Tamron 300mm f2.8

There is an ad in a local paper for a Tamron 300mm f2.8 auto-focus lense w/ Canon EOS 3 body & Canon Speedlite 540EZ. I am interested mainly for the lens if it is good and the body to play a bit with film. Not sure if I can make much use of the flash. It is listed for $2,000 CDN ($1,750 USD) or best offer.

I looked for reviews on this lens and the ones I got were fairly mixed with most being favourable, FM has only one review. Does anyone here have any experience or know of the quality of this lens. Locally the lens is $5,600 CDN + 7% tax.

The flash will only work in Manual mode with your 20D - I have seen this in reviews I read when I considered buying a 540 EZ in a second-hand shop.

If that lens is in good condition you could be doing well if you have the need for that extra reach. At that price though you have the right to expect to take some shots and examine them in detail before paying IMO. Hope it works out.

Mike, I kinda figured that with the flash. If the lens seems to be a worthwhile thing to look at I would definitley check it out good first, the nice thing about buying locally. The owner claims to be a pro in his ad.

I haven't used it, but I can tell you what I was told by others during my search for a 300 2.8 lens. As you could guess, most will tell you the L lens is the best, with the Tokina having the best image quality of the 3rd party lenses. The Sigma is also quite popular with good image quality and is equipped with HSM, I actually tried this lens and I liked everything about it except I got a soft copy, I've seen lots of examples and mine was not the norm but since it was used I couldn't just exchange it. From what I've seen the image quality of the Tamron is pretty good, but the focus isn't up to the USM/HSM standards. If its local, it might be worth checking out and see if you can take some test shots to decide for yourself.