Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM Review

March 30, 2011 | Matt Grayson |

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Sharpness Cont... 4

Sharpness at 200mm

All the test pictures were taken at the same time using a Manfrotto Tripod. As with any zoom lens, it's always sharpest in the middle of the zoom range. Go out to either end of the range and sharpness drops off. This does happen with the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM, especially at the telephoto end. For this test, the lens was attached to a Canon EOS 5D MkII which was on a short self timer with mirror lock up enabled.

The full frame at 200mm

At 200mm, sharpness starts to die off at around f/16 but the results are still very good. This also consistent with edge detail although there's a larger drop in quality.