Advantages: fast autofocus, very fast autofocus, sharp pictures, did I say it was fast ?
Disadvantages: expensive, rare, heavy for some people

...as a NEW 24-70mm f2.8L zoom has just been brought out by Canon and stock is (December 2002) just beginning to appear in the stores (cost approx £1400), this could stimulate a reasonable amount of trade-in's and prices could drop as availability of used lenses increases. The 24-70mm is supposed to have improved dust and water resistance and a rounder front aperture ring for increased blur of background. Opinion is divided as to whether the quality is better, the extra 4mm is worth it if you don't have a wider zoom or prime lens.... Read review

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Advantages: Great focusing length
Disadvantages: Price

...Why to chose Canon EF 75-300mm IS lens? Because is long, heavy and expensive. But seriously, the lens is suitable to use exclusively with Canon EOS range of cameras, SLR as well as DSLR (Digital SLR). It works with all new digital SLR including 20D and 30D, so if you use a compact Canon camera the lens is not for you! Canon tends to sell the SLR (or DSLR) cameras as a set including a lens. Usually the lenses included in the package aren't best quality, don't get me wrong, there isn't anything wrong with them but they are just basic lenses deprived of newest gizmos like IS, USB and so on… Currently Canon produces seven different lines of lenses to suite any job and pocket: • Fixed Focal Lenses; • Zoom Lenses; • Macro Lenses; • Diffractive Optical Lenses; • Image Stabilisation Lenses; • Tilt... Read review

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Advantages: Pin sharp, rugged build, comaptibility with extender
Disadvantages: Expensive and heavier than the standard 75-300

...I picked up a second hand (although mint example) of this Canon 70-200mm f2.8 'L' series lens 3 weeks ago at my favourite camera store. Although I had just upgraded my camera body I knew that to get much better pictures I needed to spend money on the lens and not the camera - and I was still using the standard 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 USM which gave me soft pictures and vignetting on wide angles. This lens is completely different to the standard Canon lenses. If you have not seen or used an 'L' series lens close up then you'll be surprised when you do - I was. The big white lenses you see the pro's use at sporting events are all 'L' series. OK lets talk specifically. This lens covers the 70-200mm mid range zoom. It can be used for portrait, wildlife, sports, close up and even some landscape work. It is compatible with the Canon 2x... Read review

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Advantages: Awesomely sharp. Wide Aperture gives great control. Great colour.
Disadvantages: A little fragile. Would prefer with Image Stabiliser.

...This is the professional photographer's portrait zoom lens of choice. The constant F/2.8 aperture across the zoom range provides excellent performance in low-light, and the best control over depth of field in any zoom lens on the market today. Lens performance is exemplary. If you take the time to use the full time manual focus, pictures of exceptional sharpness can be achieved at any aperture. Some users complain of getting "soft" copies of the lens, but always refer to the excellent and free Canon service of calibration (within warranty). My own lens doesn't suffer from this, I have to say, and I do wonder whether some photographers claim that they're not getting a "sharp copy" when they're not taking the time to focus properly. Commonly referred to as "the brick" amongst Canon users, this lens is noted for its heft. It weighs... Read review

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Advantages: Solid build quality, excellent results, quick focussing, quiet motor
Disadvantages: Rather expensive, could be heavy if carrying around all day

...increases it effectively to a 160-640mm lens, making it extremely useful for wildlife, sports or aviation photography. Some claim the lens is a little soft around the edges but I've yet to experience this for myself. The lens hood is easy to attach. Some may say the lens is heavy but I've lugged it all over mountains and hills in my Lowepro backpack and don't even realise it's there. Other people who hold it for the first time say it's heavy, but it may just be a case of getting used to it. I have hand-held it all day at airshows, etc., without problems. Yes, it may be pricey at just over the £1000 mark, but you're getting a very good piece of kit for your money. It may struggle in bad light as it only goes down to f/4.5 - splash out on a f/2.8 300mm and an extender (and re-mortgage the house while you're at it!) if you need the extra stop... Read review

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Advantages: Larege aperture, high quality glass, cheaper than Canon.
Disadvantages: It's still a big, pricey lens.

