[spolky]

Just picked up a CANON EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM and thought I'd ask what others think about it. First impressions are the IS is very noisy - can anybody explain why this should be? For example, the 18-55 IS is silent. Is there something about the 70-300 that makes it noisy, and what is it?



Otherwise for a lens in this price bracket (going for £200-250 on ebay) it is quite impressive. Sharp even at 300mm. AF in low-light is pretty useless though at this range. Guess you have to pay over 1000 to overcome this.



Doing a few test shots with IS on and off, can't say I see the difference until you get to something silly like a 1 second exposure, hand-held in very low light. The difference then is very noticeable, so clearly it is working, but who does that with a 300mm lens? Maybe I have steady hands, but at the moment I'm not seeing the point of IS on this lens. Using it mainly for wildlife where a fast shutter speed is needed anyway (unless you can tie the animal down) I'm thinking they could have made a lens with the same optics without IS for less money, probably more durable, and sold a lot more of them.



Anybody else impressed or not with this lens, I'm curious to know <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Rainer]

[quote name='spolky' timestamp='1361071988' post='21968']

Just picked up a CANON EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM and thought I'd ask what others think about it. First impressions are the IS is very noisy - can

anybody explain why this should be? For example, the 18-55 IS is silent. Is there something about the 70-300 that makes it noisy, and what is it?

[/quote]



Well, if you would disassemble both lenses, you would see, that the IS in the 70-300 is older (from a technical point of view).

Also, the optical element that is moved by the IS inside the 70-300 is quite a bit bigger than that in the 18-55. Put both factors

together, and you have the reason why the 70-300s IS is louder.



I personally had prefered the Tamron SP 70-300 USD VC. On paper, it is the identical lens, in real life, it is better in several points.

But anyhow, since you have already bouth the Canon lens, just enjoy it.



BTW ... welcome to PZs forum.



Just my 2cts ... Rainer

[soLong]

well i have the L and it is the best, fast to focus not noisy and sharp everywhere ... but this may not be a help to you ... why i write here is that 99.9% of the time i never use IS and think that every lens should have a cheaper, simpler, more durable non IS version … but i'm old fashioned, and don't do dark places ...

… no matter what's what, enjoy pz