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Canon EF 300mm f/4 USM L IS - Full Format Review / Test |
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Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (Full Format)
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published April 2011
Introduction
The Canon EF 300mm f/4 USM L IS is a member of Canon's prestigious L-class (Luxury) series. It is, of course, far from being a cheap lens in absolute terms but still much more affordable than its f/2.8 cousin and as such a quite interesting option for those mortals interested in e.g. sports- or wildlife-photography. A couple of years ago we tested the lens on an APS-C DSLR but now that full format DSLRs are within reach of normal mortals it is worth having a look at the performance in its native format.
Typical for Canon L class lenses the mechanical quality is excellent thanks to an body of metal and a smoothly operating, rubberized focus ring. The lens features a detachable tripod mount for a better balance on tripods - certainly a good idea regarding the weight of the lens. There's also a pretty convenient build-in lens hood which can be locked in its out-most position.
The lens incorporates a first-generation Image Stabilizer (IS) with a claimed gain of 2 f-stops for hand-held photography. Based on the field usage with this lens we'd confirm this claim. Due to the weight of the lens it may even be a little more than that. Unlike the consumer variants the IS system has 2 modes - mode 1 for static shooting (horizontal + vertical stabilization) and mode 2 for panning (horizontal OR vertical stabilization - the panning direction is automatically detected). Unlike the 2nd generation IS used in later designs the variant of the 300mm f/4 L IS has no tripod detection so IS needs to be switched off here in order to avoid interference effects. On an unstable tripod or monopod the IS can remain active - it just has to detect some kind of motion.
The lens features a very fast ring-type USM AF drive (rear focusing) with full-time manual focusing in one-shot AF mode. The minimal focus distance is 1.5m resulting in a max. magnification of ~1:4 (~1:3 with the 1.4x converter) - this is far better than on the recently tested EF 400mm f/5.6 USM L.
| Specifications |
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| Optical construction | 15 elements in 11 groups inc. 2x UD element |
| Number of aperture blades | 8 (non-circular) |
| min. focus distance | 1.5 m (max. magnification ratio ~1:4) |
| Dimensions | 90 x 221 mm |
| Weight | 1190 g |
| Filter size | 77 mm (non-rotating) |
| Hood | build-in lens hood - barrel-shaped |
| Other features | Compatible to EF converters. Focus limiter. Tripod mount. |
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