Canon EF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 IS II USM

Specifications01

MountCANON EF

Focal length70-300mm

Max aperturef/4

TypeCinema · Zoom

Release year2016

Weight710 g

Filter size67 mm

Physical length145.5 mm

Min focus distance1.2 m

Max magnification0.25

Aperture blades9

Optical elements17

Groups12

Min aperturef/5.6

AutofocusYes

StabilizationYes

Aperture controlNone The aperture is controlled from the camera

Lens hoodET-74B - Bayonet-type round

TeleconvertersNot compatible

EraDigital era

Additional Info02

Category["Canon EF"]

Lens TypeTelephoto zoom lens

Review AuthorKlaus

Other Featuresimage stabilizer

Review VerdictUsually you can bank on Canon for delivering some of the best tele lenses across all classes and that also applies to the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS II. Canon managed to improve the lens in many aspects compared to its predecessor. As far as the optical characteristic is concerned, Canon shifted the priority more to the long end of the zoom range - which is generally a good thing. The image quality doesn't reach professional levels but for a consumer lens, it's certainly impressive with a generally very good quality at 200mm and 300mm. At 70mm the image corners aren't that hot (combined with a bit of field curvature) but from a real-life perspective that's usually a lesser issue. Lateral CAs are very low. Image distortions and vignetting are about typical for such a lens. In terms of build quality, it can't hide that fact that it is a consumer-grade lens thus you have to live with a fair amount of plastic. However, it doesn't feel cheap and it's very well assembled. Upon first shooting, the most surprising aspect is the AF speed. The mk I lens was rather slow in this respect but the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS II is really exceedingly fast . Usually we aren't getting overly excited by this topic but the performance is quite stunning really. Canon's new Nano USM clearly makes all the difference here. Whether you like the "focus-by-wire" system for manual focusing is up to your personal taste - we think it's perfectly fine on this lens at least. A rather unusual feature is the LCD information display on the lens. You may debate whether this is really useful but if you require distance information etc. it's there when you need it. Of course, a Canon tele lens wouldn't be complete without an image stabilizer. Its efficiency has been improved to 4 f-stops (official figure). As usual, we recommend to expect less than that but it comes close in real life. Given the sum of its qualities, the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USM IS II is a very obvious choice in this lens class. For the money, it's a steal really and that's quite a rare occurrence these days.

Review Published2018-05-31T02:21:00+00:00

Optical Construction17 elements in 12 groups including 1x UD element

Field Notes02

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM is a Canon EF-mount zoom telephoto lens for general telephoto photography. It features image stabilization and a variable maximum aperture across the zoom range.

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Catalog note · source: thelensdb