At 5:35 AM -0700 5/31/01, Bob Meyer wrote:
>Example 1: The list concensus has always been that
>the 100-300 USM zoom is much, much better than the
>various 70-300 range zooms, including the IS lens.
>But actual puclished lens tests turn out not to
>support this. And I always got good (not 'L' quality,
>but good) results from my 75-300 IS lens. Later, I
>shot with a 100-300, and didn't find the IMAGE quality
>to be any better.
Well. I know you're just using this as an example to illustrate your
point. But, for what it's worth, I believe the 100-300 4.5-5.6 USM is
slightly sharper than the 75-300. At least the ones I've tried.
At one point I had both lenses (a 75-100 USM II and the 100-300 USM)
and did a series of tests using an identical setup. Tripod, wireless
shutter release, same aperture and shutter settings, same rolls of
film, the usual. At 100mm they were basically the same, but at longer
focal lengths the 100-300 was consistently slightly better. So as not
to bias myself I examined each image without knowing the negative
number and wrote down my thoughts, then went back afterwards to
confirm which lens had been used.
Now, only *slightly*, mind you. We're not talking about
earth-shattering differences. But in my opinion the photos I took
with the 100-300 were slightly sharper and had better contrast. And
the vastly superior build quality of the 100-300 was just the
proverbial icing. So, based on my tests I kept the 100-300. (I
realize it could well be more a matter of individual build quality of
the two lenses I happened to have and that I'm talking about as small
a sample size as you can get.)
Of course, neither lens is particularly brilliant. In fact, I'm kind
of depressed by how ho-hum photos taken with either one turn out. I'm
seriously thinking of ditching the 100-300 USM and getting the old
100-300 5.6L instead. I'd much prefer a gain in image quality even if
it means sacrificing modern conveniences like full-time manual
focusing.
- Neil K.
--
49N 16' 123W 7' / Vancouver, BC, Canada / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The satin finish provides darkly deviant good looks
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