...Big f2.8 aperture lets in more light, allowing the use of faster shutter speeds to freeze movement, especially useful in action sports. Of course the best lens for me to have bought for my Canon system at the time would have been the Canon L series 70-200mm f2.8, but these lovely lenses are just too expensive for many amateurs (who have to pay for their own equipment, like me). The Sigma offering compares very favourably in reviews in the camera press. Optically, it is not too far behind the Canon lens, and price wise, I would say 2/3 of the price of the Canon lens, although Canon have recently introduced a version of the 70-200mm f2.8L with Image Stabilisation, and that is a very nice lens indeed ! I bought my Sigma through ebay, and paid £450 for a mint example, with the box, case, instructions etc. I had decided that I wanted... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight
Disadvantages: None

...This is a good quality lens that offers good value for money. It's a great lens for any canon enthusiast and incorporates plenty of features that I would highly recommend. This really is a wonderful piece of kit that should go well with many accessories because it really looks good. After using this product for a few months I have not so far come up against any reliability issues but only time will tell. I therefore would recommend the product. However, always think carefully as to whether you actually really need something before you buy it. We buy so many things nowadays that we don't really need. Product Features * Product Description: Canon EF telephoto zoom lens - 70 mm - 300 mm * Lens System: Telephoto zoom lens * Mounting Type: Canon EF * Lens Aperture: F/4.0-5.6 * Focal Length: 70 mm - 300 mm... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight, Compact, Fast f2.8 Aperature throughout the zoom
Disadvantages: Slightly Soft at f2.8, but manageable

...I bought this lens as a replacement for the 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 stock lens that came with my camera, and it was worth every penny. The increase in image quality, sharpness and clarity of pictures has been amazing. No more fringing around the edges of bright distant objects. No barrel distortion at the very edges of the image. No plasticy cheap feel. This lens is brilliant, especially if you don't want to fork out the enormous prices for Vibration reduction or Image Stabilising Lenses. (My camera has this built in anyway so ha!). Having an aperature of f2.8 makes this brilliant for indoor work, as you don't have to use a flash, or push up the iso to noisy values to get sharp clear images. For example, at 50mm, i can shoot at 1/40sec on this lens at f2.8, my old stock lens would have had me shooting at 1/10sec, which in low... Read review

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Advantages: Fast autofocus, Excellent quality for a low-ish end lens.
Disadvantages: Not that sharp at 300mm

...This is going to be a bit of a mixed review. I love this lens, dont get me wrong, but i had taken a long time to read up on these lenses because i knew i wanted a 75-300mm and couldnt decided between this and the Sigma version of the same spec (75-300mm f4-5.6). I saw a few reviews for Sigma lenses sayin that the sharpness just wasn't there at the long end (250-300mm). I fimally settled on spending a few extra quid and having the canon USM Lens. The build quality of this lens is excellent, and for a long-ish lens, its compact, and autofocusing is VERY fast (with my EOS 30 anyway). Optically, the lens is excellent from 75mm right up through 250mm, particularly for it's price. However at above 250mm the sharpness drops off... FAST. There's no problems at f32-f8... but f5.6 at 300mm is a no-no if what you want is razor sharp images... Read review

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Advantages: Crips, sharp, contrast full images; silent focusing; f/2.8 apature
Disadvantages: no image stabiliser

...This listing on ciao doesn't have a model number for focal length so I am going to review the Sigma APO 150mm f/2.8 Macro lens Before I purchase products I do extensive research on them; I read magazines and scour the internet looking for absolutely every bit of information I can before I buy. When deciding on buying this lens it was no differentl; I must have ready 2-3 magazines reviews and a dozen internet review sites before deciding which macro lens to purchase The reasearch I conducted showed that there two VERY good macro lenses available; the Sigma 150mm f2.8 and the Canon 100mm f/2.8. After investigating these two lenses further I found that the Canon was contiously rated as the best possible Macro lens (in the price category - there are Canon L series macro lenses which would cost 4 times the price) but the Sigma... Read review

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