Zoom Lens

[soosh]

the 70-200 f/4L is one of Canon’s sharpest lenses and goes for a lot less than you might expect.

[mopsy]

I’m still unsure what to get. My husband and I are going on a trip late September and I want the lens by then. I looked up the info on the Canon 70-200 f/4L and your right Soosh, it’s listed for $613 on Amazon so it is not too much more than the Canon EF 70-300 mm f/6-5.6 IS USM. However, the price NoBigDeal is offering is VERY tempting. U-Man is arriving today for a week and I plan to pick his brain. So if you need to put your camera on Ebay today, I will understand. But if your willing to wait a couple of days, I can then give a definite answer. The decisions I need to make: IS or not; weight of lens; distance quality; ease in use; and cost.

[Curious]

i am really glad to hear you folks (whom i respect) say that your zooms are soft. i have a tamron 75-300 (it’s actually a film lens in the Minolta Maxxum AF series) and from the time i bought it the results at full zoom have usually been under whelming. ok perhaps but certainly not razor sharp.

It does best with plenty of light though and my AF tends to search with it. But with it has given me some really great results

put me in the plenty of light part. my AF hunts occasionally and not just at full zoom. best results with this lens seem to be with manual focus. took this one yesterday and it’s more than ok but not perfect.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57055068@N00/3778141020/

1/300 at F11 so it’s not a DOF thing. or i don’t think it is. might be slightly off focus, a bit of camera movement of soft lens. opinions welcomed.

[mopsy]

I’m wondering about the quality of the various lenses being discussed. Is it possible that some of the lenses are not glass but plastic. I’m told that if you purchase a lens from some of the extremely low costing sites, the quality of the lens can be affected, even on the name brand lens. Has anyone experienced this? I’m fairly new to all this, my previous experience was with a point and shoot, but Farkers probably already know about the possible compromise in the quality of name brand lenses.

[jpatten]

This was taken at 300mm and its one of my favorites..
It has made an appearance in farktography

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2940508458_f40fc43b1a_b.jpg

[soosh]

I’m wondering about the quality of the various lenses being discussed. Is it possible that some of the lenses are not glass but plastic. I’m told that if you purchase a lens from some of the extremely low costing sites, the quality of the lens can be affected, even on the name brand lens. Has anyone experienced this? I’m fairly new to all this, my previous experience was with a point and shoot, but Farkers probably already know about the possible compromise in the quality of name brand lenses.

Plastic is getting down into Holga quality. I wouldn’t buy from any company besides Amazon, KEH.com, B&H photo, or Adorama. There are a ton of scam cammera shops out there. The above are as honest as you’re going to find, and at the best prices. B&H is who I trust the most and they are exceptional to deal with. They, seriously, are one of the most rock-stable companies I’ve ever run across.

This page can be rather enlightening:

http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/

[sleeping]

Plastic is getting down into Holga quality.

It’s acually pretty common for aspherical lens elements to be made out of plastic bonded to glass in cheaper lenses, including name brand ones. It probably isn’t cheap holga plastic though.

[soosh]

I did not know that.

My 100-400 has an element made out of flourite, which I think is ungodly cool.

[nobigdeal]

I’m still unsure what to get. My husband and I are going on a trip late September and I want the lens by then. I looked up the info on the Canon 70-200 f/4L and your right Soosh, it’s listed for $613 on Amazon so it is not too much more than the Canon EF 70-300 mm f/6-5.6 IS USM. However, the price NoBigDeal is offering is VERY tempting. U-Man is arriving today for a week and I plan to pick his brain. So if you need to put your camera on Ebay today, I will understand. But if your willing to wait a couple of days, I can then give a definite answer. The decisions I need to make: IS or not; weight of lens; distance quality; ease in use; and cost.

I don’t mind waiting a while. I have been procrastinating about selling this lens for a few months now anyway.

This really is a decent lens for the money. I don’t care what anyone say. If you are shooting over 150mm unless you have rock solid hands, you usually need a tripod to get tack sharp photos.

Look at the moon shots I posted, those were on a tripod and manually focused. They are very sharp.

I will try to take a few shots at 300mm with this lens on the tripos and off tomorrow and I will post them.

(The 70-200L non IS is a great lens BTW)

[Author]

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