Canon EF 100-300mm f/5.6L 35mm Zoom

Canon EF 100-300mm f/5.6L 35mm Zoom 

DESCRIPTION

High-performance 3x telephoto zoom lens. Synthetic fluorite in group 1 and UD glass in group 2 achieve low refraction and low dispersion. They also effectively correct chromatic and other aberrations. Resolution is high throughout all focal lengths. Images are sharp and crisp. At the 300mm focal length, 0.25x magnification is possible.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 31-39 of 39  
[Jan 10, 2001]
Dave Kuzdrall
Beginner

Strength:

affordable, sharp pictures, solid feel.

Weakness:

5.6 a bit slow, autofocus very slow and noisy. The push pull zoom can slip a bit when the camera is mounted in a near vertical position.

Despite its weekness this is an excellent lens. The image quality is well worth dealing with the weaknesses. At 100mm it makes a great portrait lens. Over all an excellent deal.

Customer Service

not needed yet

Similar Products Used:

none

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 25, 2001]
Yaron Kidron
Intermediate

Strength:

Great sharpness!
Near L class glass for a fraction of the price..
Light Weight
Constant apperture!

Weakness:

Phew... AF is terrible. If you had any experience with USM, you'd have a tough time adjusting to this garbage disposer. It slips when you hold it vertically, so you got to hold it tight all the time.
Old design, MF being a total cumbersome procedure (again, no FTM, no USM).
Color reproduction is a little on the warm side.
SLOW, f/5.6; but it performs well even wide open.
Looks terrible =)

There's no way you could get a better zoom/telephoto then this model; Why? because you can find these old juggernauts at Ebay, often for under $300, and they outperform ANYTHING that is out there (Zoom/Tele) for under $600 (It easily bests my Sigma 135-400). Yes, it's darn slow. It screeches and mumbles and talks to itself as it autofocuses, and it is DARN SHARP.
If you want to venture into Zoom Telephoto photography, start with this one, you would not get disappointed.
If you want to "look good", get a Sigma; the 75-300 APO is the closest thing in price/performance range, but this old clunker wins hands down in the sharpness department!

Customer Service

No need, I fix them on my own.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 135-400
Sigma 75-300 APO

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 05, 2001]
Kaushik Pal
Casual

Strength:

Sharpness
Price

Weakness:

Slow f/5.6
No tripod collar on lens
AF hunts

This lens is pathetically slow. It feels clumsy. The technology is a decade old. It's front element rotates during focusing. It makes a noise like no other while it does so. Because of the slow speed, I find that I have to use the tripod very often because the situation demands slow shutter speeds at f/5.6. And this is where I have the biggest complaint. There's no tripod mount on this 1.5lb lens. On an Elan7, I'm always a little nervous when it's unsupported on a tripod.
I would be wary of mounting this on a Rebel and not cupping the lens with one hand all the time.

That said, this is a great lens. The only thing that I have no complaints about is it's optics. It is super sharp. It is perhaps a little too sharp, or 'disturbingly sharp', as my wife says, for portraits. A soft-focus filter might do the trick for portraits.

At about $330, this lens is a bargain. This might be the only affordable 'L' quality lens for a lot of people on a tight budget. If money is not an issue, go for the 100-400/IS/f4. The latter is out to replace this lens, so get this one new while they're still available.

Similar Products Used:

80-200/4.5-5.6
28-105/3.5-4.5
28-80/3.5-5.6

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 04, 2001]
Lenny Gumm
Intermediate

Strength:

Great image clarity, light (great for hiking)

Weakness:

push/pull zoom, autofocus

This lens is a bit of a throwback. No USM, an autofocus that has a tough time in difficult situations (low light, horizons), and a push/pull zoom which sometimes requires a holding hand. SO WHAT! The point of a good lens is to capture a crisp and accurate image. This lens does it very well at all lengths. An "L" lens at $400 bucks or less? Snap one up while you can.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-210

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 26, 2001]
Stan Buttles
Intermediate

Strength:

Extremely sharp lens even wide open. Good color representation. Excellent price.

Weakness:

Slow 5.6 aperture lens. Slow and easily confused autofocus. A little cumbersome to hold and operate.

Buy this lens unless you can afford newer or other "L" glass lenses that cover these mm lengths. Produces better pictures than all other tele zooms I've used. Don't expect to follow focus on fast moving subjects; get a more current and faster focusing lens for those and either live with the lower quality or pay the big bucks. No better tele zoom made for the price.

Customer Service

Used twice for other Canon products - once for medium tele USM lens and once for camera body. Prompt and good, but repaired product did not work quite as good as new.

