good indoor lens or low light lens. Fantastic lens for capturing nature.
FloridaDrafter
5
We bought this for the wifes EOS T4i, which is pretty old, but still a fine camera @ 18mp. She has arthritis and cant lug the heavier 70-300mm L around so we were hoping the new EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM II would be lighter and fit the bill, and indeed it does. Besides being a pound +/- lighter than the L, but a few ounces heavier than the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM, image quality is superb considering its price range. As mentioned in other reviews, it is all plastic except for the metal mounting, which feels solid and attaches easily to your camera. It has one low dispersion lens in its 17 element 12 group configuration. Contrast and color are amazing and I find myself doing less saturation adjustment when processing RAW files. It has a 9 blade circular aperture, so bokeh is really smooth and lends to the background. Autofocus is faster than either of my L (70-300mm & 100-400) lenses, locks on so fast you dont even notice it, and is quiet. Image stabilization truly is 4 stops and Ive taken shots on my 7D mark ii in very low light using a shutter of 1/25 and there is hardly any blur at all, very impressive. I like the full time manual focus, even though you have to half depress the shutter button, but that makes sense anyway because it engages IS. For us, the digital distance / length / shake LCD is a waste, you cant see it anyway while looking through the viewfinder or shooting, although maybe in live view, but we seldom use that. I can see where someone who wants to manually focus using it would appreciate it. I do kind of like the field of view (FOV) conversion readout, although I dont pay any attention to those numbers. This is a very nice lens and recommend it if you just arent ready to move up to L glass. EDIT 2/25/2016: I forgot to mention that this version II takes 67mm filters instead of 58mm like its predecessor and a different lens hood, the ET-74b. At this writing, there are no third party hoods available. I had originally posted more photos, but I guess they were to big. Fell free to contact me through my profile to see more examples from the T4i or 7D2. All images are cropped so you can see the resolution of the lens. EDIT 5/4/2018: My wife has moved up to the EOS T7i and this lens keeps getting better for her. Ive also added the EOS 5D mark IV to my camera bag, and this lens, when I can get it away from my wife, really shines on it and comes close to the L glass I normally use. When I know Im not going to be shooting far off subjects, It makes carrying a rig around for hours much easier.
Dave
5
Its a great lens- awesome for mid range. IS is pretty good too.
T, Cooker
5
I love this lens. I bought an earlier generation of it back in the year 2000, and has provided me with zoom shots for 16 wonderful years. The updated Image Stabilization is a nice feature, and is a major improvement. I believe the battery draw is a bit more, but hard to quantify. The only surprise was that it was a wider lens (67 mm) than expected, so I needed a different set of protection. Ended up with a hard light block, rather than a UV filter, as Im taking shots in mid-low light conditions. Great lens, and Im expecting another decade of great use.
R.M.C.
5
Looks great, Ive used other Cannon SLR lenses yet this one is actually "integrated" specifically for DSLR. Its being used on a Cannon EOS 60D.
Larry E brown
5
Used mostly for shooting postcard awesome scenery at distance on older canon t5i with absolutely no problems would buy again but first must upgraded to later model camera. One where I can still use this lens.
ThomasH
3
It is clearly an improvement over the previous 70-300 from Canon, albeit I see several issues with it: 1) the manual focus overwrite is electronic, and... needs to be activated in the camera in order to function. It took me quite a while to figure that out. And: this overwrite is dead when the autofocus is set to AI-Servo. I lost lots of time puzzled about inability to manually refocus the lens, till I figured that out. Probably one could debate for a long time about the merits of this indirect electronic/programmatic control of the manual focus over a "conventional way", which is: when I turn on the ring, I sure expect something to happen in the lens. I do not like the new solution. 2) The lens has a LCD display, and a "mode" button changing the display. That button is a total nonsense. Instead of focusing distance and depth of field one can display... the very same focal length, which one can see on the lens barrel. Ah, how helpful. Or even one can display the effect of the IS in a shape of randomly jittery bars. Ah, yes, lets take the camera off the eye sight, lets stop looking at our motive, and instead lets spend the time while gazing at the jittery bars as we shake the camera. A parade example of what happens when lens designer do not photograph by themselves. 3) The matte-black lens surface looks so cool, and yet they blew it: Every slightest touch leaves a mark on the surface. No matter how careful are you, after shortest time the lens will carry lots of these marks, and that looks soooo ugly. Compare this to the proven, classic looks of every other Canon lens. Why to change the winning and proven solution for this? Here again: Lens designer probably never photograph by themselves, or think that a lens belong on a shelf, behind the glass. Do not touch, do not take it to the field. As it comes to optical properties, you might find lots of information about that on the web: It is maybe a tad better that the Tamron 70-300 VC, which was clearly the best lens of its breed, short of the heavy L IS of course. It is a tough call if a Tamron owner should make the change to this Canon. The best about this lens is the snappy autofocus. Here Canon really did something good. If you shoot action, your should consider this lens.
Mark
5
My first long lens in over thirty years (mostly shoot with wider stuff). Really nice lens for the money. I chose this over aftermarket offerings since it has the USM feature.
Kevin Doe
5
This is now nearly my favorite lens. It is incredible sharp, just as sharp or better than my 24-70 f/2.8L. The autofocus is super fast. I used it for my sons flag football games and I get a 95+ percent keeper rate.
Mark Salvetti
5
May just be the sharpest and quickest Canon lens in your bag. This is a fairly lighweight lens, you could carry this all day. Super fast and silent focusing. Some reviews call it quicker than the 100-400 mkii
