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Canon EF 100-300mm f/5.6 L 1987-1999 One of Canon's first and best professional "L" series lenses made for the EOS camera system. This lens is in fantastic shape, has perfect glass, accurate focus, and takes stunning photos that pop! like many of Canon's " L " lenses. This lens is a bit rare and was discontinued by Canon in 1999. The EF 100-300mm f/5.6 L lens is a special lens because it contains fluorite elements and ultra-low dispersion glass not found in the non professional Canon 100-300 lenses. The optical designs are very different in the non-L versions of the 100-300 f/5.6 and USM version EF 100-300 f/4.5-5.6. A couple of nice features of this lens is the built in macro ability. This mode can be turned on or off in Auto focus mode and allows for some great close-ups at 300mm. Another is the constant f/5.6 maximum aperture, most non-L canon zoom lenses get slower as the zoom is increased. EF – The name of the lens mount on Canon’s EOS cameras. 100-300 – Telephoto zoom range of 100-300mm 5.6 – f/5.6 the maximum aperture or “speed” of the lens L – The designation given to Canon’s top end professional lenses |
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Family Comparison. The 1987 100-300 5.6 L in the center with the 1999 70-200 4 L on the right and the 1990 100-300 4.5-5.6 USM on the right. Although optically superior to both lenses the 100-300 5.6 L, due to the older design, is not as user friendly as the newer lenses. A USM focusing motor would be all I ask in an updated model. Sure Internal focusing and zooming are nice but they add so much size. Look at the 70-200 on the left it has 1/3 less range but it has these features and it is huge compared with the 100-300 L. Of course then Canon could make it white! Which seems to be the major complaint about the 100-300 L. It is highly unlikely we will ever see an updated version of this lens however, around $800 new, these lenses were a good deal when they were new. Today Canon would be hard pressed to come anywhere near that amount and would only be competing with themselves and the big white lenses. |