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User Lens Reviews Canon EF 28-300mm f3.5-5.6L IS USM review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Just buy it. You won't be sorry, Friday, 12 March 2010
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
My only travel lens..., Wednesday, 13 January 2010
The 28-300 is definitely heavy but it is still lighter than a camera bag full of lenses. I have done away with the 5D strap and use the following strap Op/Tech Bino/Cam Harness, Elastic Version for Cameras & Binoculars - Black which takes the load off the neck and makes it more evenly distributed on the shoulders. It has the added advantage that it keeps the camera/lens close to your body when hiking rather than swing out and hit something that the neck strap is prone to do. If you are looking for a one lens solution look no further. It is the L lens to get...
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Best Lens In Its Class, Saturday, 09 January 2010
Bottom line: This is an "L" lens and is deserving of the classification. Focal length can not be touched for the IQ of the shots, period! Heavy duty construction, very well built. Heavy! Don't kid yourself that you can get all of these benefits without a tradeoff. I shoot mostly candid and my kids, but this lens allows me to "Do Anything". Really.
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The only all in one L zoom, Thursday, 07 January 2010
Pro: - Good IQ/Color/AF speed, typical L zoom (I'd say it's in the same league as 100-400L and 70-200/2.8 IS L that I used, 28-70L and 70-200/4L probably is better.) - Good IS - Hand heldable - Fast zoom with push pull Neutral: - Bought it as second hand with "light use" according to the previous owner. The lens looks good but the damping between the main push/pull cylinders are mostly gone and it sounds like metal to metal when zooming in and out. This also happened to my second hand 28-70 MF ring. L quality is "not forever" after all :) - The weight is expected and is actually managable if you handled other big L zooms before. better support will bring out better IQ since IS is not everything. Con: - Too expensive. I used 40D+ Tamron 18-270 VR, a much cheaper and more flexible combo for the same job. The most obvious advantage of the big L is its unbeatable AF speed and accuracy in any reaonsable lighting condition. Tammy is good, but not in this league. But the price difference is ... Bottom line - This is the only real high quality all in one for full frame for bright out door shots.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
A lens that will blow your socks off!, Sunday, 13 December 2009
The lens is heavy as others have mentioned but the quality of the photos will ease your pain! I have a couple of different bags to carry it in, depending upon the situation. Let's face it guys & gals, you don't get "something for nothing!" You want that life like shot at any light condition and, you want it at wide angle &/or telephoto ranges; so don't complain! Canon's quality is obvious in all aspects of this lens from the stabilization system to the fast focus speeds. As you can tell, I in love! This is truly a magnificent lens. It is the 5th Canon Lens that I own. If quality, reliability, flexibility, stability and speed are your game and you take your photography seriously, then this lens is for you. After all, you can buy another body but a lens you keep for a life time.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
one of the best lenses that will compliment your o, Wednesday, 02 December 2009
First the Pros: 1. Once you get used to the push-pull zoom, focusing and zooming onto any object, at any distance becomes a snap. 2. Much has been said of the tightening ring, in my experience it has been a life-saver. With the same hand using the zoom push/pull just a flick of finger can increase or decrease the friction and one can adjust how quickly or slowly zoom push pull works. 3. The picture quality is amazing at least on my camera (50D) I did not notice much difference in picture quality between this and the 70-200mm lenses. Maybe it works differently for full-frame cameras. 4. I was quite skeptical about distortions as noted in some of the reviews. But in actual experience, Photoshop always had the correction data since both the 50D and this lens are supported. Its just a matter of loading up the RAW and your PS filters can automatically apply the respective correction for the FL you have the picture taken at. 5. One lens, huge range. One doesn't realize how easy this lens makes it until you've been using it for a while and then one day decide to go back to other lenses. 6. Beautiful pictures, bokeh as well, HDR shots, at least on 50D, there's not a single flaw I could find. 7. The lens is heavy; at least for me it means more stability. Combined with the IS on the lens I can be sure, my hand held shots will rarely have a shake. It may be a matter of personal preference but I did not find the lens to be heavier than two lenses put together to get the same range. 8. For a 3.5, the lens is surprisingly quick(unless in low-light scenarios). I've rarely missed a moment because of the lens. Of course, if you've not used the lens for a while or do not use the fl selector, you could cause the lens to hunt (happened rarely to me but my friends definitely complained about it). Cons: 1. True, the aperture falls very quickly somewhere after the 50mm range but once you get a hang of how quickly and where, its not much of an issue. 2. In low light conditions, this lens does turn out very slow. Expect grainy, Ghost or long hunting times in the dark. I typically switch to manual focus and manual settings to correct these issues. 3. Obviously, using this lens means you wouldn't be hanging the camera or the lens around your neck. It goes in the backpack! All in all, I think this is a great lens. It does not replace the 70-200mm plus other lenses to get the same range. It compliments them when you cannot carry multiple lenses. Feel free to look at the images taken by this lens on my Flickr page [...]
