Lens Impressions

Firstly, I have to say that this lens doesn't get a lot of use. For general walk-around photography I use my 17-40mm F4 L and 70-200mm F4 L IS lenses. Along with a 1.6x crop body, I can carry everything in a small Lowepro shoulder bag all day quite comfortably.

When I go out with the 300mm lens, it is a case of switching to a Lowepro backpack for the extra capacity and by the end of the day I can feel that I have been carrying around a heavy bag all day.

The 300mm lens is a fairly specialised lens, especially on a 1.6x crop body where the effective focal length is 480mm. It is suitable for taking pictures of small objects from a short distance (although I have never found it very good as a 'macro' lens) or big objects from a long distance.

With large objects, my preferred approach is to move in closer. If you are shooting sports this isn't possible, obviously, but I don't currently shoot sports.

Birds are an obvious example of small subjects but even with a lens of this focal length, you need to be fairly close to even half fill the frame. Bird photography requires endless patience and I have lots of admiration for good bird photographers.

I may have purchased the wrong lens for my needs but it's still a handy lens to have occasionally. It's capable of taking good portraits (the shallow depth of field enhancing the image) but you need to be a long way back to get the subject in the frame.

Even for candid photography, the focal length is probably a tad too long - unless you are planning to be very candid. It's a conspicuous lens though (large and white) and certainly won't go unnoticed.

The Image Stabilisation mechanism is noticeably less effective than that used in the 70-200mm F4 L IS lens. The latest generation IS used in the 70-200mm completely freezes the image in the viewfinder. That doesn't happen with the 300mm and some movement can still be detected, which is amplified of course by the longer focal length.

With the 70-200mm F4 L IS it is possible to get useable handheld images at 1/15s but that isn't really the case with the 300mm F4 L IS. I would say that probably 1/25s is the slowest you can go when hand holding, but at that shutter speed it's going to be hit-and-miss whether the image is useable or not.

The photo above of the twin girls taken at 1/25s is just about acceptable but ideally a little more sharpness would have been desirable.

There is a great opportunity for Canon to upgrade this lens with the latest generation four F-stop Image Stabilisation and improve the lens coatings as they did with the 70-200mm F4 L IS, the latter being a truly exceptional lens.

As with all L lenses, the 300mm F4 is well-constructed. Everything works smoothly and accurately and it has a solid feel without being overly heavy. Weighing 1190g, it feels a lot lighter than the 70-200 F2.8 L IS. A tripod ring is included and the built-in lens hood is a lot more convenient than a bayonet-fit separate plastic lens hood.

With the Canon 1.4x II teleconverter

For more image samples of this lens when used with the 1.4 extender, see: Canon 1.4x Teleconverter

Recalibration

I remember being very pleased with this lens when I first got it and then becoming disatisfied around the same time that I got my 70-200 F4L IS. I put this down to the excellent performance of the latter lens, thus making me feel disatisfied with the older one.

However, I started to wonder if there was something else. In September 2008 I made a trip down to Singapore and I know that the Canon service centre there is very good. I took the opportunity while I was there to get the lens checked out.

The initial check revealed nothing and it came back with a standard 'working to spec' comment. I had not left my camera with them initially. Subsequently, I spoke to the head technician and he agreed to check it again, along with my camera.

This time he made an electrical adjustment in the lens and told me it had reached the limit of its adjustment. If it was still out, then he could make an adjustment to the camera autofocus mechanism.

When I tested the lens after the recalibration it seemed a lot better and the performance had returned to how it was originally. It seems that over time the calibration wandered a little. This is the only lens I have ever had to get recalibrated.

Usage

This lens is not difficult to use, as such, but it needs a lot of stability. With other lenses it is possible to hand-hold them using very slow shutter speeds, but not this one. Even if you try to hand-hold using quite fast shutter speeds you can still get poor results. This is amplified when used in conjunction with the 1.4x extender.

I went through a long period of dissatisfaction with this lens after acquiring the 70-200mm F4 L IS. Every photo I took with the 70-200mm was great but a lot of my results with the 300mm were very poor. The recalibration helped but most of the problem was with my technique (even after many years of taking photographs).

Compared to the 70-200mm F4 L IS, the IS system on the 300mm Ft L IS is old technology. The IS system on the 300mm definitely works - and is quite effective up to a certain extent - but you need to take a lot more care while shooting with this lens.

Always use a tripod or find something solid to rest on. I have found myself in situations where there is nothing solid to rest on, and where a tripod wouldn't be suitable. I bought a Giottos MM 9550 Monopod which, in conjunction with the 300mm F4 L IS, works very well. I cannot imagine myself using this lens now without the monopod.

Post-Processing

Most original images were shot in the RAW format and converted with Adobe Camera Raw. Noise was reduced using Imagenomic Noiseware Professional. Small amounts of image enhancement were applied using Adobe Photoshop CS2 (curves, levels, saturation) before sharpening using the Smart Sharpen filter (Amount: 30% - 120%, Radius: 0.2px - 0.3px, Remove: Lens Blur).

The large JPG images that open if you click on a thumbnail were saved with a 'High' quality setting of '8' on a scale of 0-12.

Lens Details

Serial Number: 124101
Lens Code: UT0907
Date Manufactured: September 2005
Date Purchased: March 2006
Supplier: Cathay Photo, Singapore
Price: 2,250.00 Singapore dollars
Lens Hood: Built-in
Lens Case: LZ1128 (included)

Caveat

This isn't a review. If you want MTF charts and comparisons with other lenses, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. However, there are plenty of excellent sites around that offer this kind of information.

Just as with audio equipment, a list of specifications doesn't mean very much. My old original Quad Electrostatics never looked very good on paper but once fired up they had the ability to make hairs stand up all over your body.

With photography I prefer to look at photos of real things and real people that evoke emotion, rather than look at MTF charts or other meaningless images.