Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As a working professional photographer I bought this lens with some hesitation as I already own Canon 70-200L f/4 (non IS) and 100-400L f/4.5-5.6 lenses which cover much of the same range and have proven to both be fine lenses in their own right. I discovered over the past year or so that my 100-400 lens while quite satisfying on my full frame bodies, struggles a bit on my 7D body which is where I now use it the most for wildlife and bird photography. So when the new 70-300 lens was announced it piqued my interest. Certainly it does not have the reach that a 400 mm lens has and for small birds, 400 is often not even enough. Yet the reviews and anecdotes kept filtering in about the quality and sharpness of this new lens and so I decided I'd give it a try myself all the while knowing that I could probably re-sell it easily enough if it was not for me. Well, upon receiving the lens, I must admit I was nearly won over before I had even mounted the thing on a camera. It's simply a gorgeous piece of engineering. The size and heft are substantial without being too much. The zoom and focus rings work with a wonderful smoothness and precision. The latest generation IS does an amazing job allowing hand held shots at 300 mm to be accomplished at very slow shutter speeds while retaining sharpness as long as your subject itself is stationary. I have found that it makes an excellent portrait lens...something I did not originally purchase it for. The focus seems much more sure and precise than my 100-400 does on my 7D body. The size and balance is ideal on the 7D with a battery grip. I have yet to use it on either of my 1D series bodies, but I am quite certain it will feel great on them as well. Optically the lens is very similar to my 70-200 mm f/4L...which is to say it does not get much better than this! There is a certain look...a crispness of detail and clarity that causes the images to just have that something special. I can shoot wide open and know that the shots will be sharp. With a bit of planning, you can get nicely defocused backgrounds in portraits. For photographing birds, if you are able to get reasonably close (shooting from a blind, car, etc.) the lens has decent reach and if you are using a high megapixel "crop-sensor" camera you can usually get even closer with post-processing cropping. So is this lens for you? That I cannot say. I think it will appeal to lots of professional and amateur shooters, however, and if it meets your needs for range and type of shooting I doubt many will find much fault with it. As the owner of six Canon "L" lenses, I have to say that this new 70-300 may quickly become my overall favorite!