Similar Products Used:

AF Zoom Nikkor 75-300
f4.5-5.6
AF Zoom Minolta 75-300
f4.5-5.6 (original)
AF Zoom Minolta 100-300
f4.5-5.6
AF Zoom Canon 100-300
USM f4.5-5.6

100-300 Minolta AF
100-300 USM Canon AF

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 12, 2001]
George Bernabe
Intermediate

Strength:

Sharp. I didn't find the lack of a tripod mount to be a problem as the lens is not that heavy.

Weakness:

Maximum aperture is 5.6. Slow and noisy autofocus. Manual focus ring is too narrow and function is not smooth.

I wanted a quality xxx-300mm zoom lens and after using it for the first time today, I'd have to say it was a good purchase, particularly at $269 from BH Photo.

First the minor gripes. When I first attached this lens to my camera and focused, I thought the garbage disposal in my kitchen turned on. It's pretty loud. Using manual focus isn't particularly smooth.

My experience from the field is as follows. The first roll of film I shot with this lens was Reala 100. All shots at the zoo were taken with a tripod. Weather was very sunny at about noon. I shot wide open on everything and generally found my speeds to range between 1/250 and 1/30 depending on whether the animals were in the shade or not. All the shots were very sharp except in instances where the animals were moving a bit and the shutter speed was at the low end of the range of speeds I mentioned. Looking at the pictures, the only thing kind of distracting are the out of focus areas when the backgrounds were busy. Out of focus areas were more pleasing when the background was more uniform. This would be one major benefit of getting a faster lens.

The second roll of film I shot was Superia 400. From my experience today, this has to be the absolute minimum film speed used when shooting with this lens. Speeds ranged from 1/1500 to about 1/90 s. All the pictures were very sharp. I even managed to to take a few pictures without the tripod that were very sharp. Using 400 speed print film isn't such a big deal anymore as the quality of films at this speed are getting better and better every year.

Overall, I'm very pleased with lens. Pictures wide open are very sharp and the color rendition seems to be neutral.

This "refurbished" lens was purchased used (condition: 10) from BH Photo. It came with a soft case and the matched hood.

Customer Service

Haven't used yet.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-300mm DL

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 21, 2001]
John Burnham
Intermediate

Strength:

Sharp... light... limiter... inexpensive.

Weakness:

A little warm, little slow, build feels okay, AFD!!!

This is a good lense period. Agreeing with others image wise, that is producers better pictures over other 100-300 (Friend has USM v.) Works great when you have enough light!

Customer Service

Non required (1 year so far)

Similar Products Used:

Non autofocus FD Vivitar 80-200 3.8 (100-300 good change)

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
3
[Aug 21, 2001]
Matthew Machlis
Intermediate

Strength:

Very sharp
Very reasonable price (get them before they're gone!)

Weakness:

Slow/noisy autofocus
Clunky manual-focus ring
Extremely narrow depth of field at f/5.6 and 300mm

If you're looking for a telephoto zoom for a Canon body, and sharpness is important to you, and you're willing to spend the money, I think the only real options are either this lens, or the Canon 75-300 IS (image stabilized). I've also used the 75-300 a bit, and while the optics are less sharp, the IS helps a lot in some situations.

Anyway, I am quite happy with the 100-300L. Doing research on the web, it seemed like the only telephoto zoom option for Canon that people were very happy with the sharpness. And I have found that it is very sharp. I'm still experimenting, but I think reasonably fast film and a tripod are important. The sharpest pictures I've gotten from this lens so far were indoor pictures taken of our cats, with my 420EX flash. Outdoor pictures at shutter speeds of 350 to 750 or so (hand-held) have been sharp, but nothing like the flash pictures.

By today's standards, the autofocus is quite slow and noisy, but it doesn't bother me that much. Also, there is a bit of play in the manual focus ring -- something I didn't expect from an L series lens, but again not that big of a deal to me. FTM focus, like the 100-300 USM has, would be nice. And this lens is long, especially at 300mm. But to me, the sharpness of the optics far outweighs any of those drawbacks.

If I'm not mistaken, this lens either was just discontinued, or is about to be, so get them while you can. Also watch what you pay -- when I checked some places were selling them for $500-600, while you could get them at B&H and Adorama for under $350.

Customer Service

None needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon 100-300 USM (in store)
Tamron 28-200 (on Nikon body)

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 04, 1999]
Al Roka
Intermediate
Model Reviewed: EF 100-300mm f/5.6L

Strength:

Sharp Photos. Cheap for an L lens.

Weakness:

Slow focusing compared to other current L lenses.

Good value.

Similar Products Used:

None

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 31-39 of 39  

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