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
It's all about the versatility, Tuesday, 01 December 2009
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Simply Breathtaking, Thursday, 01 October 2009
Sure it's heavy, but give a moment's consideration to the fact that this covers a HUGE expanse of focal lengths and does it near flawlessly. And that's not to mention the very well built and RUGGED construction that went into this, I think most the weight is due to the metal body, which by nature must be much heavier than the plastic body you have on so many other lenses. The other factor I see mentioned here is the price. Frankly, you get what you pay for here. You put together everything I just said and compare that to all the other comparable lenses by Canon and you can see why this lens is justifiably a little more pricey than say the 70-200mm or 100-400mm. Neither of those support wide angle, putting this lens in a class of it's own and making it more of a specialty item. In the end though, it comes down to how you personally want to use your camera. This thing is a two handed broadsword and it's not for everyone. The one thing you're going to want to get is a good camera backpack, at least that's what I did after running around with this shooting for a couple of hours. I picked up a Lowepro Slingshot 200 camera bag and was immediately relieved of the immense weight, plus I was able to fit the camera, lens attached with the back of the camera body facing the side flap for easy extraction at a moments notice. That really made all the difference in the world. But, if hefting a big gun around isn't in your comfort level and want light and fast, then you'd definitely want to pass on this lens.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
kumquat, Tuesday, 28 April 2009
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
The ONE Len !, Saturday, 10 January 2009
I was spending quite a long time on deciding which len to go, 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM or this 28-300mm. They are both amazing lens and everyone hopes to own both if possible. Finally, be true to yourself, what is this len made for? what is the most desirable feature of this len? Then I realized and went for this baby. The only thing you need to think about is why do you need this HUGE RANGE provided by this single len. Because you don't have time to (or are lazy to, just like me) change lens!!! :-) I like to travel and try to bring as fewer gears as possible. In many situations, you just don't have time to change lens to shoot some once in a life time scenes. And if the schedule is tight, frequently changing lens will degrade sightseeing quality. This is the KEY! Make this as your priority concern then decide which lens to go. 24-70 + 70-200 or 28-300 :) FYI. I got another 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM for low light or in-door conditions. Also the 10-22 wide angle len since I am using 40D with the 1.6x factor. One last thing I would like to remind you is that some gears seem not to be compatible with this len. For example, close-up len, extender. So do check before buying. And this len comes with hood and bag. No need to buy separately. Enjoy it !
