So the waiting is over! Here is our first Canon product review on the blog. I feel bad that it took this long as Canon is the best selling and most highly regarded camera manufacturer in the world right now. I have been a Nikon shooter for my entire (short) life as a photographer and I don't regret it at all. Both Canon and Nikon make awesome products and you'll never see me involved in any silly arguments about the two brands. Different strokes for different folks, let's just leave it at that. So the last time I did a review of a 70-300 lens, it was the Tamron 70-300 f/4.5-5.6. I was very impressed with this lens. In fact it trounced the Nikon and Canon offerings at the time, but then Canon announced their big bad L series version of the 70-300. Let's take a look at this lens and see if it lives up to the "L" series billing or if it's just a Torjan Horse coat of white paint.
[caption id="attachment_4562" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Canon is EVERYWHERE 300mm ISO 800 f/11 1/200s"]
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Some Background Information
70-300 has always been a popular focal length and I imagine it always will be. With the introduction of vibration reduction/image stabilization, the 70-300 lens has never been better. You can hand hold these lenses at incredibly slow shutter speeds (relative to the focal length you are using). Check out my review of the Tamron 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 VC lens from last year. Optical designers are always coming up with fancy new designs to make lenses smaller, lighter, and of course just flat out better. I am clearly not an optical engineer and I'm certainly no armchair general pretending to be one. Yet there seems to be an optical limitation. The focal length of 70-300 is the "final frontier" before the uncomfortable/expensive zone approaches for amateurs. For the most part these lenses range in the $450-600 range. For those looking to get a good telephoto lens, the 70-300 has been a staple for years and I imagine it will continue to be. They are also decent size, much smaller than their 70-200 f/2.8 and 100-400 f/4-5.6 counterparts. Plus most stadiums and arenas have no problem with you bringing a 70-300 lens inside. So what about a $1,600 variant? At first this idea seems outlandish. Why would anyone pay that much for a variable aperture telephoto zoom?
Note: I guess I should mention that Canon has already offered an expensive version of the 70-300 zoom with their EF 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens. The DO stands for diffractive optics and I suppose I should review that lens another time as it is pretty quirky. It is a very niche lens, but the few people whom I've sold the lens to have all been happy with it.
[caption id="attachment_4566" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Fans of superstar Curtis Granderson 300mm f/5.6 /400s ISO 250"]
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Construction
Just like any other Canon L series lens, the 70-300L is a precision crafted tool. If you're a photographer who uses gear on a regular basis, it's easy to tell the difference between something cheap and the good stuff. Seasoned photographers and even advanced amateurs appreciate the perfectly geared zoom that operates without a loose jitter or too much resistance. The same goes for the buttery manual focus ring. While descriptions like these may seem like minuta to the average user, experienced shooters will appreciate it. As expected the lens is heavy and not your typical lightweight telephoto zoom. Despite this weight, the lens feels very well balanced and doesn't become front-heavy when zoomed out to 300mm and is actually shorter than the regular 70-300 IS from Canon. The lens is quite a big fatter though, I don't mind however and I attribute this to the better build quality. Everything is metal from the mount to the filter ring, which can't be said about every L series lens. The 70-400 f/4L IS is a fantastic lens, but has a cheap plastic filter thread ring. In regards to construction for video, the high quality construction and smooth manual focus will be much appreciated.
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Focusing
One thing about typical 70-300 lenses is that the won't be the fastest focusing lenses in the world. You will normally find this to be the case with any variable aperture lens. However the 70-300L has a peculiar snap to it just like a 70-200 f/2.8. Now maybe I'm crazy or just flat out wrong. I didn't sit the two lenses down next to one another and do a focus speed test on a brick wall. If you do this please let me know so I can post the results here and also make fun of you for doing something so ridiculous. The point is that the 70-300L focuses as a professional lens should, fast and accurately. Unlike other 70-300 variants, the 70-300L focuses just like any other pro-series glass. User error is the only cause for out of focus shots with this lens. Out of the few hundred shots I took, none were out of focus. Mounted on the 60D the 70-300L didn't do any searching or bumbling around no matter what I was focusing on. Again for manual focus, all you need to do is grab the ring and twist your little heart out, no AF/MF switches required.
