Canon 300mm L f4

Hi boys and girls, just a quick question about this lens, I have found one for sale in my area and wanted to pick your brains about it! I will be using mostly for shooting planes at the airport, any thoughts?

Ps: will be mostly hand held shooting.

I love mine! In fact I really don't want to sell it even though I now have the 300 F2.8!
It is small, light, has pretty quick AF and mine is very sharp - in fact it gives up little to the F2.8 model. Note it has an early model IS system which can get a bit crotchety on moving subjects so you may have to turn it off for flight shots other than that I find it to be a very good lens.

Fine lens, terrible MFD. But, for planes in flight might be all you need.

gasrocks wrote in post #16046956
Fine lens, terrible MFD. But, for planes in flight might be all you need.

The close minimum focus distance (MFD) is nice if you need it. It does have a focus limiter, so focus travel isn't too bad. It's a capable lens. It's also relatively compact and light. I cannot say that I've compared it to other lenses of similar or longer focal lengths, but I can say that I am happy I own the lens.

gasrocks wrote in post #16046956
Fine lens, terrible MFD. But, for planes in flight might be all you need.

Yes it's like 5 feet. Still it does have one of the better max magnification numbers on a non macro lens though: .24x.

I use it with 1.4x extender, and its IQ is very good! MFD is 1.5 meters which is much better than the MFD of the 400mm f/5.6. It is light enough to be handheld, but I use a monopod with this 300mm f/4 lens. I shoot surfers with this lens, and I like it!

gasrocks wrote in post #16046956
Fine lens, terrible MFD. But, for planes in flight might be all you need.

Are we talking about the same lens? As far as I can determine, it's the closest-focusing telephoto that Canon make in that ballpark range - 1.5m, compared with 2m for the 300 2.8, and 3.5m for the 400 5.6. It is certainly a lens that DOES require that distance focusing switch.

I use this lens to do close up photography all the time. Super sharp and pretty quick focus. I shoot it handheld, often too. One of my favs.

The EF 300/4 L has an 8 foot MFD. The one I htought we were discussing here. The newer IS version is about 5 feet.

Ah, gotcha. Just that the present IS version has been around since - what? - 1997 ? Made an assumption. Doh. And yes, 8ft MFD is not too hot.

gasrocks wrote in post #16048553
The EF 300/4 L has an 8 foot MFD. The one I htought we were discussing here. The newer IS version is about 5 feet.

I had forgotten about the older one. I assumed we were talkig about the IS version. Good that you brought this up.

It is a great close focusing lens. Great for shooting butterflies.

I had what is probably the best 300mm lens ever made: Mamiya 645 300/2.8 APO. However, it had a MFD of 12 feet.

I bought one just yesterday, and in short I am quite pleased with it. As others have mentioned, it does focus relatively close (4.9 feet) for a long telephoto lens compared to, say, the 400mm f/5.6. It's also VERY sharp. IS is effective, though it's an older version but it still does the job. I've taken shots at 1/100th of a second in fair light and gotten tack sharp shots.

bowenbee wrote in post #16051100
I bought one just yesterday, and in short I am quite pleased with it. As others have mentioned, it does focus relatively close (4.9 feet) for a long telephoto lens compared to, say, the 400mm f/5.6. It's also VERY sharp. IS is effective, though it's an older version but it still does the job. I've taken shots at 1/100th of a second in fair light and gotten tack sharp shots.

It's worth pointing out that canon has made two lenses. the EF 300 1:4L USM and the EF 300 1:4L IS USM. From the OP's post it isn't really obvious which one he is referring to, but since the IS version seems to be more common on the used market I suppose this is probably it.