Should i buy the 100-400 L or the 70-300 L canon lens?

Ben6

Ben6

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Hey guys,

Ive had the canon 70-300 IS USM for a while now and think its a pretty good lens i am now thinking of buying my first L series lens though.

Im trying to decide between the Canon EF 70-300mm f4-5.6L IS USM and the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5/5.6L USM IS.

Ive read that the 400 is nearing replacement now and that the 300 is a pretty new lens and much sharper through the range?

Im also guessing the 300 should be a little better in lower light also?

The main reason ive considered the 400 is that i tend to shoot more motorsport than anything and would find the extra 100mm very useful, would a tc be the best solution to this and does the 300 stay sharper with a tc as opposed to the 400 with a tc also?

Just after some opinions on these lenses really and a bit of advice in which way to go?

Thanks in advance guys.
 
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Hi Ben

Unless you have a 1D body, neither will work with a Canon TC...

The new 70-300L gets some very good reviews on here and there are a few who have swapped the 100-400 for the 70-300L and have been impressed with the improvement.

If they do replace the 100-400, then I feel the price will go up some what initally.

The difference between extra reach isn't as noticable as a wider lens is (hope this makes sense)

I use a 300mm for motorsport and manage very well with it, but it can be circuit dependant.

Hope this is of some help...
 
Yes i think i get what you mean.

I dont suppose you or any one on here has any shots taken at 300 and then 400 just to compare?

From what ive read on here the 70-300 seems to be getting better reviews, the main thing people are saying is how much sharper it is than the 400 if im right.

Gutted about the tc though i thought they would go on all slrs.
 
I'd actually just been reading this thread thanks, seems to be a pretty impressive lens and not really a bad word said about it.

Would you say i'll notice a big difference over my 70-300 IS USM non L series one?
 
Ben6 said:
I'd actually just been reading this thread thanks, seems to be a pretty impressive lens and not really a bad word said about it.

Would you say i'll notice a big difference over my 70-300 IS USM non L series one?
Click to expand...

I suspect so, I've not yet been able to try the L - I've the 70-300IS and am very pleased with it - it might be worth trying to find one to try / maybe hire one for a day or so and do a side by side test ?

I suspect it'll be a faster focus aswell, which can make the world of difference

It's a lens on my "to look at" list ...
 
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I may be best to go and have a look at one over the weekend then. Im selling my 300 at the same time so will have to compare and be sure im happy that its a big enough differnce before i part with the cash.
 
One thing i have noticed is that most sites ive seen it for sale on says that it comes with a hood and carry case/bag.
Im not so bothered about the case but would very much appreciate the hood to be included with a lens this price.
The jessops site doesnt mention this though, has anyone on here bought this lens from them and know if it was included in the box?
 
hi if you do a search I am sure this lens takes a none canon tc, cannot remember the name and you retain some if not all the usual functions as I checked this lens out when it first came on the market. The shots I took on a 50D were all good and the reach was excellent on a crop.
also reasonably priced at hdew if you don't mind imports and seller warranty
 
roadeh said:
I'd say the 100-400 spanks the 100-300 at 300mm...

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=5&APIComp=0
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It sure does!

But he isn't looking at that lens.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/...meraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=5&APIComp=1

I've recently got the 100-400mm and am very, very happy with it. Perhaps it would be nice if the AF was a little faster, but if I use the 6.5m-infinity option then it's fast enough for me.

Here is a good resource for comparing focal lengths:

http://www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/pages/tutorialfocallength.htm
 
Ah sorry you're right - the problem with trying to reply covertly at work ;)

Yes the 100-300 does look a bit better with the correct link :) I'm still pretty happy with my 100-400 though; only thing I'd maybe change for is the added flexibility 700-200 MK2 and a 2x tele.. but then that combo is another £1000 on top, even if 2.8 goodness is tempting..
 
skiwhiz said:
hi if you do a search I am sure this lens takes a none canon tc, cannot remember the name and you retain some if not all the usual functions
Click to expand...

I occasionally use the 70-300L with a Kenko 1.4x DGX Pro and it works fine (including the AF) provided you have good light and a contrasty subject. In questionable light I wouldn't put it on.

The lens itself is however a stonker. I chose it in preference to a 100-400 for the lighter weight, compactness, conventional zoom ring and stunning sharpness when I'd heard the 100-400 can be slightly soft at the long end. With the 70-300L's sharpness I can crop the 100mm difference with ease. AF and IS are superb btw.
 
Ben6 said:
One thing i have noticed is that most sites ive seen it for sale on says that it comes with a hood and carry case/bag.
Im not so bothered about the case but would very much appreciate the hood to be included with a lens this price.
The jessops site doesnt mention this though, has anyone on here bought this lens from them and know if it was included in the box?
Click to expand...

