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70-300IS vs. 70-200F4L: What would you do?

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Elan Remford said:
Anything I'm likely to need such fast focusing for, I'm also likely
to be looking to shoot at f/2.8 or better.
Click to expand...
Seems the market for 70-200 f/4L will be squeezed between the 70-300IS and the 70-200 f/2.8IS. Not clear to me today who will want the 70-200 f/4L. Not saying anything bad about this lens, nor that people who bought it in the past were wrong. Just the new product line seems to leave little room for it in the future.

--
Uzi
http://www.pbase.com/uyoeli
 
Focus algorithm is accurate and fast. Motor is slow.

If you are able to maintain your AF point on the car AT ALL TIMES, the focus will track well in Servo mode. However, if, for example, you are panning a skidding car, and in the process you momentarily miss the car, and have the AF point on the background, then you might be in trouble: the camera now focuses on the background, and only then refocuses on your object. You might lose the most interesting moment.

The focusing on the background cannot be "aborted" - i.e., even if it was a split second mis-panning, and you have the car back on your AF in no time, you still have to wait for the motor to complete its travel to the background, and then back to your object.

Situation is worse when the background is low contrast (such as clear blue sky), since then you might enter a time consuming hunt. Luckily, this is not your case.
--
Uzi
http://www.pbase.com/uyoeli
 
I don't know which 70-300 you are considering, but for telephoto IS is very nice. You will magically get very steady when the IS is engaged. I have the 70-300 DO IS and find it a great travel lens.

jerry
--
jerryk.smugmug.com
 
UziY said:
Focus algorithm is accurate and fast. Motor is slow.

If you are able to maintain your AF point on the car AT ALL TIMES,
the focus will track well in Servo mode. However, if, for example,
you are panning a skidding car, and in the process you momentarily
miss the car, and have the AF point on the background, then you
might be in trouble: the camera now focuses on the background, and
only then refocuses on your object. You might lose the most
interesting moment.

The focusing on the background cannot be "aborted" - i.e., even if
it was a split second mis-panning, and you have the car back on
your AF in no time, you still have to wait for the motor to
complete its travel to the background, and then back to your object.
Click to expand...
I don't know what body the poster has, but I know that on the 20D, for example, setting Custom Function 4 to "2" allows you to use the " " button to momentarily stop AF while in AI Servo. If you lose track of the car, or if another car comes between you and the one you're panning on, you can stop AF before it mistracks, get back onto your car, and continue AFing. You need to be quick on the " " button to stop the misfocusing before it occurs, but it's easily do-able with some practice.

Kind Regards,
--
Brian



Digital Image Gallery:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/spiritmist/Brian_G_Digital_Image_Gallery/index.htm
 
I don't have a 70-300mm IS, but from some images on internet, I found the Chromatic Aberration is not acceptable for me. Please follow the link

http://www.pbase.com/2bruce/image/50647265

The purple band on the tree stem is as wide as 6/7 pixels. While I almost have 0 CA from my 70-200 f4L. In terms of color rendition, the 70-200 f4L is superior too. So in my opinion, you can't get extra 200-300m + IS for free. There is a trade off on image quality. Thanks
 
let me say... I have the NEW 70-300 and
and as a big fan of this lens
...as a VALUE for the $$...
-----------------
I saw some PURPLE yesterday at the zoo.... (GASP!)
on a one-stop overexposed... 300mm f5.6 shot... of a goat face...
cheek, eye and brows filling the frame...

the white brow HAIRS ...against black hairs ..moderate direct sunlight..
had some purple fringe...in PSE
... but it was removed in the conversion

question:

is the fact that this was OVEREXPOSED... part of the issue??... I dont know... ( I am recently trying to expose CLOSER to RIGHT (near clipping) lately to get ALL the shadow info...)

it aint perfect....
and many times I came up against the f5.6 shortcomings versus
the better speed ...f4 ...of the 70-200L
lens would be handy

...but makes me want a 70-200 f2.8 IS
or if I win the lottery.. a 300 f2.8 IS ....

I believe I am destined to wait for the...?NEW?...400mm, f5.6 I.S.
if it is ever created.. (no wait I have too many lenses already)

or maybe Ill sell everything...
except the 20D and the 50 f1.8

and work on my guitar playing more.. who knows...??

