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Canon EF70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM reviews compiled

Valerie

Updated: Sep 30, 2019


Canon EF70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

What is DO?

Diffractive optics - Makes the lens 30% shorter than usual.

Green ring lens


Physical

Quite fat and heavy

Made of metal, solid feel

There is lens creep / zoom creep

No weather sealing


Focus Ring

Turns smoothly


Auto Focus

Fast

Quiet

Accurate


Sharpness

Full frame

70mm - Generally acceptable

Sharp in middle and corners at a higher aperture (f/8)

Contrast levels are poor

135mm - Center is acceptable, corners are soft

Can be sharper with a higher aperture (f/8)

300mm - Soft

Increase aperture (to f/11) for acceptable sharpness in the middle and corners


APS-C

70mm - Soft at f/4.5

Okay at f/8

135mm - Okay ay f/4.5, corners are soft

Sharper at f/11

300mm - Soft in the middle, corners are worse at f/4.5

f/11 doesn't help much.


Distortion

At 70mm, it is ok.

At 135mm and 300mm, there is the pin cushion effect


Vignetting

Not noticeable


Stabilization

Smooth and effective

When turned on, low amount of rumbling

Mode 1 - Stabilization in the horizontal and vertical axis

Mode 2 - Stabilization in the vertical axis only (used for panning)


Zoom ring

A bit stiff at wider angles


Bokeh

Maximum aperture is not very big (f/4.5). Can't get much bokeh.

Quite smooth and not distracting


Notes

Quite expensive (as compared to the cheaper versions of the 300mms) for the fact that it is not very sharp.

Can be used on full frame and aps-c

Doesn't accept extenders


Check out the lens on Amazon:


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