I'm a student on a bit of a tight budget and have the opportunity to by the above mentioned lens for under £200 to go along with a new 350D. I'm after a telephoto lens and since this is from Canon's L range and in my budget it sounds like a good buy. The only thing that is slightly putting me off is the fact that it's discontinued and quite an old model ('87), and as such has a 'push' mechanism to adjust focal length (no problem with this, others seem to dislike it but my dad has one with the same mechanism and this doesn't bother me) and is apparently rather loud. Being loud vs. today's models is to be expected I suppose, but has anyone got this lens, just how noisy is it and is it still worth getting (for this price or otherwise)? Thanks a lot.
-
Welcome to the new forums! Please read this first. For known issues we are working to resolve, click here.
EF 100-300mm f5.6 L
- Thread starter SynergyB
- Start date
Adam-T
Forum Pro
It's a Bargain of a lens with Knockout Optics , if you can put up with the slow focussing and the pump zoom then you're in for a treat, it laughs at stuff like the Canon 75-300 series, the 100-300 USM, the Sigma 70-300 APO and more for wide open sharp, contrasty pics with lovely bokeh..
You'll have to pay £1100 for a 100-400L to better it and only then, marginally, I had one and only changed to the 100-400L because of the extra range, Ring USM and IS, I had no issues whatsoever with the 100-300L's image quality..
--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist
You'll have to pay £1100 for a 100-400L to better it and only then, marginally, I had one and only changed to the 100-400L because of the extra range, Ring USM and IS, I had no issues whatsoever with the 100-300L's image quality..
--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist
jesus_freak
Well-known member
Contrast and sharpness is superb at all focal lengths. I love it for compressed landscapes. What do you intend to shoot? The biggest issue I have with it is the slow focusing speed. It's hopelessly sluggish, and impossible to use for sports. However, for static objects in good light, it can't be beat for the price.
This lens is mechanically out-dated and a bit slow in the aperture department, but it is optically excellent. It has Canon's very high quality fluorite lens crystal. For those that don't mind the slower maximum aperture and old mechanics, it's a very good lens to have if you can get it for cheap.
I was in same situation and I decided to go for it ($295 used).
The focus isn't the world's fastest (especially if it takes an initial miss
then it does the long hunt), and it is much noisier than
say the kit lens, but then again the 20D's (and possibly also the
350D's shutter) isn't exactly stealth mode so I don't know that
it'll drawn any attention over what the shutter would. It is also a real, real pain at times that it only goes down to f5.6.
However, it takes pretty nice images, better than the other options
for $300 or less that you could buy new. And the ones that give you the very nice f2.8 only cost about $3000 more and weigh like 5 pounds if you want the 300mm reach. Even for 200mm the f2.8 or even 4 will still cost you more too, and even 300mm isn't really that long of a reach, nevermind 200mm. It would be nice if the 300mm f2.8 cost $450 used (and weighed what the 100-300mm L does), but seeing how that is not reality, the 100-300L seems like a very good compromise. Pretty good image quality (not as good as my Tamron 28-75, but better than kit and the cheap 75-300 and 100-300's).
a few samples readily on hand:
100% crop 300mm:
100% crop 300mm:
300mm, 100% crop:
reduced size, 300mm:
reduced (120mm, f8, 1/100):
reduced full (290mm, f8, 1/320):
100% crop:
reduced full (100mm,f8,1/400):
100% crop:
StuartBell
Senior Member
Go for it! I paid around that (in the UK) a couple of months ago. As the others have said, it's slow and noisy, but the optics are super. You may want to invest in a mono-pod to allow the use of slower shutter speeds.
It may be ancient, but it's sharp wide open, and sharper stopped down just half a stop.
Stuart
Buy it and don't regret it, I didn't. Still can't seem to find a lens at any price to beat my copy - I returned a 100-400L because I could get better pictures out of my old used 100-300L... Focusing is slow, but you can work around that, even at sports events, as long as there is enough light. Results are what counts, and this lens doesn't dissapoint.
BTW - others do get marginally better pictures out of the £1100 100-400L, but I just couldn't hand hold it as well, as it feels about twice the size. Only other option would be the Sigma 100-300 f4 EX, but this'll cost you about £600, but you do gain a stop of light, and a HSM motor.
I guess I am saying that you can't beat it for price, but you could beat it (just) if you had much more money to throw at it....
BTW - others do get marginally better pictures out of the £1100 100-400L, but I just couldn't hand hold it as well, as it feels about twice the size. Only other option would be the Sigma 100-300 f4 EX, but this'll cost you about £600, but you do gain a stop of light, and a HSM motor.
I guess I am saying that you can't beat it for price, but you could beat it (just) if you had much more money to throw at it....
I had one of these for a couple of years, and I'll praise its optics like everyone else has. It's also not too huge, but it is somewhat longish.
Main problem to watch out for with this early pump zoom is zoom creep, particularly if you're looking down and not holding on to the barrel.
The motor noise is no worse than any of the other AFD motor lenses around, see if you can find a 35 f/2 to listen to.
--
Main problem to watch out for with this early pump zoom is zoom creep, particularly if you're looking down and not holding on to the barrel.
The motor noise is no worse than any of the other AFD motor lenses around, see if you can find a 35 f/2 to listen to.
--
- Simon -
Its also sharper than the 70-300 DO (an £800 lens)
Great lens.
Our website : http://www.fotoz.co.uk
Great lens.
--It's a Bargain of a lens with Knockout Optics , if you can put up
with the slow focussing and the pump zoom then you're in for a
treat, it laughs at stuff like the Canon 75-300 series, the 100-300
USM, the Sigma 70-300 APO and more for wide open sharp, contrasty
pics with lovely bokeh..
You'll have to pay £1100 for a 100-400L to better it and only then,
marginally, I had one and only changed to the 100-400L because of
the extra range, Ring USM and IS, I had no issues whatsoever with
the 100-300L's image quality..
--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist
Our website : http://www.fotoz.co.uk
Adam-T
Forum Pro
the DO is a £900 lens - £850 at best
...... Should be HALF the price and even then marginal value for money--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist
noclue
Leading Member
This lens is extremely popular, especially with the explosion of DSLR's. It seems as though the price for a used 100-300L keeps steadily increasing.
I have bought three of these lenses, finally keeping the last one. I thought I could do better, and sold the 1st one. Bought it for $240, sold it on Ebay for $370. Bought a 2nd one for $225. After I got a 70-200IS, I thought I would have no need for this 2nd 100-300L, and sold it on Ebay for $360.
Finally, missing the relatively small size of the lens, I bought a thirdr one for when I need a more portable tele.
If you can get a good price, particularly for $300 or less, you don't have much to lose. You can easily sell it for that, and probably more.
I have bought three of these lenses, finally keeping the last one. I thought I could do better, and sold the 1st one. Bought it for $240, sold it on Ebay for $370. Bought a 2nd one for $225. After I got a 70-200IS, I thought I would have no need for this 2nd 100-300L, and sold it on Ebay for $360.
Finally, missing the relatively small size of the lens, I bought a thirdr one for when I need a more portable tele.
If you can get a good price, particularly for $300 or less, you don't have much to lose. You can easily sell it for that, and probably more.
Keyboard shortcuts
- f
- Forum