Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

by Canon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 4.2 inches ; 1.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004XOND
• Item model number: 100 - 300 mm / F 4,5 - 5,6 USM
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 29, 2000

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Canon EF 100-300mm lens completes a fusion of state-of-the-art electronics, mechanical precision, and optical excellence. The fully electronic EF lens mount is unique among 35mm SLR cameras, operating silently and reliably due to the complete elimination of mechanical couplings. It has a custom- designed autofocus motor and microprocessor, and employs ultrasonic motor technology, aspherical lens elements, flourite crystal and ultralow-dispersion glass. The EF 100-300mm is designed for use with all EOS cameras, allows auto and manual focus modes, rear focusing system, and has an affordable price.

Product Description

Highly practical and portable telephoto zoom lens. The five zoom groups make the length only 4.8 in. (121.5mm). With rear focusing, the lens does not change length or rotate during focusing. Any filter effects therefore remain intact. It also makes autofocusing quick and quiet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We get what we pay for. But maybe a little more with this le, March 23, 2001

By 

Hairong Shi (Iowa City,IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Electronics)

This lens is very good. Picture is very sharp with 100-200 mm. and it's perfect for head&body portrait. I love this lens. In 300 mm area you can see softness but it's not much.

And I compared with 28-105,this one is sharper at 100 than28-105 @105, and it shows much less distortion.

Compared with 75-300mm USM, this one seems sharper than 75-300, with the focus speed almost the same.

Of course, there are other better ones(like 70-200 f2.8L or other fixed focal telephoto lenses), but look what you pay for, it's really a good deal for amateur photographers.

72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best tele-zoom in its price range, June 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Electronics)

Very light and compact. This makes a great "traveling" lens. I take about 15% of my pictures with this lens, mostly out on hikes where I don't want to haul around my expensive & heavy 70-200 f/2.8 L. This lens paired with an EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM or EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM will give you a compact, light-weight package that you can take along on trips or nature hikes, and cover all of the useful focal lengths.

Much better image quality than Canon's EF 75-300 lenses. Ring USM for fast auto-focus, but no image stabilization. Good build quality for the money spent.

Sharpness drops off noticably past 200mm or so, with some flaws around the edges, but images are still acceptable for the most part. Great lens for 10D/Rebel/300D digital cameras, since the 1.6x cropping will eliminate the flaws at the egdes of the picture at the longer focal lengths, and make this lens effetively a 150-450mm.

Best used stopped down to f/8 or f/11, in good light or with fast film (or digital camera set at ISO 400+). Not recommended for low-light situations, but could be useful for indoor flash close-up portraits.

For the $250-$300 price range, this lens can't be beat. To get noticeably better image quality, you would have to spend twice as much. If you're inclined to do so, check out the Canon EF 70-200 f/4 L.

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great value for price; some caveats on performance, November 15, 2004

By 

Richard B. Williams "huge nerd" (Los Alamos, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Electronics)

I bought this lens along with a 28-105mm zoom to get a wide coverage of focal lengths for as little money as possible. At the same time, I wanted to maximize my sharpness at 300mm for bird and astronomy photography. If this is your goal, then this is the perfect lens. It is significantly sharper than the 75-300mm lens at 300mm, while still staying under $300. If saving money is your absolute priority, then go with the 75-300mm.

In the end, I have become dissatisfied with the sharpness at 300mm. As stated in other reviews, it really drops off after about 200mm. At full zoom, I am finding the softness intruding on my pictures so I have started using it only as a 100-200mm zoomer. The 1.6x crop on my Canon 300D makes up for this somewhat, but it's still a bit of a letdown.

Another aspect of this lens that I have found aggrivating is the tendancy for the lens to zoom/unzoom itself if mounted vertically. The weight of the forward elements is suffient to actuate the zooming mechanism. Sometimes this happens quickly and noticeably, but I've had long-exosure shots where the lens has slowly zoomed out during the exposure and ruined it (weird effect, but not what I was after). Astrophotography in particular tends to see frequent use of the lens in a vertical position and this lens is really not the right choice if you're going to be aiming up.