upgrade from EF70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM to 70-300mm f/4-5.6l IS USM

Lemming51 wrote:

Mosh wrote:

I'm an amateur photographer and I mainly shoot indoors - friends and family, and outdoors - scenery and wildlife when traveling. I currently use the 70-300 DO on an aincent 20D and I'm about to purchase 6D, my first full frame DSLR (with the 24-105L lens). Since I'm already stretching my budget I was wondering how essential it is, in terms of image quality, to upgrade the 70-300 DO lens to an L lens.

I doubt it is 'essential'. I would try the DO with the new camera, then decide if it meets your needs. Pixel-peeping 20mp at 100% may reveal the DO's shortcomings more readily than at 8mp, but at normal image sizes I'll bet you're going to see improvement with that lens over the 20D.

The new camera gives you access lens aberration corrections in-camera (vignetting and CA) or in DPP (vignetting, distortion, and CA) that were not available with the 20D. However, the advanced Digital Lens Optimizaiton in DPP does not have corrections for the 70-300 DO (yet) but does for the 70-300L and 100-400L.

IMHO YMMV

If you haven't seen this before, there's some useful steps to take to improve the quality of photos from the DO lens at this link.

http://www.fovegraphy.com/70_300DO_TipsE.php

James

If you haven't seen this before, there's some useful steps to take to improve the quality of photos from the DO lens at this link.

http://www.fovegraphy.com/70_300DO_TipsE.php

James

James, thanks so much for the link. I have been using a UV filter since I purchased this lens.... when looking at the vignetting in FF, it brings another question, does the 70-300L lens do not have vignetting at all?

I'm not using photoshop on a regular basis, so it is important for me to get the best possible shots without post processing on a computer.

Mosh wrote:

I'm an amateur photographer and I mainly shoot indoors - friends and family, and outdoors - scenery and wildlife when traveling. I currently use the 70-300 DO on an aincent 20D and I'm about to purchase 6D, my first full frame DSLR (with the 24-105L lens). Since I'm already stretching my budget I was wondering how essential it is, in terms of image quality, to upgrade the 70-300 DO lens to an L lens.

The 70-300 DO has well-documented image quality issues whereas the 70-300L is superb, the best 70-300 (or similar) you can buy. I think you would be blown away by the difference.

But is it "essential"? I would say yes, if you are going to get the full benefit of the new body. But on the other hand the 6D won't make the DO look any worse, and you may even get a slight overall improvement in situations where you can fill the frame - i.e. where you can shoot from 1.6x closer or use 1.6x the focal length to utilise the whole frame.

You could do as Lemming51 suggests - get the body only and see how you get on with it, if only to defer the cost of the 70-300L until a later date.

Shorthand wrote:

Just checked ... DxO does have an optical correction module for the 70-300 DO on the 6D that will perform all of the calculations that the DPP DLO modules cover. Even DxO's Elite edition is a lot cheaper than a lens.

Dear Shorthand, I just downloaded a trial version of DxO including the module for the 70-300 DO. What do I need to do in order to apply the adjustments for the specific lens the image was taken with?

The tips link is very good.

I have had the 70-300 DO for several years, shooting through 1DII, 1DIII, 5DII and now a 5DIII, and have appreciated it for its reach, size, and image quality. I found it soft until I discovered that if I do a mild sharpening in Camera Raw and another sharpening pass in Photoshop, the images are on par with other lenses. With the current Camera Raw in CS6, I can and do bring out whatever levels of sharpness and contrast that I want, and I don't find the lens lacking at all.

I recently traded in a 100-400, which was a LITTLE sharper than the 70-300 DO (ok, a LOT sharper from 301-400!), I never carried it - it's just too darned cumbersome for most shooting that I do. I would certainly never travel with it (again). The trip becomes all about the equipment, rather than about the journey.  If I need more reach than 300, I bring my Panasonic GH3 and 100-300 (200-600 equiv), the combination of which together weighs about the same as the 100-400 and gives me great image quality.

For sure on the DO I'd forgo the protective filters and ALWAYS use the lens shade, even indoors (because you now have no protective filter).

Try the new camera with the DO and see how it goes. Try processing in Camera Raw, too. ALSO, the lens profiles in the camera are really helpful, especially if you only shoot jpg.