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Herb Houghton
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Registered: Feb 14, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 15670
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Review Date: Mar 29, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $950.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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sharp image clarity, fast AF even with 1.4x attached
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Cons:
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Need to remove lens from body to detach tripod ring. noisy rumbling IS
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This is my second lens and I'll keep it forever.I bought this used on this site. It's been on my rebel XTi ever since with the 1.4x attached. It has a fast AF even with the teleconverter. I use it all the time now for birding. I used to use the 70-200 F4 but this one works better for wary birds. I'm looking into the 400 F 5.6 L lens. Does anyone have any good experience using the 400 with the 1.4x, and does AF work like it does on this F4 lens ?
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 Mar 29, 2007
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thedutt
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Registered: May 15, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 1590
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Review Date: Mar 20, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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IQ - Out there, IS - hand held up to 1/60 keepers, built in hood, size, takes to 1.4x really well
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Cons:
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None. Got it used at a decent price so no complains what so ever
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I had been debating adding a 100-400 to my lenses, but was not ready to spend that kind of money and was intrigued by the reviews of 300 F4 here. I came across a great deal on the 300 F4IS a couple of weeks ago.
I am extremely glad that I did. I bought it with the intent that I will resell if it the lens does not work for me and assume the loss as rental fee, though after using it for only 10 days on my vacation, this lens has assumed a dominant position on my camera.
This is my first prime L, and it has quite simply blown me away. (My frame of reference for IQ for telephoto is 70-200 F4). My first IS lens also, and I am amazed to see quite a few keepers at 1/60, which gives great capability to shoot low light photos. I do not like to use tripod with telephoto as subjects are usually quite fast moving, and so far I have seen no need to do the same.
It takes very well to 1.4x, to the point were it is hard to tell the difference. If you are on the fence for this lens, do yourself a favor, rent/borrow it asap and you will be placing your order in matter of few shutter clicks.
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Mar 20, 2007
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Nezza
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Nov 24, 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 470
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Review Date: Mar 10, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness. Weight. USM focussing.
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Cons:
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None
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The sharpest (and only L series) lens I have. Razor sharp from wide open. My sample is a bit old now and the built in lens hood flaps about a bit, but optically it beats every other lens in my bag.
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Mar 10, 2007
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Bigfoot1
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Registered: Sep 11, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 10
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Review Date: Feb 27, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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the colors and the contrast are very good, focusing is very quick and precise and I found that focusing on a moving object using AI servo worked very well also
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Cons:
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the IS made a bit more noise than I am used to, not sure if it because this lens is brand new or I am just not used to hearing the noise
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recently picked this lens up at a pretty fair price and spent the entire weekend shooting with it, wonderful lens to use on wildlife and some outdoor sports, I know some have commented on the weight but I did not find it to be an issue considering I am used to shooting with a 70-200 F2.8, overall if you are looking for a good prime lens then add this one to your collection, you will not be disappointed
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Feb 27, 2007
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veroman
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Registered: Aug 19, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 3519
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Review Date: Feb 23, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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• Very sharp
• Very fast AF
• Excellent build
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Cons:
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Simply superb, even when used with a 1.4 extender. An exceptional lens and an exceptional value.
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Feb 23, 2007
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rbart
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Registered: Oct 7, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Feb 19, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp, Light Weight (relatively), Image Stabilization, Close focus.
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Cons:
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Image Stabilization makes a clacking noise when engaging. Had a problem with manual focus ring slipping.
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This one of my favorite wildlife lenses. I started with the Bigma 50-500mm. I was really happy with the Image Quality and flexibility of the Bigma, but I began to realize that I was losing a lot of shots because of its slowness (aperture and focus speed). I decided that I should try something with IS. This brought me to either the 100-400mm or the 300mm f4. My wife loves the Bigma said that she did not want to lose the zoom range and rotating zoom to the 100-400. It didn't make sense to me to keep the Bigma and get the 100-400 too, so I bought the 300mm f4 IS. I don't regret my decision at all. I would say the 300 is a lot sharper than the Bigma. It's a lot lighter and lot faster too. With a 1.4x teleconverter, I still get great quality at 420mm f5.6. On top of that, you get IS and close focus cababilities. I pretty much never use my Bigma any more. However, I did also get a 500mm f4 IS. I still probably use the 300mm more than the 500mm because it's so easy to carry around.
