Product ReviewsCanon EF 28-300mm F/3.5-5.6L IS USM Lens

Canon EF 28-300 IS USM Lens

This is my favorite summer outside go to lens. Although a heavy lens, I am still able to hand hold on sunny days at ISO 400 and on cloudy days at ISO 1000 -1600. From closeups to wide angle, I am able to get most shots composed just as I want them. I find all of my pictures are focused and if at 300 and doing portrait shooting, the bokeh is great. I over looked this lens for a long time because I had other lenses that I could use for the distances it covers, but to now have it all in one is great. I don’t regret this purchase and would recommend it to everyone.Read full review...

Canon 28-300 L Series Lens

I have been watching this lens for quite some time now and finally made the purchase. I am very glad I did. I have tested it on some professional minor league hockey games. It focuses very fast and can capture all the action using the range of settings from 28-300. Perfect for that size of an arena. I have used it to shoot group photos, I've used it at Sea World to capture Shamu within 10 feet up to some of their shows at quite a distance. It performs very well. I shot the full moon without using a tripod and it did well. I will use it for my all around lens since I can shoot near or far. I will continue to use my 70-200 f/2.8 and my 24-105mm, 85mm for portraits. But this lens is great. The only con with this lens is the weight. It is heavy. For professional shots, a tripod is a must. But for action shots and everyday shots, you cannot get a better lens.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: c-141b_loadmaster

Beauty and the beast

I bought this lens for a general purpose lens to go on my 1Ds Mk II. I'd heard horror stories about dust on the sensor and wanted to cover as much ground with one lens as possible to prevent frequent lens changes. There are two failings with this lens: 1) it weighs a ton, and 2) there is a noticeable loss of sharpness above 250mm, likely chromatic aberation. The later is easily corrected with a decent photo software. Those two things aside, this is a miracle of engineering. A lot of people (including me) are used to the twist-style zooms, but once you get used to it, the slide-style is faster and more accurate, for me at least. I've hand-held shots at 1/10 with excellent results counting both on my steadying myself and this lens's stabilization abilities.Read full review...

Canon Lens

This is the BEST Canon Lens I have ever used which cost's less than the Camera it's mounted on (5D MK III) It is HEAVY to lug around, but is worth the neck ache when you see the images it helps produce. It takes the place of carrying anything between 28mm and 300mm. There are a LOT of lens's you could use, but the fits the bill if you need instant change between focal lengths without having to change actual Lens's . I HIGHLY recumbent this product. It's not as durable as you might think though so treat it like what you paid for yours.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: harrillb

Great Lens!

I love the clarity, sharpness and stability I get with the Canon EF 28-300mm f3.5-5.6L IS USM Lens. I had been using a smaller, lighter 28-300mm on my 50d that worked well, but the depth of focus at 300mm with the Canon is more clear. I'll keep both lenses, one for my 5d and the other for the 50d. Only the Canon will work on the 5d. No doubt the 50d is more versatile when it comes to handeling different lenses. At 200 to 300mm the Canon gave more clarity of the objects right around the Great Blue Heron I caught in flight that the other 28-300mm did with Ospreys in flight and hovering over prey in the lake below.
I'm one who is used to the old heavy 35mm film cameras with the old heavy lenses and motor drives. The extra weight of the Canon doesn't bother me a bit. I've been using a Sigma 150-500mm on my 50d that focuses fast and works well for me and that is not a lightweight lens either. I'm from the old school and will take all kinds of punishment. After all, I was a news photog, writer and editor for nearly 40 years and survived the punishment that goes along with that turf. The Sigma works well on my 5d also. It's heavy, but I caught a turkey vulture in flight so close, in one frame it looks like a bald eagle in flight with a magnificant full black wing that I can feel the power of lift and and thrust by looking at that huge wing.Read full review...

A one lens solution for the discriminating enthusiast.

