Photo Plus - UK (2020-04)

The Canon Magazine 109

BUDGET TELEPHOTO ZOOMS

FEATURES

VERDICT

01

The ET-74B costs

£80/$45, but good

cheap copies are

available.

02

There are switches

for AF/M focusing, IS

on/off, display mode

and zoom lock.

03

Aperture control

is based on a

nine-blade

diaphragm.

04

You can cycle

through three

display modes.

05

The mounting plate

is metal, but doesn’t

feature a weather-

seal ring.

FEATURES

BUILD & HANDLING

PERFORMANCE

VALUE

OVERALL

CANON EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6

IS II USM £449/$499

An ideal blend of lightweight build and solid

full-frame performance, at a keen price

he Mark II edition of this lens

could barely be any more

different to its predecessor.

As well as a redesigned and

upgraded optical path featuring

new specialized UD elements, the

exterior has a more modern look

and feel and the internals are

overhauled. The old version of this

lens contained a dated AF system

that was audible and sluggish in

operation. The front element also

rotated during focusing, which

impaired handling and made the

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and ND grads a chore.

The new lens features a

revolutionary Nano USM AF

system, which is incredibly rapid

for stills, while enabling smooth

focus transitions as a stepping

motor system for video capture,

as well as being almost completely

silent in operation. Focusing is now

fully internal, so there’s no more

rotation of the front element.

The manual focus ring is

electronically coupled and there’s

no focus distance scale. However,

the lens features a digital info

display, with alternative modes for

focal length, focus distance and

severity of camera shake. You can

cycle through these by pressing the

Mode button. The image stabilizer

also gets a revamp, boasting

four-stop effectiveness and

excellent auto panning detection.

Performance

As advertised, AF performance is

blazing fast and accurate. Overall

performance and image quality

are impressive, the only exception

being that corner-sharpness is poor

at the short end of the zoom range.

It’s a great option for APS-C format

and full-frame DSLRs, as well as

for EOS R full-frame mirrorless

cameras via a mount adapter.

T

2500

2500

2000

2000

1500

1500

1000

1000

500

500

C

e

n

tr

e

E

d

g

e

f/4

f/4

f/2.8

f/2.8

f/5.6

f/5.6

f/8

f/8

f/11

f/11

f/32

f/32

f/22

f/22

f/16

f/16

Short Mid Long

SHARPNESS

200 mm^300 mm^400 mm^