==========

all considered
..... I like it anyway........
 
70-300 IS since you always need longer lens for wildlife, birds, etc and 70-200 with 1.4x TC will not be better than 70-300 IS. If you don't like to carry tripod, IS helps a lot with low lighting esp as a walkaround lens.

I haven't tried it much but for a flying bird shoot I didn't have any problem tracking it although I lost focus couple times. This was not a good exposure due to cloudy conditions but not to bad considering this was my first try of this kind of shooting:



Also I found a review that is newly listed by Bob Atkins. He says new lens at 300mm is sharper at f5.6 than the old lens was at f8 and although it's still not as sharp as the 300/4L, on real world targets image quality almost approached that of the 300/4L in some shots:

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/ef_70_300is_review.html

Serhan

http://www.pbase.com/sc_20170/
 
from Amazon. So far, so good. Build quality is quite good...maybe a tad less precise than the 28-135 IS. Focus is fast and right on target. IS is fairly noisy, but works like a charm.

Image quality appears excellent at all focal lengths. I really can't tell much difference from my L's. It is extremely cloudy these past few days...maybe in the sunshine I'll see some CA or other ill effects, but so far nothing but clean, contrasty images with nice bokeh.

I too considered the 70-200/4 but I think this is a better choice for a soccer dad or for shooting wildlife. That extra 100mm makes a big difference.
 
If you download the original file to your computer, open it with any image processing program and zoom in to the tree stem. You will see 6-7 pixel wide purple/ violet band. Frankly, it's visible for me even at reduced size. BTW, it's even worse, since it happens in the middle of the image, insead of on the very edge.
 
I KNEW you would ask that.. BLAST!

But
HOW CAN I DO THAT...if ...
I saw it in RAW form... in RSE.... a tiny bit..
and it 'corrected' as RSE displayed the 'slideshow'....

I recognize this behavior with my 17-85 @ 17mm
(this HAS purple at that width)

maybe it aint there... but just an artifact..during display processing?
I dont think so because the above mentioned 17-85 behavior

I saw little purple around the hairs.. then, they were gone as it displayed
----------------
and BEFORE I am sentenced to... PixelPeep Hell...

I could give a rat's xxx .. about something so small..

I will however devote a glass of wine and some peeping to try and find/display and post IF it shows.. if I figure how to show this..

BY THE WAY..
here are a bunch of
shots with and without the tamron PRO SP 1.4x converter
http://www.xprt.net/~2me/

I have decided it focuses pretty good (w/TC) with good light and hunts if there is a questionable contrast available..

For what it is all worth...
 
Just placed an order $769.99 Canadian from Vistek. Should have it in 2 to 5 days, free shipping.

Now I have the 70-300is to go with my 17-85is. In 35mm equivalent that's 28 to 480mm coverage with only one lens change and the latest generation of IS. Also they are not huge or overly heavy.
 
Me too, should get the 70-30IS next week :o) Can't decide whether I want to buy the 17-85IS or 24-105IS, or keep my 24/2.8, 50/1.8, and 85/1.8.

If the 70-300IS is "close" to 85/1.8 quality at 85mm, I'll probably sell the prime (to pay for the Sigma 105 macro I just ordered). I find it soft to about f4, so why change lenses if the quality is there.

--
Tom
http://www.pbase.com/photoman
 
OK... did my best to show.. this flash of
purple fringing ... if you see ANY...
and the result ...almost NONE

was the same using Canon or RSE software..
tried both
this is with RSE...

(notice the thumbs show some purple...!)
I am open to any explanation....

see the 3 goat examples 1/2 way down the page

http://www.xprt.net/~2me
.........................................................

MEANWHILE I enjoy this lens...
worth the money
and - I DO wish it was a tiny tiny BLACK...f2.8 L lens
with FTM, ring USM...heavy build

but it is NOT....
...so?....
======================

also note:
todays little test using the Tamron 1.4x TC

70 and 300mm
hand held
iso = 100
wide open
no reporting of TC present
approriate reduction in shutter speed with actual 1 stop less light

-
my conclusion :
1.4x Tamron SP TC is O.K. (not wonderful)
as long as you have plenty of light..
autofocus works adequately

optically seems fine...

otherwise..with weak light light / poor contrast
hunts for focus

TOM
 
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