EF 300 f4l upgrade for EX 100-300 f4 or not ?

I have the possibility of selling, at a good price, my EX 100-300 f4 and exchange it for a new EF 300 f4l. Shooting mostly at 300mm, the zoom is not the problem but I saw quite many bad posts on the 300mm ...
Any Sigma users with experience with the EF 300 ??? Any thought ?

you say you're at 300mm most of the time. what do you shoot?

I think htere is no doubt that the 300mm F4 L is sharper than the zoom. it is a prime and it is an L lens. it resolve very good detail at distance too.

Isodream said:

I have the possibility of selling, at a good price, my EX 100-300
f4 and exchange it for a new EF 300 f4l. Shooting mostly at 300mm,
the zoom is not the problem but I saw quite many bad posts on the
300mm ...
Any Sigma users with experience with the EF 300 ??? Any thought ?

Click to expand...

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Hello,

thx Daniela for your feedback (love your gallery .... another fan ... aren't you tired ? )
Anyway I will shoot mainly sport and HR landscapes with the 300mm.

Isodream said:

Hello,
thx Daniela for your feedback (love your gallery .... another fan
... aren't you tired ? )

Click to expand...

I try not to think about it ;-)

Isodream said:

Anyway I will shoot mainly sport and HR landscapes with the 300mm.

Click to expand...

interesting. are you sure you will not miss the zoom range shooting these?

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" are you sure you will not miss the zoom range shooting these? "

I'm ready to sacrifice the ease of use and expandibility of the zoom for the picture quality of the prime actually.

And besides, I still have a 70-200 with 1.4 and 2x if needed. I just hope for a greater picture quality, higher contrast than the 100-300. Do you have any experience with the 100-400 ?

Did you mean the IS version, I assume so since I could not find the non IS for sale at BH so I assume it's not avalible new anymore? Anyway, Here is a review on the IS lens if you care to read. Ron

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-300mm-f-4.0-L-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx

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Isodream said:

I have the possibility of selling, at a good price, my EX 100-300
f4 and exchange it for a new EF 300 f4l. Shooting mostly at 300mm,
the zoom is not the problem but I saw quite many bad posts on the
300mm ...
Any Sigma users with experience with the EF 300 ??? Any thought ?

Click to expand...

Are you talking about the IS version? That's exactly what I did. I had the Sigma and replaced it with the 300/4L IS + 70-200/4L combo. The combo works much better for me. The 300L IS is slightly sharper than the Sigma but the major benefit for me is the IS. I recently posted on this forum that the lowest speed I could use with the Sigma without getting motion blur was 1/400. With the 300L IS, I can now go down to 1/160 and sometimes even to 1/125.

Isodream said:

" are you sure you will not miss the zoom range shooting these? "

I'm ready to sacrifice the ease of use and expandibility of the
zoom for the picture quality of the prime actually.
And besides, I still have a 70-200 with 1.4 and 2x if needed. I
just hope for a greater picture quality, higher contrast than the
100-300. Do you have any experience with the 100-400 ?

Click to expand...

many of my friends use the 100-400 but to my opinion it is better stopped down than wide open. I went for the 400mm F5.6 L because I wanted a lens that I could use wide open and with the TC, get fast AF adn contrasty photos. with the 400mm F5.6, I don't really have an advantage for stopping down, except if I want a larger DOF...otherwise there is no difference.

witht the 300mm F4, I needed to stop down to F5.6 to get the best sharpness out of the lens as it was improving at that aperture and at F8.

I think it's the same with the 100-400 IS. it will improve at f8.

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Please do not start new thread for private message to me but send them to me via email instead! thanks.

I'm just fighting with myself, too...

Isodream said:

I have the possibility of selling, at a good price, my EX 100-300
f4 and exchange it for a new EF 300 f4l. Shooting mostly at 300mm,
the zoom is not the problem but I saw quite many bad posts on the
300mm ...
Any Sigma users with experience with the EF 300 ??? Any thought ?

Click to expand...

A comparison - tripod, cable-release,self-timer - of my VERY good 100-300 sigma ( I wanted to sell it for similar reason, +too heavy) showed up: Equivalent.

At least at 300 ;-)

Full stop.

sigh Cannot be true, can it? I mean, a Sigma-zoom vs. Canon-prime. Cannot be true.

So I think I have a poor copy of the Canon and a "special" copy of the Sigma. The Canon is 2 weeks old. Should give Canon a chance to deliver s/t better.

Hopefully this does not mean a challenge for Canon if I deliver pictures to them...

Regards,

Oliver.

300/4 IS is softer wide open than stopped down a little
according to quite a few reviews and comments I've
seen on this forum. Did you try comparing them at f5.6?
I would think the prime would be noticibly better if
it was correctly focusing and had no problems.

Buedi said:

Isodream said:

I have the possibility of selling, at a good price, my EX 100-300
f4 and exchange it for a new EF 300 f4l. Shooting mostly at 300mm,
the zoom is not the problem but I saw quite many bad posts on the
300mm ...
Any Sigma users with experience with the EF 300 ??? Any thought ?

Click to expand...

A comparison - tripod, cable-release,self-timer - of my VERY good
100-300 sigma ( I wanted to sell it for similar reason, +too heavy)
showed up: Equivalent.

At least at 300 ;-)

Full stop.

sigh Cannot be true, can it? I mean, a Sigma-zoom vs.
Canon-prime. Cannot be true.

So I think I have a poor copy of the Canon and a "special" copy of
the Sigma. The Canon is 2 weeks old. Should give Canon a chance to
deliver s/t better.

Hopefully this does not mean a challenge for Canon if I deliver
pictures to them...

Regards,

Oliver.

Click to expand...

