Best quality 70-200 or 70-300 (approx)
Discussion
I have the Canon 350D and the standard 18-55mm lens, I also had a Sigma 29-200 (35mm) from my old 35mm system but the results with that lens were not so good on digital format. I think it was becasue it wasn't intended for digital use and the coatings differ but there was something lacking and although photos were sharp generally there was a haziness when shooting into light.
Anyway, that's now sold to a 35mm user which it was always fine with, in fact it was excellent.
Now I need to buy the replacement. It doesn't have to be a super fast lens (max apeture), quality is more important. Size is not a huge deal either and neither is the quietness of operation particularly. Optical quality and suitability for digital is paramount.
My budget is fairly low I'm afraid, upto £275 (less if poss).
What is there in this price bracket with top optical quality?
Anyway, that's now sold to a 35mm user which it was always fine with, in fact it was excellent.
Now I need to buy the replacement. It doesn't have to be a super fast lens (max apeture), quality is more important. Size is not a huge deal either and neither is the quietness of operation particularly. Optical quality and suitability for digital is paramount.
My budget is fairly low I'm afraid, upto £275 (less if poss).
What is there in this price bracket with top optical quality?
For 70-200 the Canon L series is the dogs danglies.
With your budget I'm afraid i can't advise you really (as I don't know much regards to the cheaper lenses, not trying to be snob, but I tend to wait a bit and save for the best quality to avoid buying twice)
If you can afford to wait and get the Canon 70-200 F4L I've heard nothing but good things about it.
With your budget I'm afraid i can't advise you really (as I don't know much regards to the cheaper lenses, not trying to be snob, but I tend to wait a bit and save for the best quality to avoid buying twice)
If you can afford to wait and get the Canon 70-200 F4L I've heard nothing but good things about it.
General rule is the larger the zoom range the worse the quality - there are a few exceptions, but it's a good rule of thumb. If you want decent optics avoid sigmas cheap ranges - you want the APO (red ring) at the very least. Pref. EX range (gold ring round the lens), but bare in mind they still vary quite a bit in quality. Tamron have similar ranges. I had a Sigma 18-125mm and Sigma 70-300mm (non apo). Both utter tripe.
With the 35mm gear; the AP mag used to publish test results where they'd test at various focal lengths of a lens range and at full, mid and small apertures and test for central and peripheral definition.
It was very useful.
Do any of the magazines still do these kind of tests for digital lenses?
I've had a look on-line for reviews and tests and they are all superficial crap such as "the focussing ring is too small" - just consumer comments from what appear mainly to be very amateur users.
It was very useful.
Do any of the magazines still do these kind of tests for digital lenses?
I've had a look on-line for reviews and tests and they are all superficial crap such as "the focussing ring is too small" - just consumer comments from what appear mainly to be very amateur users.
www.photozone.de is always a good place to start for that sort of thing. There is a site that has comparison test chart images of the different lenses you can swap between. Can't remember the name though.
julianhj said:
Kentish said:
I had to stretch the budget a little BTW, decided to spend £400 and found this lens is currently £370 
Trouble is nowhere has any stock!
Trouble is nowhere has any stock!
For £429 you can get the Canon 70-200mm F4L from Warehouse Express
I may push the budget and go for the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 USM L IS at £740.
Stated to be the best telezoom of that focal length on the market today, resolution, CA, vignetting and distortion figures are most impressive. What a fantastic lens!
Kentish said:
julianhj said:
Kentish said:
I had to stretch the budget a little BTW, decided to spend £400 and found this lens is currently £370
Trouble is nowhere has any stock!
Trouble is nowhere has any stock!
For £429 you can get the Canon 70-200mm F4L from Warehouse Express
I may push the budget and go for the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 USM L IS at £740.
Stated to be the best telezoom of that focal length on the market today, resolution, CA, vignetting and distortion figures are most impressive. What a fantastic lens!
I went for the 70-200 f2.8L non IS. It was cheaper than that and I'm really impressed with it.
An update.
I couldn't find a non-mail order supplier for the Canon 70-300 4-5.6 USM IS lens, none had stock or wanted considerably more money.
So I carried on looking and found rave reviews and a great set of test results for a Tamron 55-200 f4-5.6 Di II LD Macro. Wide open at 200 it's a bit soft but stop down a couple of F stops and it gives cracking results.
ePhotozine said:-
Whoa! What happened here? The optical quality of this lens can punch way above it’s class! So much so that I checked that I hadn’t done something silly during the test procedure! But no, the tests had been carried out to the same strict procedures that all lenses go through and the results are, quite frankly, astonishing for the type of lens.
My local Jessops wanted £199 for this lens but I knew I could get a price match and got it for just £70.
If it lasts just 2 years I'm more than happy
I couldn't find a non-mail order supplier for the Canon 70-300 4-5.6 USM IS lens, none had stock or wanted considerably more money.
So I carried on looking and found rave reviews and a great set of test results for a Tamron 55-200 f4-5.6 Di II LD Macro. Wide open at 200 it's a bit soft but stop down a couple of F stops and it gives cracking results.
ePhotozine said:-
Whoa! What happened here? The optical quality of this lens can punch way above it’s class! So much so that I checked that I hadn’t done something silly during the test procedure! But no, the tests had been carried out to the same strict procedures that all lenses go through and the results are, quite frankly, astonishing for the type of lens.
My local Jessops wanted £199 for this lens but I knew I could get a price match and got it for just £70.
If it lasts just 2 years I'm more than happy
poah said:
Thanks but I'm happy with what I bought for now. I was very close to buying the Canon 70-200 f4 USM L lens since it's soooo good but the Tamron is a sixth of the price and the optical quality is not so different, about the same at f8 or less. Build quality is better than Canon non-L spec lenses too.
It's not my 1st choice but at £79 it was an absolute steal!
miniman said:
gf350 said:
I went for the 70-200 f2.8L non IS. It was cheaper than that and I'm really impressed with it.
Where did you get it from? I can't seem to find it listed anywhere anymore - only the IS version.
Only the f4 available now unless old stock AFAIK, price for the f4 is about £430.
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