I consider myself an enthusiast when it comes to photography. I've done video and stills for over 35 years. I've done weddings, funerals, events, plays, recitals, portraits, landscapes, diving etc. OK, all that not to brag but to build a little credibility. You see, I'm not Gary Fong, but I consider myself proficient and more than that, so do others. On to this lens. I've had the lesser expensive lenses by the "other" companies with similar range of zoom. What canon did with this lens was to create an "L" quality lens in a demanding zoom range. They managed to top everyone else. If you read the professional reviews of this lens, you will find that it doesn't stand up to the primes. I try to be pragmatic and practical. To put the reviews in perspective, if one were comparing the Dodge Viper to the Ferrari Testarosa, one would most likely come away saying that the Viper did not live up to the Testarosa. This lens is a "Dodge Viper" 12 cylinder. It will quite simply blow all of the competition (except the primes) out of the water. The biggest drawback? It weighs nearly 3 pounds. Yes, that's a lot of lens. I have to admit, when I'm displaying my photo's at a viewing, I don't ever recall thinking about the weight of the lens, I think more about the quality of the photo. This lens takes tack-sharp photo's throughout the entire zoom range and at all aperatures (with very little exception). This simply can not be said of the competition. The most that people say about the competition is "nice for the money". I guess that's true for a lot of things. But after trying the rest and tossing a lot of photo's I'd loved to have had come out, I swallowed hard, saved my money, and bought this one. If image quality is your thing, and you don't want to carry a ton of lenses, this is your "One lens solution". The two biggest advantages this lens offers in my opinion (aside from image quality) are the ability to have the correct focal length the moment you need it, and no dust from changing lenses all the time.
Get yourself a thick, comfortable camera strap or bag. You'll need it.Read full review...

The ultimate 10X zoom, and engineering marvel

Canon's EF 28-300mm L is a beast in every sense of the word. This lens, mounted on a 1D series camera creates one of the most versatile cameras imaginable.

I took this lens to California, and traveled up and down the coast, shooting from a tripod, handheld, and from a helicopter. It is a heavy lens, but considering what it does it isn't too heavy. I've used it to shoot models, food, wildlife, architecture... you name it.

The zoom mechanism is push-pull, with adjustable friction. This works out quite well from rapid composing, and allows simultaneous zooming and manual focus; turns out that is a real plus in some situations.

IS (Image Stabilization)works amazingly well on this lens, better than any other Canon IS lens I've used. even at 300mm, lens shake is almost never an issue, handheld photos at 1/50 second at 300mm are possible. IS on this lens even works when it is tripod-mounted to couteract shutter vibration, which is rare (usually you need to turn IS off for tripod work).

Focusing is lightning-fast, and images are sharp at all f/stops. Seriously, at every focal length and f/stop this lens delivered images that looked like they were shot with a prime lens. The main price you pay is size, weight, and of course the cost of the lens itself.

There are many 10X zooms out there, but this is the only one that is truly professional grade, and highly deserved Canon's L label, and is definitely worth the money if it's capabilities are what you need. If you can only mount one lens on your camera for the trip of a lifetime, this is the lens you'd want.Read full review...

If you only had one lens this would definitley be it !!!

This lens is a daylight marvel. In low light put it away. Focus is fast and accurate. IS has two levels and works great (in fact it's a marvel to use.) You can get the tele photo effect easily putting you down the street... not possible to get any other way. The detail is razor sharp even wide open and at 300mm. I have schlepped this lens all over the world. And I will always bring it. it is heavy on a big camera but you get used to how you handle it and I love it because of the things I can do with it. Bring this lens with a 16-35 and a 50mm 1.2. PS I never use a flash with any of the lenses. This is all around an incredible piece of engineering and a joy to have on your camera.Read full review...

Canon EF28-300mm f3.5-5.6L IS USM zoom lens

This is one of Canon's most amazing zooms. The 28-300mm range gives you unparalleled flexibility. It is a marked improvement of their fantastic EF35-350mm, offering image stabilization, a zoom ratio of almost 11:1, smoother operation, faster autofocusing, seemingly sharper and higher contrast images and the ability to choose 2 focus distance ranges. It gives you a 7mm improvement in wide-angle capability, sacrificing 50mm of telephoto. It's the perfect daytime sports and news lens, especially if you only have one camera body. It's heavy but very solidly built...and expensive. My only regret is that Canon took away the capability of using a teleconverter with this lens. All told, from what I've seen, it's probably the best of the ultra-ratio zooms.Read full review...

Great lens when you want to travel light and fast.

I bought this lens as a carry one lens/one camera while traveling and hiking. I like the zoom range and the picture quality obtainable with this lens. It is heavy and expensive but gets the job done without carrying a pack of prime lenses. This is one of the best zooms I have ever used.Read full review...