Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM 'iii' lens review with samples (Full-frame & APS-C) 

Had this lens come with my kit. Like many people below are saying it was a great learning experience using it. The lack of image stabilization meant this lens lived it's life on a tripod, I have hand tremors so handholding this lens at its longer focal lengths was never an option outside of midday sun.

Can we use this lens for 6d mark ii ?

There's a difference between honest reviews and making it sound terrible. The lens is is expensive for most people and it's pretty good imo. Not everyone has the money to buy 2000$ lenses.

I'm a high school student, and I have to use this for sports, I can tell you it makes you think and I learned a lot. Very challenging shoots. Especially at Basketball games.

Thanks for this. I just bought one, even though I have the 55-250 with stabilization already. I wanted the longer focal length for use with a tripod in wildlife photography, and I'm satisfied with the quality considering the cost.

The no image stabilization doesnt bother me, because I use a tripod mostly. It works just fine for me!

This lens is hard to use for newbies because it has no stabilization. You have to understand the shutter speed requirements for the focal length being used. Anyone who shoots photos on this handheld at full zoom with a shutter speed below 1/250 is guaranteed to take a soft or blurred photo, especially on APS-C where this is equivalent to a 120-480mm. I have gotten some awesome shots from this lens, and you can actually get very nicely blown out backgrounds because the long focal lengths shrink the focus depth despite the narrow base aperture. I would recommend this lens to anyone who has a good understanding of how to use it. I love the stabilized 55-250mm EF-S lens too, and though it's more expensive, it's worth the extra money. I own both and like both. (It really does have some insane purple fringing though.)

Does this lens work on the Canon 5D Mark iii or which cost friendly lens would you recommend for the Canon 5D Mark iii

This is the perfect beginner telephoto lense and was sold to me as such. Super cheap, but can still perform reasonably in the right settings. I caught a gorgeous elephant trunk tornado shot in this thing (on an ASP-C Rebel D500 nonetheless), and at 190mm it was good enough for a decent 20x30 high-res. I actually hadnt taken this thing out in over 2 years, but came in clutch when i needed it to. Im mostly a wide shot storm/landscape photographer, but occasionally need to break out a telephoto when i cant get any closer due to bad road network, bad planning, timing, etc. This thing gets the job done when i needed it. Given that my subject and shot change so rapidly, are naturally low contrast, and made up of wispy bits that autofocus hates, I typically use full auto, iso-priority, or some landscape oriented settings and adjust focus manually. This helps offset the lack of internal stabilization by adjusting shutter speed and aperture automatically and accounting for my hand movements and allows me to get decent hand balanced shots. Not perfect, especially if the light is poor like at sunset. Tornado chasing is already crazy intense enough and absolutely demands your constant attention on other things like forecasting, navigation, and unexpected road hazards. The luxury of enough time to consider manual camera settings almost never exists, so quick, easy, and cheap are exactly what im looking for in a lense i rarely use.

Was considering getting this lens to explore wildlife photography. This review was helpful. Thx!

Nice honest review. I bought the 55-250 a couple of days after watching your review a number of months ago. Cheers.

i just started with this lens few years ago and i recommend it for beginners :D

I just bought one for my M50 and R50. I use it with the speed booster and it gets down to F2.8. Going to go shoot birds in a couple days and see how it does. Great video!!!

got this lens as "free" as it came with my 1300D 3 years ago. Now i have to say, it's not the best lens and it's give HUGE chromatic aberrations at 200+mm however, it's fairly good under that, i found that the sweet spot is around 135mm. great lens to start with if you only need an occasional telephoto on bright days

Does these lens work great in the dark? I just need lens for dark pictures

I'm currently using this lens with my Fujifilm X-T30 via an adapter (note this is APS-C). Can confirm the results are quite subpar, especially when zoomed all the way, as purple fringing is really noticeable. Sharpness is also mediocre; the chances of getting a blurry photo is higher than I'd want. Lastly I find this lens has poor contrast and saturation. Honestly unless you're truly broke (which I am), I'd def recommend spending $100-200 more on a better lens. This probably doesn't apply to most folks here, but for Fujifilm users, the XC 50-230mm is a FAR better telephoto than this one, and that's Fujifilm's cheap line! I will absolutely snatch one the moment it goes on sale. But for now I'll have to make do with this one.