I still think my $170 75-300 f4-5.6 USM focuses very fast for a zoom, faster than the 70-200 f/2.8 L lens, but i never thought the quality was that good. But quality is 3rd for sports shooters like myself.

1. AF speed, u can have all the light you need, but if it can't focus, you can't use it.
2. brightness
3. quality of glass

I tired the 100-400, I liked the focus speed, it seemed quick enough for NCAA sports, but i didn't like the f/4.5-5.6.

The Ef 300mm F/4 L IS USM has solved so many problems for me! It is by far the best telephoto lens I've ever owned. It's only 2 years older than the 300mm F2.8 L IS USM, which claims to have the worlds fastest AF. I really can't see how the 300mm f/2.8 could be better. The focus is so lighting fast you will never be fusterated with it. It will also allow your 1-series body use it's center point as a cross type sensor, eventho it's F/4. That is not true with the 100-400 because it's max AV is 4.5.

At F4, it's 100% brighter than F5.6, so my shutter speeds are twice as most shooters at my university who use f5.6 @300 or 400mm.

Last and i'd have to say least important to me, is quality. This lens is not sharp, it's super ultra razor tack sharp!! I really don't think there is a lens sharper for less than 3x the money, and it won't even be 1/3rd better, so i don't think it'd be worth the money to buy the f/2.8 version, (unless you really need the light).

This lens is so sharp, and focuses so fast, that useing a simga 1.4x apo teleconver doesn't seem to hurt the quality very much at all! (altho the center point won't be cross type anymore since the max AV would be f5.6. Then you'll have a 420mm F5.6 with IS!

I've only used it on an EOS 1D Mark II, but i don't think u could go wrong with this lens!

Good luck,
Dave W

Hi,

forp said:

300/4 IS is softer wide open than stopped down a little
according to quite a few reviews and comments I've
seen on this forum. Did you try comparing them at f5.6?
I would think the prime would be noticibly better if
it was correctly focusing and had no problems.

Click to expand...

uhm, to be honest, the comparison was wide open, both capable of f4.

Should I repeat it @5.6?

On the other hand, if both being able of f4, why should a Canon be better stopped down, if it fails to outperform wide open?

Just curious, not offensive.

Well, I'm slightly angry to have spend double price for equal performance. Not even talking about flexibility ( vs. about 300 gramm).

I hear people think: What the h..., sell the Canon... but I like the better habit, less weight, IS.

Sigh.

Oliver.

Buedi said:

On the other hand, if both being able of f4, why should a Canon be
better stopped down, if it fails to outperform wide open?

Click to expand...

some lens iimprove drasticaly stopped down. I know my 300mmF4 was not the best at F4 but was very sharp at F5.6.

Buedi said:

Just curious, not offensive.

Well, I'm slightly angry to have spend double price for equal
performance. Not even talking about flexibility ( vs. about 300
gramm).

I hear people think: What the h..., sell the Canon... but I like
the better habit, less weight, IS.

Sigh.

Oliver.

Click to expand...

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I read all the posts and reviews and MTF charts for the 300 f/4L UIS. I saw the comments about softness at f/4. I anguished over buying it for a couple of weeks. Then bought one.

Summary: This is one of the sharpest lenses, even wide open, that I've ever had. And I've had several Nikkor EDIF lenses (zoom and fixed focus) and I own the 70-200 f/4L (very nice in its own right). The 300 is maneuverable, sturdy, did I mention tack-sharp, fast focusing, and a total delight to use. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Oh: the IS is extremely good as well.

On the other hand, it might take a little while to learn to use it. As you know from your experiences, 300mm on an EOS is pretty high magnification. So be patient for a use or two.

I think you wouldn't regret buying this.
Abbott

Abbott Schindler said:

I read all the posts and reviews and MTF charts for the 300 f/4L
UIS. I saw the comments about softness at f/4. I anguished over
buying it for a couple of weeks. Then bought one.

Summary: This is one of the sharpest lenses, even wide open, that
I've ever had. And I've had several Nikkor EDIF lenses (zoom and
fixed focus) and I own the 70-200 f/4L (very nice in its own
right). The 300 is maneuverable, sturdy, did I mention tack-sharp,
fast focusing, and a total delight to use. I wouldn't hesitate to
recommend it. Oh: the IS is extremely good as well.

On the other hand, it might take a little while to learn to use it.
As you know from your experiences, 300mm on an EOS is pretty high
magnification. So be patient for a use or two.

I think you wouldn't regret buying this.
Abbott

Click to expand...

Hi!

Do You have any particular advice to share? What to think about?
Could You post some of the pictures that You are satisfyed with?

Thanks in advance / J

Good... evening ( almost past midnight over here)

Daniella said:

Buedi said:

On the other hand, if both being able of f4, why should a Canon be
better stopped down, if it fails to outperform wide open?

Click to expand...

some lens iimprove drasticaly stopped down. I know my 300mmF4 was
not the best at F4 but was very sharp at F5.6.

Click to expand...

Well then. Understood. Will redo my "dam.ed" testing to decide which one to keep.
And I don't mean test-charts, of course... ;-)

Did some pics of a cob ( male swan), and did not convince me. Perhaps the ( female) swan would not be convinced of the look through my lense neither ;-)

Thnx for your advice,

Oliver.

Man go buy the EF 300 f4 L IS, its absolutely everyting I was looking for and more.

I liked it so much much that I put a short review together on it, at http://www.eospix.com/reviews-24.html .

gml said:

With the 300L IS, I
can now go down to 1/160 and sometimes even to 1/125.

Click to expand...

I can beat that. EF 300mm f/4L, ISO 800, 1/40 sec. and HAND HELD:



I love this lens, btw. It's great - even with the 1.4x TC and wide open.

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http://www.fotolog.dk - My diary
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