Steve Balcombe

It's not true to say that a faster lens is better than an IS lens for low light. They each offer a solution but which is better depends on the situation. IS won't help if you need a fast shutter...

Focusing should be very quiet with this lens, although not quite silent. You can hear the internal mechanism moving, but there is no 'motor' noise. There are four 'legitimate' reasons why images...

This is a mistake on the chart. The 18-55 USM uses micro USM II, which is described in Lens Work III chapter 9 - it's just an improved (basically smaller) micro USM. One place you can see the...

"The only mirrors they can bear are the ones locked inside a DSLR."

Very profound! And with more than a hint of truth.

Actually there is one, sort of. The old 18-55 was sold in a micro-USM version in Japan, and one retailer imported some into the UK. But even if you could find someone who has both, it's still not...

I've bought spares from Lehmanns - http://www.hlehmann.co.uk/#!spares/component_53793 - no bother at all, they routinely supply spares to the general public.

The MTF charts show a significant improvement: http://cweb.canon.jp/ef/lineup/ef-s/ef-s55-250-f4-56is-ii/spec.html http://cweb.canon.jp/ef/lineup/ef-s/ef-s55-250-f4-56is-stm/spec.html Here is a...

I agree, the mismatch between sea and sky is very unsettling.

"It's good, but it's not quite Carling."

Slight misunderstanding there, I thought the discussion was specifically about a lens for landscape. But having read a few more posts I realise that Limburger raised it as just one aspect, it's not...

Remember the STM lens also has a non-rotating front element so it's ideal for use with a polariser. Also, while f/2.8 is nice to have, it's not used for most landscape photography. Are we talking...

Well, I actually have both the 70-200/4L IS and the 70-300L. If that seems like a huge overlap - it is, but I bought the 70-200 before the 70-300L was available. Since having the 70-300, the 70-200...

Remember, I did begin by saying it's the best small XX-300 ever made. So expect the 'faults' to be somewhere between minor and petty :-) ... The 70-300L is probably the worst lens I know of for...

Disagreeing with someone who plucks their opinions out of thin air? I can live with that.

Then it would be a different lens. Sigma makes a 120-300/2.8 - that's a different lens too. That's nonsense. It's the best small XX-300 zoom lens ever made. It does have a couple of faults, but...

It is internal focusing. It does extend when zooming, but that is normal for a 4x zoom, and it's an advantage because it makes it much more compact in your bag. It's actually significantly shorter,...

Hope Cybrslydr doesn't mind me hijacking his thread, but the original question has been answered now so I'd like to move on from that... If I dropped out of circulation for seven years and came...

A Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6, even !!

A few years ago (four or five? I'm not sure) there was a huge hike in lens prices, said to be due to exchange rate issues etc. As a result some lucky people were able to sell used lenses for more...

The first thing you need to do is understand the most basic property of a lens - its focal length. The focal length, on a given sensor size, is what determines the field of view, or to look at it...