Still pretty good I’m actually watching it right now

I have used this lens with my Canon RP and it has worked without mayor issues. I had to higher the ISO because I didn't have a speedlight with me, but the images came out neat.

Hi Chris, just one question. Why do you turn on corrections in camera? Wouldn't it be better to see how a lens performs without any corrections turned on in the camera? I know you are testing the Canon, lenses on Canon cameras which have lens corrections for Canon lenses, but it could be useful to see how the lens performs without corrections, especially for those maybe looking to get the lens to use on a non Canon camera which doesn't have corrections, where chromatic aberrations and dark corners would be more noticeable and probably not fixable on the camera like they would be on Canon cameras.

So, that cheapo lens are designed for full frame? I'm quite suprised by the price.

there are always some people who will always tumbs you down for no reason...but just because they are jealous of how good you are at what you do.

I don't know if anybody will find this useful, but I have been shooting with this lens for over 3 years now and here are my thoughts: You get what you pay for, the lens is cheap and sometimes quite useful. I was able to get some good photos of birds of prey or even some nice landscape photos and close-ups. However, as mentioned in the video, the lens is sharp when zoomed-out at 70 mm, but the image quality gets worse as you zoom-in. At 300 mm, it performs poorly. If you manage to get you subject in focus, you will still need to hold the camera pretty firmly, because even when it gets a bit cloudy, the loss of light is significant. For me, it happens quite a lot, that the lens misses focus at 300 mm often. Thus, the subject is sharp, but not where I wanted to focus. But, when it focuses right, I had also light issues. I use Canon 700D (APS-C) and even ISO of 800 will show up on the photo, when you open it on the PC, which will potentially degrade the image quality even more. I also used it using tripod and managed to get some nice landscape photos, even of sunset, but again, if the lens is zoomed all the way in, it will potentially miss the focus. Another issue is the colour output, which can be very bad and will show up, when the light conditions get worse. Even light mist in the distance will make it difficult for the camera to focus and will produce weird colours. Overall, if you are tight on the budget, you can certainly go for this lens and you can shoot nice photos and if you are just starting out, you will find the lens pretty useful for trying out different settings on your camera and learn shooting moving subjects, but I would not reccomend it if you have the option to go for a better lens. I would say, get Canon 50 mm f/1.8 at first, which is an excellent lens for its price, useful for landscape and portraits. You will find it much more entertaining than struggling to get nice wildlife photos using this lens.

I have an older version of this lens, if you point that lens upwards the lens dezooms automaticly because the focus ring is to loose, I think that's why in this one the focus ring is stiffer

Far too many whiners, here. These lens is on sale for an extremely low price, now. If you expect same results as with a 2000$ lens.... well, that says it all.

I have this lens right now, I was looking into maybe getting the tamron sp70-300mm lens... would you think I would get any benefits from switching lens?

So happy I came across this video this was very helpful, as I was looking for my first telephoto lens.

Not bad considering it was made for 35mm film definitely buying one 👍

I picked up one of these (yet to be shipped) for $45US. I'm new to the game but I'm curious how this will fair with the viltrox speed booster. Any experience pairing the two? Will be used on a canon M50

My M6 mark II with Viltrox adapter or speedbooster has no problems with this lens. I got a good used one for cheap to replace a Quantaray 70-300 that was noisy and had other issues.

Its a fantastic lens for the price but needs a lot of Microfocus adjustment, i had to adjust my lens at -20 at tele and wide end as the lens suffers from massive front focus issue but after tuning it the results are worth the money you spend.

