Canon EF 300mm lens: Difference between revisions

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The EF 300mm lens refers to a family of telephoto prime lenses made by Canon, five of which have been sold to the general public and one of which was only made on special order. The lenses have an EF type mount which fits the Canon EOS line of cameras.

When used on a digital EOS body with a field of view compensation factor of 1.3x, such as the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, it provides a narrow field of view, equivalent to a 390 mm lens mounted on a 35mm frame body. With a 1.6x body such as the Canon EOS 650D, it provides a narrower field of view, equivalent to a 480 mm lens mounted on a 35mm frame body.

This lens is most commonly used by sports and wildlife photographers, but is short enough to be use for extreme close-up portraits. Because of its rather high native magnification, it can be used for some macro type photography.^[1]

Technical information

The EF 300mm is a L series lens. This lens is constructed with a metal body and mount, and with plastic extremities and switches. Features of this lens are: a wide rubber focus ring that is dampened, a distance window, the ability to limit the focus range, and an image stabilizer (on the IS versions). The maximum aperture of f/2.8 or f/4 gives this lens the ability to create shallow depth of field effects, while the eight- or nine-blade diaphragm produces smooth background blur. The optical construction of this lens contains 15 lens elements, including two UD (Ultra low dispersion) lens elements for the f4 IS USM (for other configurations see chart). This lens uses an inner focusing system, powered by a ring type USM motor. The front of the lens does not rotate nor extend when focusing. This lens is compatible with the Canon Extender EF teleconverters.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Specifications

Attribute	f/2.8L USM	f/2.8L IS USM	f/2.8L IS II USM^[5]^[6]	f/4L USM	f/4L IS USM
Image
Key features
Full-frame compatible	Yes
Image stabilizer	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Ring USM	Yes
L-series	Yes
Diffractive Optics	No
Macro	No
Technical data
Aperture (max-min)	f/2.8-f/32			f/4-f/32
Construction	8 groups / 10 elements	13 groups / 17 elements	12 groups / 16 elements	7 groups / 8 elements	11 groups / 15 elements
# of diaphragm blades	8		9	8
Closest focusing distance	3 m	2.5 m	2 m	2.5 m	1.5 m
Max. magnification	0.11×	0.13×	0.18×	0.13×	0.24×
Horizontal viewing angle	6° 50'
Vertical viewing angle	4° 35'
Diagonal viewing angle	8° 15'
Physical data
Weight	2.855 kg	2.550 kg	2.400 kg	1.165 kg	1.190 kg
Maximum diameter	128 mm			90 mm
Length	252 mm		248 mm	221 mm
Filter diameter	48 mm drop-in	52 mm drop-in		77 mm
Retail information
Release date	November 1987	July 1999	August 2010	December 1991	March 1997
Currently in production?	No		No^[7]	No	No^[8]
MSRP $	$3,499	$4,879	$6,099	$1,199	$1,349

The 300mm f/1.8

In addition to the above lenses, Canon made an even faster lens, the EF PE 300mm f/1.8, specifically for photo finishes in horse races. According to one racing photographer, Canon made only four of these lenses, making it even less common than the famously rare EF 1200mm lens. Not only is this lens exceptionally rare, very little information about it is available online;^[9] the company's online Canon Camera Museum does not list this lens.

References

^ the-digital-picture.com
^ "Canon Camera Museum". Archived from the original on 2008-10-20. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
^ Canon USA
^ EF LENS WORK III DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS & LENS MAPS
^ dpreview.com
^ usa.canon.com
^ Rumors, Canon (2021-04-08). "Canon officially discontinues a lot more EF lenses". Canon Rumors - Your best source for Canon rumors, leaks and gossip. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
^ Rumors, Canon. "Recently Discontinued EF lenses". Canon Rumors - Your best source for Canon rumors, leaks and gossip. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
^ Zhang, Michael (April 27, 2017). "This is the Canon 300mm f/1.8 — Yes, Such a Monster Lens Exists". PetaPixel. Retrieved April 29, 2017.

External links

[1] the-digital-picture.com

[2] "Canon Camera Museum". Archived from the original on 2008-10-20. Retrieved 2008-12-03.

[3] Canon USA

[4] EF LENS WORK III DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS & LENS MAPS

[5] review.com

[6] usa.canon.com

[7] Rumors, Canon (2021-04-08). "Canon officially discontinues a lot more EF lenses". Canon Rumors - Your best source for Canon rumors, leaks and gossip. Retrieved 2021-04-09.

[8] Rumors, Canon. "Recently Discontinued EF lenses". Canon Rumors - Your best source for Canon rumors, leaks and gossip. Retrieved 2021-04-23.

[9] Zhang, Michael (April 27, 2017). "This is the Canon 300mm f/1.8 — Yes, Such a Monster Lens Exists". PetaPixel. Retrieved April 29, 2017.

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v t e Canon EF/EF-S/EF-M lenses
EF-S zoom	EF-S 10–18mm EF-S 10–22mm EF-S 15–85mm EF-S 17–55mm EF-S 17–85mm EF-S 18–55mm EF-S 18–135mm EF-S 18–200mm EF-S 55–250mm
Ultra-wide zoom	EF 11–24mm EF 16–35mm EF 17–40mm
Standard zoom	EF 24–70mm EF 24–105mm EF 28–135mm EF 28–300mm
Telephoto zoom	EF 70–200mm EF 70–300mm EF 75–300mm EF 100–400mm EF 200–400mm
Wide-angle prime	EF 14mm EF 20mm EF 24mm EF-S 24mm EF 28mm EF 35mm
Standard prime	EF 50mm
Telephoto prime	EF 85mm EF 100mm EF 135mm EF 200mm
Super telephoto prime	EF 300mm EF 400mm EF 500mm EF 600mm EF 800mm
Distorting lens	EF 8–15mm Fisheye
Tilt-shift	TS-E 17mm TS-E 24mm TS-E 45mm TS-E 50mm TS-E 90mm TS-E 135mm
Macro	EF-M 28mm Macro EF-S 35mm Macro EF 50mm Compact Macro TS-E 50mm MACRO EF-S 60mm Macro MP-E 65mm 1–5x Macro TS-E 90mm Macro EF 100mm Macro TS-E 135mm Macro EF 180mm Macro
EF-M zoom	EF-M 11–22mm EF-M 15–45mm EF-M 18–55mm EF-M 18–150mm EF-M 55–200mm
EF-M prime	EF-M 22mm EF-M 28mm Macro EF-M 32mm
Lens accessories	Extender EF
Discontinued zoom	EF 17–35mm EF 20–35mm EF 22–55mm EF 24–85mm EF 28–70mm EF 28–80mm EF 28–90mm EF 28–105mm EF 28–200mm EF 35–70mm EF 35–80mm EF 35–105mm EF 35–135mm EF 35–350mm EF 38–76mm EF 50–200mm EF 55–200mm EF 70–210mm EF 80–200mm EF 90–300mm EF 100–200mm EF 100–300mm
Discontinued prime	EF 15mm Fisheye EF 40mm EF 135mm with Softfocus EF 1200mm TS-E 45mm