Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens
Oh, what to say about this lens? From the first time I'd heard about it,
it certainly caught my interest. Not just because of my general tastes
towards "the really expensive stuff", but due to the number of times
that I find myself wishing that I had a nice sharp lens with this sort
of range in focal length.
Of course the big problem then was, how could I get my hands on a lens
that lists for $3,700 for a trial run? The answer showed up in the
"Canon Catapult" class offered at the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging
(LIDI). When I saw this class go on the schedule, I signed up right away...
and was sure to follow-up with LIDI to specifically request that a
28-300 was available for use during the class.
As it turned out, I ended up using the 28-300 almost the entire class
(in fact, I think the only times I didn't use it, were when I was shooting
a bit of macro with a 180, and when I borrowed another student's 1D Mark
II for a little bit).
That having been said, a bit about the lens itself...
Probably the first thing that I was worried about (beyond the price),
is the fact that I'm generally not fond of push-pull zoom lenses. I must
say however, that it actually worked quite well on this lens, and after
only a day and a half of shooting, I was already pretty used to it. The
one continuing complaint that I do have about this, is in regards to the
control on how smooth or tight the push-pull action is. While it is
wonderful to have that control right there on the camera, the fact that
it is connected to the focusing ring makes it such that you cannot
operate it with one hand -- that is, if you have the lens "locked" at a
single focal length, and want to go back to being able to zoom in and
out, you have to grasp the focus ring with one hand to hold it still, and
then turn the control with your other hand. Not necessarily a huge deal,
but something that I found myself a little bit irritated with at times.
The next thing that I was concerned about was the weight of the lens...
and boy it is heavy (3.7 lbs)! Obvisouly for tripod shooting this isn't
a big deal, but hold holding the camera for prolonged shoots does
certainly get tiring. I'm already used to shooting with my 70-200 (which
at f/2.8, is a fairly heavy lens as well), but it didn't take me long
at all to feel the difference in weight. However, for myself at
least, I suspect that this would also just be a matter of "getting used
to it", moreso because of a habit that I am in with my 70-200. When
I'm shooting handheld, I typically rest the base of the lens collar on
the heel of my palm to support the weight of the lens, which allows me
enough movement to zoom the lens in and out. With the push-pull zoom
on the 28-300 however, this trick doesn't really work - so I was having
to support the weight of the lens with my grip on the lens itself, rather
than having it simply rest most of it's weight in my hand.
OK, so those were my big concerns - but what was I excited about with
this lens? Well, more than anything else, the range of focal length! It
was wonderful... just on the few shoots that I used it on, I found myself
loving being able to go from a tight shot of a model's face, to far
enough out that I had both her and the models on either side of her fully
in the frame, in a mere instant. Likewise shooting horses on the beach,
coming (more or less) right at me, was wonderful - being able to follow
them for so long coming in close, before they were filling "too much"
of the frame. Even later, when Jim Rose (Canon Tech rep) was playing
around with the lens some, he was commenting on how great this aspect
was (with a bit of childish glee, I might add).
I'm also happy to be able to report that I did not find the sharpness
of this lens to be lacking. I will admit, that I am not the same judge
of sharpness that an experienced professional is, but to my eye, I was
able to get shots that were plenty sharp (even to be blown up some,
though I don't think I blew anything up from those shoots to more than
13x19).
Of course it is noteworthy that the lens has both IS and USM, both of
which I'd mostly expect from such a high end Canon lens, though both
of which are "handy" enough to make mention of (rather than being taken
for granted).
One final thing that is noteworthy about this lens... it, unlike most
of the white Canon lenses (in fact it may be the only white lens that
this can be said about), is not compatible with the teleconverters.
The rear lens element is simply too far back (needs to be, for the 28mm
side of things), such that there isn't enough depth for the front of
the teleconverters to fit into the lens itself.
So does this mean that I'm running out and buying one? No, not really.
Does it mean that I'm saving my pennies for one? I really haven't
decided about the long term, though not in the short term. Overall,
I love the capabilities of this lens, but I just can't justify the
cost right now. While it would satisfy a great deal of my needs
as far as focal lengths come into play, it still wouldn't cover me
entirely - on either end of the spectrum. While 300mm is pretty long,
there are times when I want longer... without being able to throw
a teleconverter on, I'd have to switch to a longer lens. On the flip
side, 28mm is pretty wide, until you take into account the fact that
I shoot with a 10D (hopefully soon, a 20D) which has a 1.6x focal
length multiplier, due to it's sensor size - so that 28mm is more
like 45mm. While the 20D still has a 1.6x multiplier, it also has an
EF-S mount, which means I'll have the option of getting the new
EF-S 10-22mm lens down the road... but either way, the point is that
I'll still need something wider than the 28 side of the 28-300 - even
if it's a 16-35, and not the 10-22.
Of course, if I had the money to burn such that the cost ($2,500 is
the cheapest street price I've actually seen for it) wasn't a concern,
sure - I'd buy the lens in a heartbeat... and it would almost certainly
become my lens of choice for 75% or more of all that I shoot.
Alright, I guess I've gone on long enough on this one...
(back to Equipment Ramblings)