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The Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens performs stunningly in every respect. The ring-type USM autofocus is blazingly fast and accurate, while the 4-stop image stabiliser makes for consistently sharp handheld shots.
Even so, the 2.4kg weight of the lens can make prolonged unsupported photography a bit of a strain.
Image quality is spectacular with pin-sharp results from corner to corner. Contrast is great, even when shooting at the widest aperture of f/2.8 in dull lighting conditions.
Distortion, vignetting and chromatic aberrations are all negligible, while the 300mm super-telephoto lens is also remarkably resistant to ghosting and flare.
On a full-frame DSLR camera such as the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III or Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the fast maximum aperture not only enables you to freeze the action even under gloomy lighting, it also enables a really tight depth of field.
Indeed, shoot at a focus distance of 10m at f/2.8 and the depth of field is just 18.3cm. At the closest focus distance of 2m, depth of field shrinks to just 6.4mm.
Mount the lens on an APS-C-sized body such as the Canon EOS 7D, and the effective focal length extends to 480mm, while the depth of field at 10m and 2m drops to just 11.6cm and 4.1mm respectively.
