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Some thoughts on the Canon 300mm f/4 L lens

The L, in Canon's 'L'-series lenses, stands for "luxury" and is generally applied to lenses with solid-built and exceptional quality. The Canon 300mm f/4 L lens is no exception to this rule. The lens is big and heavy. And it is made out of solid metal construction, covered in creamy white paint. It seems very durable.`

The lens comes with built-in lens hood that slides back and forth. The lens hood seems to be the most flimsy part on the lens, as it does not lock in place. If I tilt the lens up, the lens hood slides back down.

This lens has Canon's ultrasonic motor (USM), which is silent and fast. I cannot hear the lens auto-focus. It supports full-time manual focus, which means you can adjust the focus ring without switching the lens to manual focus (MF) mode first. It also has a non-rotating front lens thread for attaching 77mm filters.

The lens has an auto-focus range limiter switch. I wish the switch is more like the auto-focus range limiter switch on my Sigma 105mm EX lens. The Sigma lens allows the auto-focus range to be limited in either the closer or the farther zone. The Canon lens only allows auto-focus range to be limited in the farther zone. Some would argue that limiting auto-focus to the farther zone is the only zone necessary. I beg to differ, because I had a chance to take advantage of limiting the lens to auto-focus within the closer zone, if Canon had supplied that option, just a few weeks ago.

However, I am very satisfied with this lens. The photos I shot with this lens came back crisp and sharp. I have yet to shoot single picture that is not up to par, using this lens. All of the sub-standard pictures that this lens has taken are due to my own fault in applying the basic photographic technique.

Unfortunately the lens is too big and heavy for me to carry it around all the time. It is an excellent lens and I would carry it with me if I were a full-time professional wildlife photographer. This is an excellent lens to use for exceptional images!

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Some photos made with this 300mm luxury lens

duck shaking dry
- Canon Rebel G, Canon 300mm f/4 L, Kodak Gold 100.

ducks landing
- Canon Rebel G, Canon 300mm f/4 L, Kodak Gold 100.

Some thoughts on the Canon 300mm f/4 L lens

Some photos made with this 300mm luxury lens

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