| Field-test of the Canon EF 300mm
f/2.8L USM Telephoto lens. The Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L USM is a fast telephoto lens highly rated by professional photographers around the world. The artificial Fluorite element used is highly effective for correcting the secondary spectrum. A UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) element is also employed. Very sharp and clear delineations are possible at all apertures. It has the Ring USM for quick and quiet autofocusing. This telephoto was the first Canon EF lens to incorporate full-time manual focus (with three sensitivity settings) for touch-up focusing and focus preset that focuses the lens instantly at the preset focusing distance. Only the all-electronic lens mount interface of the Canon EOS System can make such features possible.
This wonderful (and expensive) piece of engineering marvel of Canon's expertise in lens technology is never short of praises from its targeted users: professional photographers. Mind you, there is only one good reason that professionals spend their hard-earned money for the EF 300mm f/2.8L USM telephoto lens: to get the pictures they need. With its large, f/2.8 maximum aperture, this lens is designed for covering news, sporting events, fashion shows as well as low-light photography such as concerts or stage performances. This is one lens that you don't see many advanced amateur photographers carry around with them for their photo shoots due to two reasons: Not many can afford to buy one. For those who can, it is not a typical lens that they will use for most of their shoots not when other lighter optics like the Canon EF 75-300mm or EF 100-300mm zooms or even the EF 300mm f/4L USM lens are enough to do the job. To be fair, some professionals have even resorted to using Canon's EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lens that has the Image Stabilizer feature rather than carrying the heavier f/2.8 version around for their assignments. This is because it is not easy to shoot at 1/60 sec. hand-held with the EF 300mm f/2.8L USM version while the IS type allows professional photographers to shoot with shutter speeds as slow as 1/30 or even 1/15 sec. at the maximum aperture of f/4, hand-held. Having said that, long focal length lenses like the EF 300mm f/2.8L USM or the EF 300mm f/4L IS USM version are very useful in situations where it is impossible to get close to the subject. With these lenses, you can shoot long-distance pictures of the facial expressions of athletes during a sports event or other candid photos of supporting personnel.
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