Medium Length, Zoom Lens advice...

[JereMIA]

I have quickly realized that I need a lens with a little more reach. (to add to my equipment listed below) It is mainly to shoot animals and birds, but I was only looking to spend up to $600.00 at this time.

Due to my budget, I was originally considering the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS but I'm now debating on getting the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L lens instead. Is this shorter focal length and lack of IS a fair trade off? Do you think that the improvements in photo quality, with the L series, are obvious even to an amateur?

This is a new addiction for me so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[malla1962]

I have quickly realized that I need a lens with a little more reach. (to add to my equipment listed below) It is mainly to shoot animals and birds, but I was only looking to spend up to $600.00 at this time.

Due to my budget, I was originally considering the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS but I'm now debating on getting the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L lens instead. Is this shorter focal length and lack of IS a fair trade off? Do you think that the improvements in photo quality, with the L series, are obvious even to an amateur?

This is a new addiction for me so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
70-200 is a verry good lens and image quality is far better than the 75-300.it realy boils down to do you need the extra 100mm,if so buy a 1.4 tcon to go with it.this is just my opinion but have used both lenses in the past.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Take a look at the -=TOP 10=- recommended lens section... (sticky thread at top of page)

You'll see in the polls that members of this forum recomend the 70-200mm f/4L consistantly... an that the various 300mm zooms are rarely mentioned.

[Skip Souza]

I firmly believe that the EF 70-200 f/4 L is the best value in telephoto zoom. You can always add a 1.4x TC and be only 20mm shorter and a whole lot sharper than the 75-300.
My wife's EF 75-300 f/4-5.6 IS is slow focusing and soft. The IS is first generation and not like the newer IS lenses.
With 20/20 hindsight I should have gone for the 70-200 L.

[Paul_O]

Here's a thread I started yesterday which I hope may help you. For your reference, I was always happy with my 75-300 IS USM until........

Paul

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=68077

[condyk]

The Kenko Pro 1.4x T-Con works fine with this lens and AF is only very slightly slower. Don't see any difference in shot quality with it on or off. Much cheaper than the Canon 1.4 and even the Sigma 1.4 x so may be a bit sweeter on the wallet. The F4 lens really is very, very good, fairly light(ish!) and entirely practical, even as a walk around, if you can find a top loader type bag for it. It's a never sell lens while the 70-300 IS probably will only satisfy you for so long. Resale value of F4 is superb.

[Hellashot]

Well for a "medium" length zoom I'd recommend the Sigma 24-135 f2.8-4.5. 75-300 is considered telephoto zoom.

[ron chappel]

"Do you think that the improvements in photo quality, with the L series, are obvious even to an amateur? "

In most cases the answer to that is a definite yes.Most amatures could see the difference and appreciate it

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Yea, the 70-200 is WAY better!!! I've seen so many photo's posted by it and they were great. Way better than the 75-300mm IS, and who cares about 100mm less? If your using an XT or a 20D you got 8mp, that'll allow you to crop all you want and still have great quality for small to medium size photo prints.

[JereMIA]

Thank you, everyone for the input. It looks like I will be going with the 70-200L (too bad its white , my wife will definitely notice it!) I didn't even consider the teleconverter as an option down the road. Very nice pic's Paul, I hope to have results like that some day soon!

Also, I apologize for the mistitled tread, I was looking for help with telephoto zooms.

[Jon]

The one problem you'll find with either of those is that even 300 mm is all too frequently too short for wildlife, especially birds. I find my 100-400 with 1.4x TC is just barely marginally long enough for even the larger birds in our back yard.