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Most flexible range, lives up to L designation!, Wednesday, 22 October 2008
NOTE: I use a certain range of f/stops, from whatever is wide open on a given lens up to MAYBE f/11 on rare occasions, and more rarely f/16, so this is the portion of the range to which I refer. As an additional note, numerous years of experience, and much reading, have made it clear that stopping down beyond that point is not beneficial to image quality. Furthermore, I am partial to subject isolation, especially in working with high end cameras/lenses. This lens makes a great all-purpose lens, especially when you don't want to have to make a lens change. For example, in a Wedding that I recently shot, the locale was on a beach. I have done A LOT of bikini model photography on beaches in the MD/VA/DC area, South Carolina, Miami, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta and elsewhere, and so I knew from experience that you don't want to take off the lens when there's a lot of sand and wind around. No matter how careful youy might THINK you are being. The 28-300mm fit the bill in every way you could hope for. It was early evening/late afternoon at the end of summer, so the light was perfect. And a very wide aperture would've been tricky anyway - so what this lens provides was definitely good enough. The only question was if it was going to be good enough quality-wise, sharpness, color contrast. I am happy to say that the results were stunning. Having reviewed all of the pictures that were taken at this Wedding, I was pleasantly surprised at HOW sharp and contrasty they were (bear in mind, I have been using a lot of primes - the Canon 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.2 and the 135mm f/2.0). I also own the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, and I believe the results were on par with that particular lens. Which is why I believe it carry's the price tag that it does. Many people have found the push/pull zoom to be undesirable. I think it is a matter of getting used to, and it really doesn't take long. My earliest film 35mm camera from years ago (when I was about 12 yrs old I got it), a Ricoh camera (re-branded with the Sears name on it) had one lens that was an 80-210mm that was push/pull manual focus. It's funny how you forget over the years because that thing is far more awkward to try to use, and yet I still needed to "re-learn." What is nice about the Canon 28-300mm push/pull is the locking ring. You have to really understand it correctly to use it correctly. Once you do, the benefits are well worthwhile. You will find yourself easily loosening and tightening the tension as needed. This is key because the tighter setting will nearly lock the zoom in place when you don't want it extending, and once loosened all the way, the push/pull zooming is as rapid as you'll get. Combined with Autofocus and good shooting skills, you can get some amazing performance. Many people will look at the Sigma or Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 and see, based on cursory spec review, little difference in the lenses, and huge price differences. Make no mistake, these are a COMPLETELY different class of lens, and the price difference is totally warranted. To understand this, you may need to go to a camera store and try each one out. This will make the difference obvious. But let me try to enumerate a couple of things here. First, these cheaper lenses are NOT 300mm on the outside length. I have done MANY test shots with the Tamron and Sigma 28-300mm lenses, and in NO case could either of those zoom in as close as the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. What?? He wrote the wrong lens down right there. No I did not. Yes, I meant what I wrote - the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. I also own the Canon 200mm f/2.8L prime lens, which is the same focal length at 200mm. The aforementioned 28-300mm Tamron and Sigma lenses are very close at "300mm" to each of those lenses, just a little short. I have done this same comparison with the Tamron 18-200mm, which is proportionately shorter to their 28-300mm. I purchased and then returned a Canon 28-200mm (a very flimsily built lens for a Canon of any kind, although better than those shoddy 18-55's they were putting in the kits - not sure about the latest 18-55's, I refer to the ones from 2-4 years ago). So, the point is, it's not going to be a true 300mm. This Canon L lens IS a true 300mm, and a true 28mm, and everything in between. Also, if you need to, go read up on stops of light. It doesn't SOUND like much, but jumping from f/5.6 to f/6.3, is a huge amount. The numeric representation is very deceptive. What it really comes down to is the fact that you need a big piece of glass to get more light in there, and more glass for longer focal length, there's just no way of getting around that fact. Regardless of what numbers are used to market a lens, look at the length of a lens (extended if need be, as with this lens) and then look at the circumfrence of the glass at the end. This will alert you to a noticeable difference, if there is one, as in the case of the the two non-Canon brands versus this lens. Similarly, Autofocus performance is ALWAYS noticeably better on Canon lenses, ESPECUIALLY L series lenses, than on non-Canon manufacturers lenses with Canon mounts. Bottom Line, you get what you pay for. And, in the case of this lens, that holds true above other items that might appear to be similar. This is a top notch lens, and the ideal walk around lens if you don't want to change lenses.
