Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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364 of 368 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Starter lens, 4 Feb 2004
I purchased this lens as an addittion to the 18-55mm kit lens that comes with the Canon 300D. It complements the kit lens to give you a range that you can practice your creative arts with (expanding to big sunsets and most wildlife shots) and is a good price to start with.More experienced photographers will want to save their cash for the EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM (or better), which is a fantastic lens, but almost 4x the price! The EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 USM III is a bit soft at wide angle and is definately noticable at telephoto, being at the f/5.6 darker, slower side of the lens. For some shots (e.g. landscapes/sunsets/willing and "still" wildlife), using a tripod will yield the best results with this lens. However, for all the amatures (including myself) that cannot (yet) justify the higher cost of Canon's superb L series lenses, this is a good starter addition that will at least allow you to capture moments and practice your compositon and camera use.
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81 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great budget starter lens for the amatuer/hobbyist, 14 Nov 2007
I bought this lens about eight months ago for my Canon 350D. If like me you bought the kit that comes bundled with the 18-55mm lens you'll notice there is a big gap when it comes to zoom/telephoto shots, this is a great budget tele-photo zoom lens that does what it says on the tin, and fills the gap nicely.
I am an amateur photographer at best and still learning, but after using the lens for a while I was disappointed to learn that the f stop values really do make a big difference - the widest aperture you will be able to set this lens to is 4.0 at 75mm and only 5.6 at 300mm, if your really serious you need a fast lens like f/2.8, and definitely with IS (image stabilisation) - the lens is not that heavy (for me), but during a long shoot it starts to feel like a cannon (pardon the pun), the lens really protrudes out at towards the 300mm end, and if you hold the camera pointing straight down, expect lens creep. Add an external flash onto the hot shoe and expect a real workout!
My wife complains its way too heavy - especially with a speedlite mounted on top, just carry a tripod if you expect to be on a long shoot, or mount the external flash on a tripod (you'll need something like a speedlite wireless remote for this, expensive, but its tiny and weighs next to nothing and gets the speedlite off the camera).
Having said all that, I have got some really great shots with this, and overall for the price you pay for this lens it's a real good value for money. If I'm going to a function, like a party within a hall, I would almost always use this lens (not to good for mid range shots - 50mm better for this, which is why I carry another camera to save swapping lenses about), great for candid photography where you can position yourself at the other side of the hall and take shots without distracting or letting your subjects know they are being shot - just have a strong arm, and good light conditions/flash. For portrait shots, and shots where you slow the shutter speed use a tripod, or you get too much blur/softness. If you also intend to pan the shot, a tripod with a panning handle is also essential.
The other thing you need to bear in mind is the multiplication factor (of the focal length) of your camera. Unless your lucky enough to have a camera with the same focal length as a 35mm film camera, i.e. a full 35mm frame size, the camera may effectively crop the image to fit on the film sensor - the 350D has a factor of x1.6, this means this lens is effectively a 120mm - 480mm lens (!) This is great on the tele-photo side, you get more magnification than you pay for, but not so good for wide angle or down at the 75mm end, where you've actually got 120mm. (Because of this factor, if you want a wide-angle lens and you have a 350/400D then you'd be better off going for ultra wide 14mm).
Bottom line, it's a heavy lens, and no IS, but for the price of the lens very good value for money! I haven't regretted buying this, and unless you're a really serious photographer, and shoot within the limits of this lens you wont either.
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136 of 141 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You get what you pay for, 15 Jul 2005
A few months ago, I was looking around for a zoom lens for my 300D as I was going on safari in the Maasai Mara.I read up on the various EF mount lenses available, and decided to plump for this non-IS lens as basically I couldn't justify spending £400 on a zoom lens! (This is a hobby for me, not a profession!) I'm now back with a clutch of photos and very happy with the results! The resulting pictures are sharp and vibrant throughout the range of the lens. Bear in mind I was photographing wildlife with plenty of light - even the odd cheetah in full flight! I've no idea how this lens performs in low light, but if you're going to be taking photos with plenty of light, this lens does the job.
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