Anyone destroyed an EF 70-300mm L?

Hi everyone. This is my first post, so I want say a quick thank you to DPReview and to all the members of the community. I've been coming to this site for the better part of a decade, and have found the content and the wisdom of the community members to be nothing short of inspiring.

Now the Question:

After much deliberation and many sleepless nights I've decided to bite the bullet and purchase the EF 70-300mm f4-5.6L IS USM. In the end, the combination of its physical attributes, IQ, image stabilization performance, and alleged durability made it a no-brainer for the style I shoot (that being extreme sports while participating). The body I'm using is a Canon 7D (which I love). We've been around the block and I have pretty good idea of how much abuse the 7D can take, but with the new lens that threshold is a bit of a grey area.

So, has anyone here killed an EF 70-300mm L. If so, what was the straw that broke the camels back? I'd also be interested in hearing obituaries for other weather sealed L lenses.

Thanks!

Tried and failed over the last 4 years and mine still works brilliantly.

About the only thing that can destroy a lens is bouncing them off a sidewalk, and often they survive that. Or dropping them in the ocean. Or scratching the optics, though a lens hood generally eliminates that concern.

Have not used the 70-300L, but one thing to consider is that the barrell does extend when zooming. I would guess this would be the most likely thing to break. If you don't need 300mm, you could consider the 70-200 f4 is which does not extend. All the Ls are super well built though, especially these telephoto zooms

Excellent! Sounds like this is the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship.

Steve Balcombe wrote:

Dunross wrote:

After much deliberation and many sleepless nights I've decided to bite the bullet and purchase the EF 70-300mm f4-5.6L IS USM. In the end, the combination of its physical attributes, IQ, image stabilization performance, and alleged durability made it a no-brainer for the style I shoot (that being extreme sports while participating). The body I'm using is a Canon 7D (which I love). We've been around the block and I have pretty good idea of how much abuse the 7D can take, but with the new lens that threshold is a bit of a grey area.

So, has anyone here killed an EF 70-300mm L. If so, what was the straw that broke the camels back? I'd also be interested in hearing obituaries for other weather sealed L lenses.

A full day and no response at all* - I guess that must be a good sign! When mine was almost new, I tripped and fell on a rough track. The 7D and 70-300L were subjected to the double indignity of hitting the ground then having me land on top of them. The 7D gained some deep scuffs on the top, but the lens was unmarked and has continued to work perfectly ever since. One experience doesn't prove much I guess, but it was a positive one.

I have several L's now, and build quality is superb in all of them. "Extreme sports while participating" sounds like a pretty stern test, but with reasonable care you shouldn't have any problems at all.

(* - when I started writing - Gelbvieh got in just before me!)

Thanks Balcombe, that's exactly the kind of anecdote I was hoping for. I hope that you came away from that spill without too many dents yourself.

I will certainly treat the L with the respect it deserves, but it sounds like it's going to be able to go everywhere I do, on the hip rather than in the bag.

Gelbvieh wrote:

Tried and failed over the last 4 years and mine still works brilliantly.

Awesome! Mind if I ask you another question (after this one, obviously)?

I notice that my 70-300mm L makes a kind of buzzing sound when the IS is on and it's trying to focus (I'm no audio expert but I'm going to say that this buzz is at least three times louder than the sound of the lens focusing normaly). The sound is not present when IS is off. I bought the lens used so I can't be sure if this is a normal thing or a problem.

The sound doesn't bother me, but it does seem a bit out of place. Any insight would be much appreciated.

AMyer wrote:

I have one and have not tried to destroy it.

However, just a few things.

In Canon's wisdom the lens does not come with a tripod mount.

There is no Canon TC for that lens.

The design is such that I could not use the lens hand held without having my hand move the over-sized and ill-placed manual focus ring.

As a result I bought the tripod mount and learned to hold the lens so that the tripod mount keeps my hand from touching the focus ring.

Since I shoot wildlife and birds in flight, I'll be replacing the 70-300 with the 100-400 II when I get around to it.

I did get the 100-400 II for exactly the same reasons you mentioned and I'm really happy I did.

Will get an 1.4 extender with a camera that can AF at f/8 and will be even happier...

The 70-300L is a great lens but you cannot go further than 300. The 100-400L feels as strong as the 70-300L and handling it (weight) is almost the same...

I didn't answer this thread originally because I thought you wanted stories on how they break, but I can no longer resist.  I have had mine for four years and absolutely nothing has happened to mine. I love it.

I tried to sand off the coating on the outside by using a third party tripod mount ring, and I succeeded in that. Some of the white coating missing now. Definitely my own mistake.

For anything else, being not overly cautious using my photographic gear, the L survived all my mistreatments pretty well. Stopped using protectionfilters quite a while ago and the coating on the front element is still perfect.

Sandor.

maarensv wrote:

I tried to sand off the coating on the outside by using a third party tripod mount ring, and I succeeded in that. Some of the white coating missing now. Definitely my own mistake.

For anything else, being not overly cautious using my photographic gear, the L survived all my mistreatments pretty well. Stopped using protectionfilters quite a while ago and the coating on the front element is still perfect.

Sandor.

I had a similar experience where i'd rubbed a tiny bit of the paint off with a third party collar.  Still irks me that one wasn't supplied with the lens and the official one is criminally expensive.

I had another L lens (24-105L) survive having the front 1-2cm immersed in running water (low shot on a mini-tripod and the camera overbalanced forward into the edge of a stream) for a couple of seconds with no ill effect.  Fortunately it had a filter attached at the time.

Dunross wrote:

Gelbvieh wrote:

Tried and failed over the last 4 years and mine still works brilliantly.

Awesome! Mind if I ask you another question (after this one, obviously)?

I notice that my 70-300mm L makes a kind of buzzing sound when the IS is on and it's trying to focus (I'm no audio expert but I'm going to say that this buzz is at least three times louder than the sound of the lens focusing normaly). The sound is not present when IS is off. I bought the lens used so I can't be sure if this is a normal thing or a problem.

The sound doesn't bother me, but it does seem a bit out of place. Any insight would be much appreciated.

I just purchased this lens as well. It is built like a tank. However my IS does not make any noticeable noise. I purchased new. I suppose that if its working for you then it will be fine.