Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- User Rating: 
Summary for Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Great telephoto for outdoor shooting.
Notes on Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LY6FU6TXCFXV Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM Lens for Canon EOS Cameras
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- User Rating: Summary for Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Excellent lens with a 40D
Notes on Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Paired this lens up with a 40D. After several months of heavy use:
Highs:
Solid feel, well built. Works very well - even at 12000ft+ and well below freezing, always ready for use straight out of the bag on long hikes.
Easy to focus precisely.
Zoom stays in place even when pointed vertically - up or down - without the lock button. I may be lucky and have a good build of the lens.
Excellent resolution in shots.
Small - easy to pack and take on hiking trips. Got many shots would otherwise have missed.
Can focus in auto mode as ring is decoupled from actual motor.
Comments:
Found it very hard to reproduce the artifacts mentioned in reviews - basically had to point it through grills close to the lens with aperture wide open.
Tried pointing into the sun (WITHOUT looking in viewfinder) and glare was not apparent.
Lows/tips:
Contrast not as good as a fixed lens or 70-200L .
Most shots Good to Excellent but some had to be Photoshopped to recover contrast.
Recommend shooting raw in dusty/cloudy conditions with lot of ambient light around, or when lens wide open.
f4.5 aperture could be wider for my ideal lens. The f4 of the non DO model makes some difference.
Costs a lot.
I agonized over the cost, but after trying it and it's lower cost non DO rival I chose this as I do a lot of traveling. Both packing down and solid build are important. Apart from contrast, the look of the resulting photos is good to excellent, and shooting in raw for challenging hazy environments brings out the best. The resolution/sharpness is excellent - can leave it at f5.6 and shoot without caring - good to capture those spontaneous moments.
A 70-300 DO and a 40D make for an excellent travel set.
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- User Rating: Summary for Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Excellent lens - caution: the lens hood comes with it
Notes on Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Excellent quality and fast lens.
Heavier than I expected.
Note, when ordering this lens DON'T also order the Canon ET-65B Lens Hood because it comes with the lens.
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- User Rating: Summary for Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Light,very compact high quality lens
Notes on Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- I have owned this lens for several years and although I have upgraded to almost all L professional lens,( the 35L, 135L, two different 70-200 IS L lens,etc) I always bring this lens when travelling. Over the years I have taken many "keeper" photos with it, including shots taken at children's soccer games where I can shoot without being so conspicuous (try that when shooting with the big "white" lens), at dog shows, street shots, etc.
The sheer compact size is enough to keep it in my bag but also the lens has excellent optics and with the sharpening techniques today I can easily sharpen up if the image is a little soft. As a note to any who don't know, this lens does not work well with filters which cause loss of quality. The only exception is the polarizer. If I had to keep only 2 lens, this would be one of them. Very highly recommend.
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- User Rating: Summary for Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- Must have for traveling
Notes on Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM ...- I'm very new to photography but I bought this on the recommendation of a friend who takes a lot of pictures. I took this lens on safari in Africa. It was awesome. The trip and the lens. The size is nice as I could fit the camera with the lens on into a normal carrying case so I was always ready. The image stabilizer worked perfectly. Since I was zoomed all the way out for most pictures, I wouldn't have gotten any good shots since I couldn't use a tripod in the range rover. I highly recommend it if you can afford it.