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Nikon 28-300mm F 3.5- 5.6L IS USM lens, Thursday, 17 July 2008
I do not need to change lenses very often. This one is the one I need. It's a little bit heavy, though! Excellent Canon product.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
optimal event photography lens, Wednesday, 18 June 2008
---[ CONS ]--- [1] weight your arm will probably hurt after shooting for a few hours, especially with its push/pull it gets long so your arm is extended holding all that weight. there hasnt been a person yet I let try the lens that didnt immediately say "wow, thats heavy". i read that in the reviews and thought "na, I can handle it". nope. i have to admit I had to take breaks. not for the timid. (maybe itll toughen me up) [2] cost $2k+ for a non "fast" lens? come on canon - make us a 28-300mm f/2.8L! :-) [3] push/pull Im not a big fan but am getting used to it. my guess is its not the more popular twist style cuz the range is just too long - itd probably take two twists to go thru the whole range. push/pull does allow you to get the zoom VERY quickly. again, great for candids. [4] length fully extended its awkward to hold at times. especially if you attempt to fine tune the range. [5] slow low-light AF it hunts in doors, especially at the higher zoom. but to be fair its gotta cover alot of range and its quick enuff in the 28-70 range. [6] fast range fall off Id say 50% of the physical range is 28-90 and the last 50% is 90-300. it falls off especially fast from 200-300. I find it hard to get anything in between. it kinda slams to the 300 and its a bit of a trick to pull it back a little. 300 is so much zoom I find myself often in too close and then needing to fiddle to back off a little, loosing a second or so which might loose the shot. [7] min focal distance is a tad too long I find myself having to physically back away from people when shooting 28mm. I guess Im spoiled by the 24-70 - i enjoy some of the face-distorting shots it can do so closely and the 28-300 cant. ---[ PROS ]--- [1] image quality is as good as my 24-70mm f/2.8L. sharpness, color, contrast, etc. its definitely an L-series. [2] range IMHO the best feature is Im ready to shoot anything and I dont have to change lenses. its the do anything lens. [3] fast AF AF is L-series fast outdoors with sufficent light. [4] IS the IS on this lens is absolutely amazing. at 300mm its like someone grabbed the lens to help me stablize it. indoors its actually amazing as well. at 70mm with my f/2.8L i might have had 1/60 shutter and I may only get 1/20 with my 28-300 BUT with the IS the shot isnt blurry (with a steady hand). ironically Im seeing less blurry shots indoors than with my 24-70 which doesnt have IS. [5] bokeh the blurred backdrop at 300mm is stunning. its very pro looking. [6] fun this lens is just fun to shoot. maybe its just cuz its new but Im finding myself shooting twice as many shots cuz with the range theres just more to shoot now. Im finding I can be much more creative now. [7] tightening ring ...is a nice touch. very useful. [8] rugged the upside of its weight is its built like a tank so I neednt worry about banging this $2k+ tool against something or scratching it. [9] switch placement btw, I dont find the placement of the switches to be a problem like some other reviews. I think they have to be close cuz you cant put them on the barrel since it moves - unlike the 70-200. [10] natural candids an awesome serendipity is that 300mm is enuff range that Im seeing very natural looking candids cuz Im far enuff away from people that Im not in their space so they relax. with my 24-70 Id have to get close enuff that itd change their expression slightly. even if Im zoomed way in at 300mm and my subject sees me Im still physically far enuff away that they dont feel threatened (but if they only knew!) :-) this creates PRICELESS shots in my opinion. It definitely has that paparazzi quality. its this last quality that makes the cons worth it to me. bottomline: I can deal with the cons for the pros. you get what you pay for. nice work canon! :-) .dsj.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Best buy, Thursday, 22 May 2008
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great all-around lens, Wednesday, 08 August 2007
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