I did have a problem with the 300mm. The manual focusing began to slip during precision focusing. Canon's support was pretty poor. I sent it to Illinois to be repaired (under Canon instructions) and they shipped it off to California to be repaired. After a few weeks without status, I called the IL shop and they told me they didn't know where it was. After a couple days, I was notified that it was in CA. After a week or so in California, they sent it back to me and said they couldn't find a problem. That left me about a month without my lens and it still had a problem. I ended up shipping it off to NY hoping that they had a clue. I finally got it back with a functional manual focus. It almost seems to be slightly less sharp though. It could have just been me shaking from the excitement of having it back.
Although I mostly use this lens for birding, I've found that it makes a great portrait lens if you have the space to work with.
Here is a sample of a horse portrait with the 300mm:
http://bobbarthen.com/photos/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=Chloe&id=chloe3
Here is a sample bird shot through the window of my house:
http://bobbarthen.com/photos/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=BlackCappedChickadee&id=black_Capped_Chickadee2
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Feb 19, 2007
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abqnmusa
Offline
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Registered: May 11, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 1968
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Review Date: Feb 6, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,104.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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excellent image quality, mode 1 IS works well for handheld shots, mode 2 IS works well for panning shots (birds, race cars), focusing is fast & reliable on my 5D & XTI bodies, close focusing marcro works well with good working distance.
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Cons:
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price is a bit high, wish it had the new 4 stop IS like the 70-200 F4L IS. I struggle to find negatives as I am very happy with this lens.
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I find it easy to take sharp images with this lens. Image quality is fantastic.
I like the built in lens hood. Its always attached and does not get knocked off like the plastic lens hoods. I like to take this lens when hiking and the IS is fantastic for this. Often I am not able to carry, or do not desire to carry a tripod. So the IS of this lens is great.
purchased new at B&H
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Feb 6, 2007
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alfieri
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Feb 25, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 175
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Review Date: Feb 1, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,039.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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a little better sharpness and contrast than even the great 135L and 200 2.8L; minimum focusing distance of 4.9 ft. allows for killer close-ups; IS comes in handy a lot; lightweight; versatile; great IQ and overall value at a very fair price
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Cons:
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focusing is a little slow; focus tracking with moving subjects is a little hit or miss with 5D (and thus lower-end bodies), not sure about 1DIIN; my copy needed to be sent in for calibration (came back much better); older IS (2 f-stops vs. newer with 4 f-stops); finally, it's not the 300 f/2.8L IS so i can't give it a 10
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Feb 1, 2007
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Espen Hildrup
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Registered: Nov 10, 2006
Location: Norway
Posts: 141
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Review Date: Jan 30, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Excellent value: A superb lens !
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Cons:
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Maybe F4 ??
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This is one great lens !
It is sharper than my 70-200 2.8 IS - with superb colors and contrast. At this price, the lens is a bargain.
I cannot recommend this lens enough: It is almost a must-have !!
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Jan 30, 2007
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rebelxtnewbie
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Registered: Jun 19, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 708
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Review Date: Jan 26, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Sharp, Fast focus, Lighte weight, L build and optics!
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Cons:
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Loud IS!
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Had the lens for a week now and after some testing I gotta say that this lens is all it's cracked up to be. Sharper than my 70-200 at f4, good color reproduction is about even. I love the retractable hood. That makes it easier to use polarizers if needed.
IS is the main reason I bought it. I was having trouble getting stable images at 300mm on the Sigma with a 1.6x crop camera. I figured I shoot mostly at 300mm (since I have a 70-200 already) and IS would be nice to control camera shake. When I first held the lens I thought, WOW this thing is light. Compared to the 70-200 f/2.8 IS and the Sigma 100-300 f/4 and this thing is like a feather. On paper it doesnt seem much of a difference but in my hands it does. I thought I would need the IS, but it's light enough that I probably wont need to worry about camera shake too much. But indoors it should be bennificial at school events where I won't have room for a tripod (haven't tried it yet but got some events comming up).