I'm using the lens adapted with the Viltrox Speedbooster on my M50 which transforms it to a "53-213mm 2.8" and I got very pretty handheld wildlife-shots. Bought it at eBay for 65€ and I'm really impressed for that budget . Autofocus is okay for dove-shots at the beach at cloudy weather or reindeers at dawn at high shutter-speeds. So I'm fully satisfied. Even the build quality is not that bad as you you descibe, maybe you had bad luck with yours. For beginners or amateurs a good value in that combination.

I have M50 eos with canon monut adapter, and I have a 55-250 STM lens what do you suggest me because I want to more zoom,

I just bought this lens for 80 euros. I use it for wildlife fotography with a tripod. No problems so far. Except for the noise. It's pretty loud. But it's a cheap way to get some distance between you and your "target"...

So would this lens have affect with the crop factor? so for a aps-c sensor camera it would be 120-480?

Im a owner of canon m50m2 i'm looking for a good telephoto budget lens but unfortunately which ever lens i have seen i only got a negative review for you. Im seriously confused now 😪. I saw tamron70300mmLD, Canon EFM55200 and now Canon 75300mm USM . Im now confused to pick one

I tapped the name on the research bar and I clicked randomly on a video I was glad to hear your voice You make a hell of reviews mate

How about the focus? Is is much better to STM?

Manually focus makes up for auto focus.... good vid

The lens is actually really good on full frame. But on apsc sensors, it's basically unusable at anything over 150mm. I mean it's so soft, you can't make out any detail.

What’s good 3 lens for Canon 7d EOS camera ? Thank you

Why is there such a big difference in image quality between full frame and aps-c?

Hey, Christophger, any chance to test the 70-210 USM or 100-300 USM? Thanks!

compatible for EOS M3?

Very good review regarding the 200 to 300mm range. The image quality at 300mm was almost pathetic. From 75 to 200mm it's average at best. Thank you.

Hi Christopher! I have this lens lens lying around at my place, belongs to my girlfriend, and I personally own a Sony a7iii. My question is, would it be a good idea if I get an adapter for this lens to use with my Sony? How do you think the autofocus would perform? Thanks! :) Keep up the good work 👍🏼

Hey would you recommend this lens for beginners? I use this lens at my high school for events.

Never thought a full frame lense would work better for full frame camers😂😂 exellent video though. I still may buy this lens for my film cameras.

Using a Canon R6ii (EF adapted) with a 24 Mpx sensor and *in-camera* stabilization -- we suddenly have a very workable lightweight all-day walking-around tele-zoom. Okay, not the greatest autofocusing system, but I mostly manually focus anyway. Brand new they're going for $200 -- so hardly a major risk if I wind up unhappy.

Does it have image stabilizer?

How much magnification does it provides?

Certainly not a bad lens, but I found the auto focus speed really slow for my sports photos

Hey Chris, did you ever do a review of the EF-M mount that you use for the M3? I've got a few friends that use the M3 but they've no idea that you can use the EF lenses and I would like to point them to a video to show how easy it is to use it.

I am getting this lens once again, and can't wait to test it with my a6300 with speed booster. Only thing that worries me a little now is that extremely long focus distance. But let see.

so the lens has a few faults what do you expect for a cheap lens.i have a 75 x 300 lens and i find it very good for the price.

Would it work for eos m50 ?

Hi, Do you know if the Canon T6 is good for taking in home clothing photos? I’m not a photographer or looking for anything fancy, just clear photos and not blurry when you zoom in on them. If anybody know of the t6 will work for me please let me know! Thanks.

Very Surprised how this lens performed much better on a full frame camera :O

The review was good, but it does miss the point of a review. I'm a beginner photographer, and this is a really good lens for beginners it makes you work and gets the job done, and this review does make this lens look like a bad option. If you are a higher-level photographer this lens is not for you, but the price tag alone most of the time answers that question.