All Canon L lenses come with hood and case / bag.

PS I sold my 100-400L to fund the 70-300L. It's a superb lens.
 
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I replaced my 70-200 F/4L IS and 100-400L with the 70-300L. The lens itself is almost as easy to carry about as the 70-200, and much easier than the 100-400. Image quality is equal to the 70-200 (which is superb) and better than my 100-400 throughout the range. Do I miss the extra 100mm? - not as much as appreciate the improved IQ and compactness of the 70-300. As an added bonus, the IS on the 70-300 is much better than the 100-400, amd much quieter than on the 70-200.

In truth, the 100-400 never got used much because it was too big and too indiscreet. The 70-200 was a great lens but never quite long enough for me. The 70-300 is a great compromise. A constant apperture of F/4 would have been very nice, but I guess that would have made it massive.
 
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WilliamC said:
I occasionally use the 70-300L with a Kenko 1.4x DGX Pro and it works fine (including the AF) provided you have good light and a contrasty subject. In questionable light I wouldn't put it on./QUOTE]

at least one of us has a brain :LOL: thats the one
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for all your help guys, really appreciate the replys.
Im going to look at the 70-300 tomorrow and will hopefully have my first L series lens!
Ive currently got the 70-300 IS USM lens, the non L version, im hoping that the L will be much better and im not wasting my money. Im finding the non L one that i have at the moment to be a bit soft at 300mm and hopefully the L to be faster af?
 
WilliamC said:
I occasionally use the 70-300L with a Kenko 1.4x DGX Pro and it works fine (including the AF) provided you have good light and a contrasty subject. In questionable light I wouldn't put it on.

The lens itself is however a stonker. I chose it in preference to a 100-400 for the lighter weight, compactness, conventional zoom ring and stunning sharpness when I'd heard the 100-400 can be slightly soft at the long end. With the 70-300L's sharpness I can crop the 100mm difference with ease. AF and IS are superb btw.
Click to expand...

Theres a review on amazon for one of these saying something about having to put tape over 3 of the pins to get the af to work, do you know to any truth in this?

It says:
"I'd also looked at the Kenko Pro Series but, as with the Canon, there's the need to tape three offending pins in the converter to fool my camera and lens set-up into autofocus on full zoom. I'd read somewhere that this can result in excessive focus search and could burn out the lens drive!

The Kenko DGX is built without the offending pins and is advertised as being suitable for a lens with an aperture of F5.6 or faster. I was worried about the focus search issue (had they just removed the three pins!) but with the DGX attached autofocus works well on centre focus point."

I definately think i'll look into one of these, silly question but what does the 1.4x make the 300 up to? Is it 420mm?

Thanks Ben
 
Ben6 said:
Thanks for all your help guys, really appreciate the replys.
Im going to look at the 70-300 tomorrow and will hopefully have my first L series lens!
Ive currently got the 70-300 IS USM lens, the non L version, im hoping that the L will be much better and im not wasting my money. Im finding the non L one that i have at the moment to be a bit soft at 300mm and hopefully the L to be faster af?
Click to expand...

very good, if you can try to take some like for like comarison shots and pop them up here (y)

would be good to see some
 
andyred said:
very good, if you can try to take some like for like comarison shots and pop them up here (y)

would be good to see some
Click to expand...

I'd love to just to re assure myself about spending this extra money but i'll most likely be trading my non L in towards the New lens so i probably wont have my hands on both to be taking shots to compare :(
 
Ben6 said:
Theres a review on amazon for one of these saying something about having to put tape over 3 of the pins to get the af to work, do you know to any truth in this?

It says:
"I'd also looked at the Kenko Pro Series but, as with the Canon, there's the need to tape three offending pins in the converter to fool my camera and lens set-up into autofocus on full zoom. I'd read somewhere that this can result in excessive focus search and could burn out the lens drive!

The Kenko DGX is built without the offending pins and is advertised as being suitable for a lens with an aperture of F5.6 or faster. I was worried about the focus search issue (had they just removed the three pins!) but with the DGX attached autofocus works well on centre focus point."

I definately think i'll look into one of these, silly question but what does the 1.4x make the 300 up to? Is it 420mm?

Thanks Ben
Click to expand...

Taping the pins just fools the camera into thinking the extender isn't there, so instead of switching out at apertures higher than f/5.6, it still attempts to focus.

However, it's beyond the AF's remit so sometimes it kind of works okay, sometimes it works badly and hunts and shunts a lot (not good for the AF motor) and sometimes it won't work at all. Different cameras behave differently and there doesn't seem to be any reliable guide as to which cameras are good and which are not.