This lens has the older IS without a tripod sensor, so when mounted on a tripod you have to turn it off or your pictures will be blurred.
The only downside I see is the focusing is loud even though it's USM. Both the 70-200 & this lens are louder than my other canon USM lenses and even the Sigma 100-300 HSM is quieter. And when you turn the IS on it's annoyingly loud. I don't mind it too much when I'm in a busy place were the noise can overshadows it. I'm just worry about the times I need to use it in a quite place indoors like a school play. People might look around and wonder what that noise i...but then again a big white lens doesn't neccessarly blend into the crowd either.
No other complaints about the lens. If I were to do it again, I might get the non IS and put that money towards another lens.
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Jan 26, 2007
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John Abbey
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Registered: Jan 6, 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Jan 6, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Very sharp even wide open. Excellent build quality. IS is very useful at 300mm.
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Cons:
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The IS unit in this lens is noisy.
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Even though I sold this lens to buy a 100-400m L, I really miss this lens. The only reason I sold it is because I found the 300mm range limiting. I found it to be sharp even wide open and it produced fantastic colors. It is also not very heavy and the built in lens hood is very nice. I would strongly recommend this lens if you need 300mm. The 100-400mm L lens is also very nice but not quite as sharp as this prime. The IS unit on this lens is also very noisy (no big deal though).
Here is a moon picture I shot with this lens:
http://www.johnsfilm.com/html/9-30-06.html
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Jan 6, 2007
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mohamed alfari
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Sep 5, 2006
Location: United Arab Emirates
Posts: 1116
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Nov 19, 2006
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Astrogeek
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Aug 11, 2006
Location: N/A
Posts: 11
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Review Date: Nov 14, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness, light weight, built-in lens hood, fast focus
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Cons:
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IS is a bit noisy
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I sold a Canon EF100-400L for this lens and am absolutely happy I did. Whether alone or coupled with a 1.4xTC this lens blows away the 100-400.
This lens is very lightweight, considering this is an L series. I really like the built-in lens hood and which Canon made this standard on more of their lenses.
The only less-than-perfect comment I can make on this lens is that the IS is noisier than the 100-400 and the 70-200 2.8L. One of my first shots with this lens can be found here:
http://www.pbase.com/pegsam/image/70126286
Sam
Tucson, AZ
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Nov 14, 2006
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blacktl2k
Offline
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Registered: Mar 6, 2006
Location: N/A
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Nov 3, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $875.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp, responsive, exhilirating lens. You won't be disappointed.
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Cons:
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None
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My favorite lens.
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Nov 3, 2006
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Ross T.
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Dec 14, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 191
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Review Date: Oct 11, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Fast...Light weight...Image Stabilized...Very Sharp!!!
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Cons:
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None
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A Wonderful Lens...I've had mine for 9 yrs...Very Happy with it....Very Fast Autofocus....Image Stabilization is Awesome....Very Sharp Lens!!! :^)
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Oct 11, 2006
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Rajan Parrikar
Online
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Registered: Sep 9, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 947
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Review Date: Oct 3, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,150.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Exceptional optical performance (resolution, colours, contrast), superb build, integrated lens hood, IS.
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Cons:
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None.
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I needed a lens for compressed landscape photography and narrowed down my selection to three: 300mm f/4 L IS, 400mm f/5.6 L, and the 100-400mm L IS zoom. I am glad that I made the current choice of 300mm. There are legions of glowing reviews of this lens all over the web but true satisfactions obtains when you experience the 'lens goodness' for yourself.
Summary: This is a magnificent lens.
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Oct 3, 2006
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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169
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313808
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May 15, 2013
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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97% of reviewers
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$1,060.26
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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9.71
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9.15
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9.6
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