Welcome to Gaia! ::

I love this lens so much I just had to share my first impressions. The model is my little cousin. Its pretty heavy after a while of shooting paired with my 40D griped. Its not too heavy while just holding the lens though. While shooting with it I had to get used to the telephoto range because I have recently just been shooting 10-22mm and 50mm lenses. AF is pretty quick and silent. It is very sharp. Overall I am very happy with this lens. I am sure I will get used to the weight. I would recommend this lens for anyone looking to shoot portraits outdoors. Since it is f/4 it will not do well in low light without a flash. Now here are some sample photos and one crop zoomed in at 100%. I will take some shots with my Canon EF 75-300 f/4-5.6 to compare these shots to later.

Photo 1: 70mm f/4 ISO 400 Shutter: 1/100
Photo 2: 126mm f/4 ISO 400 Shutter 1/100
Photo 3: 159mm f/4 ISO 400 Shutter 1/100
(If it was a brighter day I would have shot at higher apertures.)

Also these were all handheld.









Pretty sharp huh? =)

nice review...

was lucky enough to try the lens last year when a photographer friend let me use one...

thats L lens sharpness for you...

Telephoto lenses are great for portraits because they give less of a chance of distorting the features. They also give a nice shallow depth of field. The 70mm - 100mm end is great for portraiture and to have more reach is great for me as a wedding photographer when I have to stand at the back of a church or room so I am not distracting to the guests. Also... Its a L lens. The quality is great so I try to use it when I can.

These photos were taken as a test run for this lens though. Normally Id switch around between my 50mm f/1.4, this lens, & my 10-22mm during a photo shoot or wedding.