9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Great Lens for Airshow Photography
Date of Review: Nov 18, 2004
The Bottom Line: It's a great lens for outdoor zoom action photography, with powerful zoom and great image quality
I bought this lens after using Canon's EF f3.5-5.6L 28-300mm IS USM lens because I felt I needed a bit more "oomph" to get the shots I wanted. I used it at one airshow, and the results showed it's strengths in this area. It was also significantly less expensive than the 28-300mm.
It was a bright, sunny day so the f5.6 was not a limiting factor, and I was able to "reach out" and get much more detail on the aircraft than with the 300mm I used before. The IS worked well, and I shot the entire show hand-held (not that every shot was perfect, of course). Also, the shots were sharp, clear, and had great contrast.
One frustrating issue I encountered was it's occasional re-focusing process. I would have the subject filling the viewfinder and almost perfectly focused, press the release button half way to start the auto-focus, and suddenly the image would blur completely and it would take a few seconds before it refocused, costing me the shot. It could be something I'm doing wrong, but the 300mm only did that if I was pointing at clear, featureless blank sky. This uses the same push-pull zoom system of the 28-300 - I didn't care for it then and I don't care for it now, but I'm learning to adjust. This lens is actually much lighter than the 28-300, so it's easier to carry and shoot hand-held.
Overall, I'm very happy with the images I have been able to capture wit this lens.
