Is ( EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM ) OK?

This lens is NOT an L. It is a lot cheaper also. I have it and it does get some good shots. I can print them to 8x10 without much problem. I am going to move up to a 100-400L soon. But this lens has served its purpose and with the rebate I got lst year will have not cost me much. I say get it. If you examples of pictures pm me and I will send some.

I was actually looking that this lens, but i decided to pay the extra 200 and go with the IS for hopefully better results. We'll see.

It is what it is. A cheap tele zoom. Does that mean it is junk and in no way worth getting? No. It depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to get a cheap tele zoom and accept the fact that the results will not be razor sharp with bright colors and do not expect to make prints bigger than 8x12, then go ahead and get it. You can make decent shots with it and you can learn and grow with it. The more you use it the more you will find out what you want when you go ahead and buy an expensive lens someday. If you want a super sharp lens with great color rendition, then get the 50mm f/1.8 for $75. If you want to get a tele zoom that will get you out to 300mm and get you out in the field taking pix right now, then jump on the cheap 75-300.

I shot with the 75-300 for years. It certainly is not a great lens, but you can make photos with it:

Ice Climber:

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Yea, got the lens today, I got a 50mm f/1.8 used less than 10x's with a UV, polarizer and the adapter for $65.00. So I am pleased with my EOS entry costs so far=$665.00 for all. The reason for Dslr is to capture those Dark, cold, rainy Friday night Football games as well as the soccer games during the week! The Pro1 couldn't get the job done (of course). I'll have to compromise at that level too when I arrive! I'm thinking the 70-200L f/2.8 or a 200L or 300Lf/2.8 prime.

Canon EF 75-300mm III:

at 300mm

An excellent lens for the money. A perfect telephoto zoom range.
However, if you plan to have clear and sharp images at 300 mm with it handheld....you will not....unless you have the skill of telephoto handholding/shooting and exposure management with a slow lens like that.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

VFTT wrote in post #2278052
Ice Climber:

- darren

At first glance I thought he was carving the copyright into the ice.

Woolburr wrote in post #2259710
Some will say that even a bad Canon is better than a good Sigma....neither lens is a real prize. The big thing...is you will have a lens that you can work with...you can find out the shortcomings and the strengths...and if you play your cards right...you can improve your technique.

As someone who learned on the cheap telezooms, I fully agree with this statement.

I had the Tamron 70-300 f/4-5.6 LD version. Fantastic lens? Hell no. Worth the low price? Yes, surprisingly. Note, worth the price. Because the price was low I didn't expect much.

This was one unforgiving lens. Slow as heck, but it did teach me how to handhold properly in order to try my best to get sharp shots. As a friend said, it's a hard teacher - do your very very best, and you MAY just be rewarded with a decent photo. Mess up the slightest and you WILL be punished with poor quality. DC motor with ultra-slow AF taught me how to use manual focus - and be faster than the lens.

However, there are plus points.. I later moved on to much nicer lenses, but the lessons learned during those early days will stay forever. You gotta start somewhere. There is no sin in buying cheap gear to learn on - you wouldn't be expecting to take off in a Porsche or Ferrari with the big fat learner plate on the back, would you? Priviledged indeed if you can, but most people start with something a little bit more modest.

When you are done, dump it on ebay and break even or close to it, while you walk away richer for the lessons. Or sell it cheap and let some other newbie have a chance to learn on the cheap too.

For $70 you can't lose. It's just like buying the "nifty 50" to learn on, although this lens does different things from the nifty (and the nifty is not that fantastic either.. mine flies off on Monday for a new home.. but do I regret owning it? Not really.)