Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

If you can work within its limitations, it's good for its price I wouldn't pay anywhere near list price price for it, but at its typical eBay price, I think it's a reasonable choice for a long zoom lens. If you can live with the limitation that it only shoots sharply at f/8, you'll be OK (not great - just OK). But the sharpness drops off fast at larger apertures, limiting low-light / high speed / creative performance significantly. And off-angle light can be a problem in bright scenes - I always use the hood when shooting outdoors. I believe these problems are inherent in the design, and that the edges on the fresnel lens that make the lens so much lighter than similar zoom lenses also disperse light off-path. Hence why, at smaller apertures (which only use the light that passes through the center of the lens) this isn't as much of a problem. This will lead to disappointment with a lot of pictures. Be forewarned, and be prepared to shoot in aperture priority or manual modes. But with those limitations in mind, I've been able to take pictures that are serviceable for my purposes (mostly plant / bird IDs), and sometimes beautiful. Other aspects are very good, though - I've never noticed any chromatic aberration, the autofocus has been fast, quiet, and precise, the image stabilization is sufficient for the zoom length. (On my particular unit the stabilization sometimes fails to engage until I switch it off and back on, but I've never heard that complaint from others so I think that's just a problem with my lens or camera.)Read full review

Canon 70-300 do should be an L lens I have neck problems and needed a lighter lens that would still allow me to photograph fast pitch softball. By take nag the double b@ttery pack off my 7d and going to the 70-300 do lens I was able to dramatically cut the weight of my outfit and still get the quality I want.

Canon EF 70-300mm DO IS USM Lens This zoom lens is the size of a regular lens except that it is a little chunky in circumference but it easy to carry around. I did some quick test shots and it appears to focus very quickly and the pictures at full zoom seem to be pretty sharp. At 200mm the lens is excellent so I would reccommend this as a great all around lens to use when you need telephoto pics. As in other reviews I read the zoom adjustment is a little stiff and the ring is a little too close to the camera body which is true but I have no real issue with it. The quality of pictures is what I expect from the better Canon lens line and the size of the lens for the range (70-300mm) is just great. I will be taking more test shots over the next few days to get a better feel for its performance and my learning curve in obtaining the best I can from this lens.Read full review