The Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM
Versatile due to its mid-telephoto focal length and bright maximum aperture, the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM is also distinguished by its high-speed performance and intuitive handling to suit its use in a wide variety of working conditions. As an L-series lens, this tele prime of course features an advanced optical design; two fluorite elements are used to reduce color fringing and chromatic aberrations for high clarity and color accuracy and a Sub Wavelength Coating has been applied to individual elements to suppress flare and ghosting for increased contrast and color neutrality when working in backlit conditions. The fast f/2.8 maximum aperture also enables extensive control over depth of field for isolating subjects using selective focus, and it also benefits working in difficult lighting conditions.
Super telephoto prime is designed for full-frame Canon EF-mount DSLRs, however can also be used with APS-C models where it provides a 480mm equivalent focal length.
he Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens is far from the first 300mm f/2.8 lens Canon has made and the second image stabilized 300mm f/2.8 lens. The original Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM Lens was a very impressive lens itself – I often used it as my reference lens for DSLR reviewing. Because this lens was so good, I was not overly excited about the version II lens being announced. That said, I am very happy with the new lens – especially from optical and build quality perspectives.
When shooting action sports (or most other subjects for that matter) with this lens (or its predecessor), I rarely use an aperture other than f/2.8 on this or similar lenses. The extra stop of light over what the longer lenses offer (f/2.8 vs. f/4) allows action to be stopped in 1/2 as much light. And this extra stop of light can make the difference between getting a great shot and getting blur.
If shooting sports events indoors or outdoors under the lights, f/2.8 is often the bare minimum max aperture you can stop motion with (f/2 is much better in these venues). An outdoor night soccer game I shot required ISO 3200 and f/2.8 to get a very-marginal-for-stopping-action 1/400 shutter speed under the lights. Even this setting resulted in some underexposed shots – depending on the output of the flickering field lights at the moment of the shot and the players position on the field (relative to the lights).
The f/2.8 aperture at the 300mm focal length provides an addition feature strongly desired by sports photographers. With a reasonable close subject shot at f/2.8, the background is rendered a strong blur by this lens. Sports events are especially known for having very distracting backgrounds – advertisements, fans, apparatus, gear, etc. When strongly blurred, the distractions melt into a colorful, smooth background that allows the subject to pop into the viewer’s attention. Note that while a 300mm f/2.8 lens can strongly blur the background, the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens can blur it even more strongly.
You can pair it very nicely with our canon cameras
You can find a review of this lens here
Compatible with optional EF 1.4X and EF 2X teleconverters.
