Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM L IS

[koffiejunkie]

Speaking of the merits of quality glass, photozone just published their full format and crop reviews of the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM L IS

Full format review
APS-C format

While it doesn't show the jump in resolution over the non-L variants that I was expecting, the all-round L-ness cleary shines through The bokeh in particular is quite nice. I can see this being a great option for someone wanting more than the "regular" 70-300 options provide but not wanting to spend the money on the kind of glas bwana carries about...

 

[Yogotta B. Kidding]

Price in Brooklyn was given to me a shade over 16K.... no thanx. A used 100-400 still wins by many moola. I believe it was created for serious amateurs and Canon has nothing relatively new in that config for the 'version' conscious market.

 

[koffiejunkie]

...Canon has nothing relatively new in that config for the 'version' conscious market.

That's an odd statement. Canon already has two different 70-300 lenses on the market, both fairly recent additions and both very good.

 

[Dolby]

Koffie - how would one describe good bokeh? I've heard people speak of it - but its basically blur?

More important - how do you pronounce it?

 

[koffiejunkie]

Koffie - how would one describe good bokeh? I've heard people speak of it - but its basically blur?

It's the way the out-of-fucus areas are blurred. What is good bokeh is somewhat subjective but I would describe it as how smoothly out-of-focus object blend with their surroundings, and how little distortion there is going on. There are many areas people look at:

- how smooth the foreground looks
- how smooth the background looks
- how highlights are rendered

Have a look at some of the more recent lens tests on photozone.de - they mostly include some shots to show the basics of what the lens does. Here are three to look at that give very different renderings:

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX HSM DG
Canon 50mm f/1.8 II
Sony 135mm f/2.8 [T4.5] STF

See, for example, how the nifty fifty completely destroys the background image. I tend to like my lens to keep the background in tact (while out of focus). But that's just me.

The other thing to note is that these things aren't absolute. Each lens has strenghts and weaknesses, and if you know your kit well enough and find the right subject matter, you can get images with pleasing bokeh out of just about any lens.

More important - how do you pronounce it?

Ha! There's another big debate. My housemate is Japanese. I showed it to her and she said "bokke" - you know, like goats in Afrikaans. Just like that. Of course, when I say that, no one knows what I'm talking about