Either way, with the maximum aperture at f/8 or f/11, sometimes with poor sharpness, it's not an ideal solution.

And yes, 1.4x on a 300mm f/5.6 lens lens makes it 420mm f/8.
 
I have this lens and dont regret buying it for one moment.

Bit of advice it does come with the hood and bag but not a tripod mount ring, which you may need as it weighs in at around 1K. A canon tripod mount ring can cost around £150 but you can get a good cheep alternative for around £30.
 
Ben6 said:
Theres a review on amazon for one of these saying something about having to put tape over 3 of the pins to get the af to work, do you know to any truth in this?
Click to expand...

You need to do that on the non-DGX model. I have the DGX and it's not an issue. Just beware though, it's not 100% reliable on the AF front, as I said you do need to be careful when you do and don't use it.

Ive currently got the 70-300 IS USM lens, the non L version, im hoping that the L will be much better and im not wasting my money. Im finding the non L one that i have at the moment to be a bit soft at 300mm and hopefully the L to be faster af?
Click to expand...

I moved up to the 70-300L from the same non-L version and yes, AF is much faster plus the IS is a lot better too. At 300mm there is a noticeable difference in sharpness. I certainly noticed an improvement in the colour rendition as well and don't feel I wasted my money. EDIT - in addition the non-L really needed to be stopped down to f8 for best sharpness but with the L you don't need to do that, it's sharp wide open.

I did some comparison shots of a sunny brick wall at 300mm with the two lenses so I'll have a dig around and see if I can find them.
 
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Hotshots said:
Bit of advice it does come with the hood and bag but not a tripod mount ring, which you may need as it weighs in at around 1K. A canon tripod mount ring can cost around £150 but you can get a good cheep alternative for around £30.
Click to expand...

I find it balances well with my 7D and haven't really noticed the weight or felt the need for a tripod. :shrug:
 
Ben6 said:
Theres a review on amazon for one of these saying something about having to put tape over 3 of the pins to get the af to work, do you know to any truth in this?

It says:
"I'd also looked at the Kenko Pro Series but, as with the Canon, there's the need to tape three offending pins in the converter to fool my camera and lens set-up into autofocus on full zoom. I'd read somewhere that this can result in excessive focus search and could burn out the lens drive!

The Kenko DGX is built without the offending pins and is advertised as being suitable for a lens with an aperture of F5.6 or faster. I was worried about the focus search issue (had they just removed the three pins!) but with the DGX attached autofocus works well on centre focus point."

I definately think i'll look into one of these, silly question but what does the 1.4x make the 300 up to? Is it 420mm?

Thanks Ben
Click to expand...

I have used my 70-300L with a Kenko 1.4 DGX and it works just fine. Autofocus is not as quick but as mentioned above with a good contrasty subject it retains accuracy.

I've had a 100-400L. It is heavier, with slower AF and an inferior IS unit. Still a fine lens, but for me the 70-300mm L is just better. Yes it is 100mm shorter, but that is not a massive difference when you consider how much more detail the lens can resolve.
 
Firstly thanks for the advice guys ive actually just bought the 70-300L today and i love it, its an absolutey brilliant bit of kit!


Hotshots said:
I have this lens and dont regret buying it for one moment.

Bit of advice it does come with the hood and bag but not a tripod mount ring, which you may need as it weighs in at around 1K. A canon tripod mount ring can cost around £150 but you can get a good cheep alternative for around £30.
Click to expand...

Which mount did you get, theres one on amazon by maximfoto but the reviews are mixed and some people saying its too tight a fit on the lens and some even saying that it marks the lens.

Theres also a few on ebay from various sellers but its know which one is any good.
 
WilliamC said:
You need to do that on the non-DGX model. I have the DGX and it's not an issue. Just beware though, it's not 100% reliable on the AF front, as I said you do need to be careful when you do and don't use it.



I moved up to the 70-300L from the same non-L version and yes, AF is much faster plus the IS is a lot better too. At 300mm there is a noticeable difference in sharpness. I certainly noticed an improvement in the colour rendition as well and don't feel I wasted my money. EDIT - in addition the non-L really needed to be stopped down to f8 for best sharpness but with the L you don't need to do that, it's sharp wide open.

I did some comparison shots of a sunny brick wall at 300mm with the two lenses so I'll have a dig around and see if I can find them.
Click to expand...

Got a price of £130 for the DGX one from Lce earlier today so i might get that soon then thanks,

Would be great to see some comparison shots if you could find them cheers.
 