[caption id="attachment_4569" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="The Grand Hall 70mm f/5.6 1/100s ISO 125"]
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Performance/Image Quality
When you compare the 70-300L to any other 70-300, you may be surprised to learn that it isn't sharper by a massive amount. If you are a pixel peeper you will truly notice an improvement in sharpness, especially on the corners. The same can be said about micro-contrast, but again this is only for the desperate ones out there. Still if you have an overall appreciation for good photography equipment, you will notice the improvements in Image Quality and AF Speed/Accuracy. Of course in any telephoto zoom lens there is going to be barrel distortion at 70mm and pincushion distortion at 300mm. That's just the way optics work and you can easily adjust this in Adobe Photoshop using the "Lens Distortion Tool" Simply put this is the best 70-300mm lens on the market right now and if there are any quality hawks left out there in this cheap world, you definitely get what you pay for! Here are Canon's published MTF charts. In my opinion you need to take MTF charts with a grain of salt because they are often based off of theoretical performance and not actual results. Even if based off results, I prefer to see how equipment performs in the real world, not against a brick wall.
[caption id="attachment_4571" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="A Baseball Signed by Lou Gehrig 214mm f/5.6 1/50s ISO 3200"]
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Stabilization
Canon claims 4 stops of image stabilization. I guess this relates to the old rule of 1/focal-length. (e.g. You shouldn't expect 100% keepers if you use a slower shutter speed than 1 over the focal length of the lens. For example 200mm = 1/200s) While I have found this rule to be generally true, it doesn't apply entirely to digital photography as APS-C sensors with long telephoto lenses tend to shake more. Some people say the 1/rule is an old wive's tale. I say the old wives' tale is that APS-C sensors are like 1.5x (or 1.6x in Canon's case) tele-converters. All these sensors do is crop the angle of view. Resulting depth of field isn't any shallower and you don't get the true compression of a longer lens. So there is quite a difference between the effectiveness of image stabilization on APS-C and Full Frame DSLRs. Have you ever zoomed in really far with a point and shoot camera? Without a tripod, it is almost impossible to shoot effectively with any of those 30x plus zoom point and shoot cameras unless you are photographing during the brightest times of the day. So the same really applies here, Canon's IS works quite well on an APS-C camera like the 60D that I used for this test, but I imagine it would work even better on a full frame sensor as you aren't cropping into the image circle of the lens.
[caption id="attachment_4575" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Not a particularly interesting shot, but it does show the quality of out of focus backgrounds. 300mm f/5.6 1/500s ISO 800"]
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Bokeh
Considering this is a variable aperture zoom lens, you probably won't be expecting a whole lot of nicely rendered out of focus backgrounds/foregrounds, but the 70-300L does surprisingly well. At 300mm even at f/5.6 (the maximum opening) you will still be able to knock out backgrounds fairly well. Don't forget your distance to subject and your subject's distance from the background also impact depth of field. Since this is a variable aperture lens you will be stuck at typically smaller (5.6, 8, 11, etc...) apertures, so getting closer to your subjects is honestly the best way to get pleasing Bokeh with this lens. Still when you do get the background out of focus (see above shot), the results are quite pleasing. Really nothing to complain about here in my opinion.
[caption id="attachment_4572" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Fan standing in the upper deck. 300mm f/11 1/400s ISO 800"]
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Summary
The last time I wrote a review on a 70-300 lens, I was blown away by the value you get from the Tamron 70-300 VC lens. I can confidently say the same about the 70-300L lens from Canon. For 95% of shooters the Tamron or the Canon alternate is a better buy, but for the pickiest of photographers, the 70-300L is truly a precision tool. When using the lens I kept thinking to myself, "If only everything was made this way..." The optics are superb and the lens distinguishes itself from any other 70-300mm lens in terms of optics, autofocus speed/accuracy, ergonomics, and construction quality. My one complaint about the lens is the image stabilization. It does work quite well as I tested the lens at slow shutter speeds with the IS turned both on and off. However the overall image stabilization performance is no better than the Tamron 70-300 VC. That being said I still believe it is only a minor detail and those who appreciate a high quality product, will know which lens they want. Well I have to say I was quite impressed with my first test run on Canon products. Even though I am a Nikon shooter, Canon does make really good products, so again I just want to put that old tired argument to rest. Don't we have better things to do? Like go take some photos! And that's exactly what I want to see from you. We've had some good reader submissions before, so if you have any photos you've taken with the Canon 70-300L IS, let's see them! Send them to [email protected] and I will post them up here!
Cheers.
MZ