Canon EF70-300mm F4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens

I am new to the forum. I recently purchased this lens and just love it. Does anyone else have this lens? Do you like it? Can you tell me more about using it? I am a novice in the field of photography but would like to learn it all. I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT.

It's an excellent lens...I had it in my gear until I bought the 100-400 (then my husband took the DO). If you do a search on it, you'll find some threads that talk about it in detail.

Welcome to the forum and have fun with your photography!

Thank you, I hope to learn a lot here.
I took pictures of Great Falls, VA today with the auto landscape setting on and they came out better than I thought as I was taking them.
Can you tell me if there are any web sites that give you lessons or have tutorials on the use of lens such as this one?

At the bottom left of this page is a digital xt tutorial...it covers several lenses..and it's a very good starting point.

http://www.photoworksh​op.com/canon/

Melrae:
It will always remain a controversial lens. I obtain decent photos with it. It is a high quality lens, extremely fast focus speed, has FT-M and no rotating front element, outstanding mode 1 and 2 IS, absence of chromatic aberrations, that takes good pictures, and then suddenly -BAM- frustrates users at critical moments in difficult light.

Nice fellow Xavier has 70-300 DO IS handling tips site: http://www.fovegraphy.​com/70_300DO_TipsE.php
Luminous-Landscape's M.R. uses it effectively for travel getting strong images: http://www.luminous-landscape.com …nses/Canon-70-300mm.shtml . His best tip is at the end, in regards to adopting PK Sharpener if you own this lens.
I have used the 70-300 DO IS long enough to put my experience in captions of 13 images: http://aesop.rutgers.e​du …-300_DO_IS_Lens/index.h​tm

Experience leads me to use DO lens as part of a “workflow” extracting the max from it, that includes:
1. DO images respond well to being shot RAW and post processed. This is not a lens for JPEG shooters. RAW is the only way to use this lens if you follow Xavier's tips. Being able to set black point, WB, etc., makes a world of difference.
I have even rendered decent 70-300 DO images during bad hazy days: http://aesop.rutgers.e​du …/slides/CropDus​ting09.htm by messing with the new Canon "Clear" Picture Style.
2. DO shooters MUST carry a Whi-Bal card or similar WB card and shoot the card in the same light as their photos. Upon opening the RAW, the “Click WB,” and makes a HUGE difference in DO image quality. It is essential.
The images sometimes also have a "cooler" blue tone that takes WB correction on RAW conversion well. I find many images low in the Blue-Yellow color axis, and they beauty right up to natural color with a RAW click WB. I use a Whi-Bal for ALL my digital photography, to get the WB right in adverse FL, incandescent, and vapor discharge lighting in gyms.
3. DO users must either learn “Edge Contrast Enhancement” sharpening in PhotoShop, or, as I did, buy a PS plug-in that automates “Edge Sharpening.” The most important $99 spent on digital workflow a few years ago was PhotoKit Sharpener. Every image I shoot and all my old scans go through PhotoKit Sharpener. There are other equal competitors like FocalBlade or NiK. But, DO lens and PhotoKit Sharpener BELONG together. PhotoKit has taken sharpening "off the table" as a limitation.
4. Do not point this at a foreground subject, where the distant OOF blurred background contains lots of fine details. E.g., try to photograph a set of railroad tracks diminishing to infinity focus on a hot day. Instead of the rails "smoothly" going to OOF blur, you get "chunks" of track. It's just ugly. I use this lens to it's strengths. Like Clint Eastwood says, "A lens has got to know his limitations."
Do NOT POINT DO lens at specular highlight backgrounds with lots of fine repeating details. This lens produces beautiful sharp images when these are the in-focus foreground. And unlike many reviews, I don’t find this lens has a “flare problem.” I think it is limited to when the fine detail highlights are in the out-of-focus background. Don’t point the lens that way and the lens has not problems.
5. The DO lens does not perform its best with UV/protection filter over the front element. This means using the hood at all times is a must. This means some of the discreetness is lost.
6. The DO lens will CREEP when walking because the front element is very heavy. It does have a anti-lens creep lock, but that locks the lens in the 70mm position. Walking about, ready to lift the lens, crop with the zoom, and grab a shot, the lens will extend to its 300mm position because of the front DO element weight. Once you use an internal focus-internal zoom lens like the 70-200L, the zoom extension is mildly irritating, particularly at sport events, or street shooting.
7. The DO, like all IS lenses, needs a 1/2 second half-press to activate the IS before shutter release.

Jack

Oh, welcome to POTN....
Jack

WOW, Jack!!! I must only add that I had this wonderful lens and regret selling it.