Ben6 said:
Firstly thanks for the advice guys ive actually just bought the 70-300L today and i love it, its an absolutey brilliant bit of kit!.
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very good news, where did you get it from ? Did you trade your other lens in against it ?
 
andyred said:
very good news, where did you get it from ? Did you trade your other lens in against it ?
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I got it from Jessops as it seems to be one of the more reasonable places i could pick one up off the shelf.
I was also sort of tied to buy from there as i had bought the 70-300 IS USM from there a few months back and they had said if it was still in as new condition then they would give me a full refund of what i paid for it and put that toward the L.
So i dont think that was too bad a deal, i know i could have got it cheaper online but this way i got it straight away (impatient bugger i know) and got my other lens fully refunded.
 
that seems like a very good deal to me...
I was looking into getting the 100-400 aswell and i never gave the 70-300 a look in as I already own the 'regular' one.
I may have to look into the the upgade of my lens then lol...
The 70-300 is cheaper too right?...
 
deadalus3000 said:
that seems like a very good deal to me...
I was looking into getting the 100-400 aswell and i never gave the 70-300 a look in as I already own the 'regular' one.
I may have to look into the the upgade of my lens then lol...
The 70-300 is cheaper too right?...
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Yeah i couldnt really say no to it to be honest, it seems to be a great improvement over the standard IS USM. Not took many pics with it yet but ive filled my bird feeders and am waiting for the woodpecker ive noticed the past few days and will post some pics up as soon as i can.

The 70-300L is about £200 cheaper than the 100-400L yeah.
 
Ben6 said:
Yeah i couldnt really say no to it to be honest, it seems to be a great improvement over the standard IS USM. Not took many pics with it yet but ive filled my bird feeders and am waiting for the woodpecker ive noticed the past few days and will post some pics up as soon as i can.

The 70-300L is about £200 cheaper than the 100-400L yeah.
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saving of £200 plus the full refund value of thd IS USM...lol...i bet your laughing...
If it was me i'd be looking to see what I could by with the savings...lol..
8-15mm? get really mad and creative...lol
 
Hi, I know you've only had it a few hours, but have you had a play with it - you found the AF quicker ?
 
deadalus3000 said:
saving of £200 plus the full refund value of thd IS USM...lol...i bet your laughing...
If it was me i'd be looking to see what I could by with the savings...lol..
8-15mm? get really mad and creative...lol
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Yeah had a pretty good deal to say the least. That is a £200 saving over the 400 so still had to shell out a fair bit tho.
Either going to be a macro or fisheye lens next i think, wondering if to go down the route of cheap old extension tubes first and see what i think to macro before i get buying a lens specific for the job.
 
andyred said:
Hi, I know you've only had it a few hours, but have you had a play with it - you found the AF quicker ?
Click to expand...

Ive had a brief play around with and yes it does seem quicker but nothing interesting as such to test it out on at the moment, hopefully get some nice birds in the garden later on and have chance to test it out.
 
Hi Ben - sorry mate, I don't still have the comparison shots between the two lenses.

Ref tripod collar. I bought one in the end because I didn't feel comfortable with the 70-300L on my monopod and resting my hand on top of the lens. I ended up getting the proper Canon one because I'd read some well dodgy reports on the cheaper ones out there. Got mine from Bristol Cameras online for just £119 which was a great price compared to others and I love it.
 
WilliamC said:
Hi Ben - sorry mate, I don't still have the comparison shots between the two lenses.

Ref tripod collar. I bought one in the end because I didn't feel comfortable with the 70-300L on my monopod and resting my hand on top of the lens. I ended up getting the proper Canon one because I'd read some well dodgy reports on the cheaper ones out there. Got mine from Bristol Cameras online for just £119 which was a great price compared to others and I love it.
Click to expand...

No worries mate.

Yeah i dont really like the idea of just putting the body on my monopod and not supporting the lens.
I'd ideally like the canon collar but ive got quite a few bits i need to be buying before i go to the F1 at silverstone so not sure what i'll be doing yet.
If i could get a great review of a cheaper one then i'd give it a try untill i can afford the canon one.
 
Ben6 said:
I got it from Jessops as it seems to be one of the more reasonable places i could pick one up off the shelf.
I was also sort of tied to buy from there as i had bought the 70-300 IS USM from there a few months back and they had said if it was still in as new condition then they would give me a full refund of what i paid for it and put that toward the L.
So i dont think that was too bad a deal, i know i could have got it cheaper online but this way i got it straight away (impatient bugger i know) and got my other lens fully refunded.
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Flippin amazing deal (y)

It's a great lens, deserves to be more popular. I've been using one alongside my 70-200L 4 IS for the last couple of weeks. Problem for Canon users is there's just too much choice around the medium tele-zoom area, but as a general all-rounder I think the 70-300L is pick of the bunch.
 
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