baybud's reviews
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Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM
10 out of 10 points and recommendedIdentical sharpness wide open as stopped down, Colours, AF Speed, BuildPossibly priceThis lens to me represents the current paragon for optics from any company, i'm also willing to say perhaps of all time!
reviewed April 27th, 2012
In my years of photography ive had the pleasure to use some of the industry;s most widely regarded lenses, a list includes:
L Primes
35mm f/1.4L
24mm f/1.4 L
24mm f/1.4L II
24mm f/3.5 L TS-e II
85mm f/1.2 L
85mm f/1.2 L II
180mm f/3.5 L Macro
200mm f/2.0 L IS
300mm f/4.0 L IS
300mm f/2.8 L IS MKI
400mm f/5.6 L
L Zooms
17-40mm
8-15mm
70-200mm f/2.8 L IS (MKI)
70-300mm L
Others
Contax 21mm Distagon (Contax version)
I mention these not for any other reason than to hopefully give weight to my review; so that when i say this lens surpasses (by a considerable margin) any of these lenses you may be more inclined to believe me.
What is so remarkable about this lens, at least to me, is the wide open performance.
This is the only time ive ever said this about an optic, but there is ZERO difference in sharpness compared to 2.8 vs 5.6!
I have simply never seen such parity.
Thats looking unsharpened raw in DPP @ 200%!!!
a truly incredible feat.
Paired with a 2x TC III the results wide open are still in the fu** me catergory!!!!!
Truly amazing.
To be honest words are mostly pointless for this review, if you want what i truly believe to possibly be the finest optic on the planet then you will not be upset with this incredible offering.
The price is outrageous, but to be brutally blunt so is the lens quality.
I loved my MK1 but this beast is just on another level, TBH its on another level with absolutely every other lens (best canon L at least) out there.
Im gonna go now because i actually can't praise it highly enough.