Digital SLR Reviews Blog

Canon EF 75 300mm f 4 5 6 III USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

This compact and lightweight EF 75-300mm telephoto zoom lens is ideal for shooting sports, portraits, and wildlife. The lens is distinguished by a newly developed micro ultra-sonic monitor (USM) that makes autofocusing quicker and quieter, along with an improved zoom mechanism that includes a silver ring on the front for a luxurious touch. The micro USM makes this version of the lens particularly suitable for applications that require a fast autofocus, such as sporting events or wildlife shoots. Best of all, the USM version shares many of the same features that makes the non-USM lens so popular, such as a compact size, a close focusing range, and accessory compatibility. As with all Canon lenses, this unit carries a one-year warranty.

• Focal length: 75-300mm
• Maximum aperture: 1:4.5-5.6
• Lens construction: 13 elements in 9 groups
• Diagonal angle of view: 32 degrees (at 11 feet) to 8 degrees (at 15 feet)
• Focus adjustment: Front group rotating extension system with USM
• Closest focusing distance: 4.9 feet
• Zoom system: Rotating type
• Filter size: 58mm
• Dimensions: 2.8 inches in diameter, 4.8 inches long
• Weight: 16.8 ounces

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars One word: unpredictable
Looking for lenses for my Canon Rebel XS, it was hard to find any within my price range, let alone under $200. I came across the Canon EF 75-300mm III USM telephoto zoom lens for a reasonable price, and pulled the triggered and bought one.

If I had to sum up my experience with this lens, I’d use one word: unpredictable. This is not a bad lens, because it takes many great pictures. Conversely, this is not a good lens, because it takes many bad pictures. I’ll elaborate below:

PRICE

This is a really good price for an additional lens. Yes, it may seem expensive, but when you compare to other lenses on the market, it’s pretty reasonable. If you’re on a very tight budget and are looking for a telephoto zoom lens, this is great

AUTO-FOCUS

This I felt was at times very slow, which was very frustrating. Assuming you’re buying a telephoto lens for capturing fast movement – say, a bird in the distance, or a sporting event – this can be very frustrating. A lot of my photos from a recent family trip to Aruba were ruined because either (a) I couldn’t capture the moment, (b) I captured the moment, but out of focus. I cannot emphasize how frustrating this is!

MANUAL FOCUS

As a natural extension of my previous point regarding auto-focus, I found myself using manual focus a lot. I have taken some amazing pictures on manual focus, but this can be inconvenient, say you’re shooting something that is moving, etc.

RELIABILITY

If you’re looking for a reliable lens that time and time again produces nothing but very sharp, in-focus pictures, this is not your best bet. If, on the other hand, you’re a beginner, just learning to play with your DSLR, and want a telephoto lens to practice with, go for this. If you can afford to upgrade to a better lens, however, I’d suggest you do that.

4 Stars pretty good for the money
i didnt expect it to be as good as its higher end model wich i think is like almost double in price. but it works amazing. has a good range of zoom. focuses quickly. only thing is if your looking to shoot anything in very low lighting, it wont come out too good even with your highest ISO setting. but overall it gets the job done.

1 Star Diamond in the rough.
Lens is made of plastic instead of metal, so the operation is rough and sticky, instead of smooth and free.

It does take a good picture once you get it adjusted tho.

5 Stars A very good telephoto lens with great price!!!
This is a great telephoto lens with very quick and accurate focusing. I am using it with my Canon XTi 15.1Mpixels and I got great photos out of them! At high zoom you get less light going inside the lens but when you have to choose between 100 – 3200 ISO this is not a problem! Overall a good lens whit good capabilities.

4 Stars Good lens but not what I needed
This is a good lens but, with the built-in zoom on my camera, I didn’t really need it. It may just be that I need more experience with cameras and lenses before going for something like this.

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