Which Lens

sepulchre · 22 May 2007 at 20:59

I'm just booking up my holiday to Costa Rica where I hope to do quite a bit of wildlife photography, with this in mind I'm looking for a new lens, so far I've narrowed this down to either of the following Canon's - 70-200L or the 70-300 IS. Both are around the same kind of money and I'm drawn to both for different reasons.

So any help making my decision would be appeciated!!

sepulchre · 22 May 2007 at 22:13

Its a tough one this, as you have said do I go with the higher quality glass an no IS or the lower quality glass with IS and longer reach, argh! There are good arguments for both. I'm leaning just now more towards the 70-300 IS but I know if I go down that route there will always be a part of me that wonders how much better an image of the L glass would look. Unfortunately there is no way I can afford the 70-200IS or even the 100-400IS

Has a side by side comparison been done anywhere?

sepulchre · 22 May 2007 at 23:41

Thanks for the links glitch, I'l have a good read through and think a little further. I've since found the dp thread discussing the 2 fully - here

Mint sauce - I think your right, and most of the animals of intrest to me will be far smaller and a lot more timid, so maybe the extra 100mm will make all the difference.

I'd really like to try the two side by side, but my local (generic) camera shop has neither in stock so tried to sell me the sigma 70-300 ADO lens, which looked good but I really wanted to try the canon lens out.

I'm still leaning towards the 70-300IS. Which after the rebate comes in at £322.

sepulchre · 23 May 2007 at 11:29

I know what your saying NinjaBill, and that backs up other comments I've read about the lens going soft at 300mm, but to go down the very nice route you have I would be looking at some serious cash, and tbh this one lens will be my only lens purchase for the rest of the year

I take it you didnt consider the 100-400L then? (Which I cant afford lol).

Cheers for the link and advice SDK, Thats a good review, obviously its no 100-400L but for the price the results look very good indeed, the reviewer certainly seemed impressed with it!

sepulchre · 24 May 2007 at 00:00

good point, thanks. I have a 55-200 tamron at the moment so I've got a fair idea of what the 300mm will do in terms of reach, and in terms of IQ it should be far superior to what I have at the moment.

sepulchre · 25 May 2007 at 10:55

I've decided to go with the 70-300IS as it fits into my budget and gives me the extra 100mm I think I'll need on my holiday. Just sorting it with Kerso now

/edit..

Picked the lens up from kerso, and had a quick play with it, looks good so far but I hope to test it out properly this weekend. Thanks for the advice guys!