So if I want to use it for panoramic stitching in landscape photography it is a very good lense because all that matters in this condition is sharpness at 200 to 300 mm !! Thanks for the review

Hey I have the "Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II" but I just got a new lends that is the "Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 SP Di VC USD XLD" I'm not a pro photographer but I'm having a hard time noticing the difference between the two besides that the tameron goes 50mm more in distance, I like to shoot wildlife and I was watching one of your other videos where you are reviewing the the canon 70-300 I believe and you suggested that tamron was sharper is you wanted to shoot things like wildlife. So I just want to know basically if it's worth me keeping this lends since I feel like the canon 55-250 is just as good, they seem to be both sharp I'm having a hard time telling the diffrance. If anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. I dont want to spend money on somthing that I kinda already have and maybe put the tamron money into a nice canon macro 100mm instead. Thank you!

New photographer here. Will this work on my rebel T7?

How is it with the canon r5 that has in body stabilization?

I agree it's a cheap way to get 300 mm zoom lens with an average performance. Good one for a start

Would it be decent for video? I need a big zoom for some corporate events but in a tight budget. Would use it with a GH5S so lowlight isn’t really an issue

now i'm confused.... how can changing the camera body change the sharpness of the same area of the lens, same beams of light going through same piece of glass taking the same path should hit the sensor in the exact same way. maybe there's a correction error going on in firmware/software. either i'm not understanding this right, but its like using a magnifying glass to get an image of the sun on paper, only changing the paper to a smaller one, and then saying the magnifying glass now isnt as good.......

This, sigma or tamron 70-300? I am talking about the cheap ones.

Hey ! The thing i dont get is why it's harder to get a clear image on an Crop body. Shouldn't it be easier since the sensor only uses the center of the FF image that is supposed to be the sharper part of the image? Thanks!

For my first efs lens on my r10, this is a nice starter lens, I believe my r10 has digital stabilize so I've had some great photos at the max zoom but my next lens will be a 70-200 2.8 g2

I have 2 of these. Gen 2 and gen 3. Liked the 2 better. 3 was a little slower to focus. Great begginer lens

Boss.. what is best for music video shoot.. 70 - 300 mm vs 75 - 300 ????

I waited for this video dude! Love you!

i wanted to buy a canon 24-105mm f4 or Tamron 24-70 f2.8 VC wich one should i choose?

Does this lens have an Image stabilizer? Please answer, sir, I want to buy this lens. Thank you

i just got a canon 1300 d can i use this lens with a 2 times converter for airshows

The non usm is also good? I would like to buy a cheap lens for my fullframe.

Mildly interesting story maybe; so my girlfriend bought a Canon T5 kit and this lens came with it. She never ended up using it and put it on storage after she bought a 50mm 1.8. She forgot she even had it. Fast forward and I upgrade from the SL2 to EOS RP and I buy the EOS-R to EF adapter so I can use my own 35mm EF lens. We ended up cleaning out the storage a couple weeks later and we find the EF 75-300 III and I'm like wtf, this is an EF lens. She said she didn't like it on her smaller sensor so I took it home to try it out. And yeah, it's sharp on a full frame. It works well. Not bad for a free find basically. I did give her my SL2 and sold her T5.

IS IT SUPPORT WITH EOS 1500D?

2:20 Curious and excited but confused beginner here - can you please explain "full time manual focus"? You said you have to switch to manual focus, then you immediately talk about the "auto focus mode." Please help!

I wanna take pictures of trains and planes with good quality buy also good zoom. Shall I go with this lens or the image stabiliser 55-250mm also mentioned in the video?

Bro the photos what you are shown are unedited...?

FYI before you buy: the fringing/chromatic aberration makes this lens simply unusable for any backlit subject.

which one is better ...canon 75-300mm or Sigma 70-300 DG Macro

LOL hilarious review. Thank you for honest opinions and getting the piss out in the most driest ways lol I don't mind fringing, distortions, soft edges and all, but it only works for some style of videos and not everything so it should work for some projects but never for any product photography or interviews. Best for music videos, short films and the art side of things. By the way, which lens should I get that's wider, good zoom and fast, for Canon 60D? I don't mind the mentioned effects and I don't mind no image stabilization, as long as it's manual. Id like to use it for establishing and master shots mostly and some trippy close-ups, where the bokeh is crazy

Hi Chris, does this lens will suits for 77d?

I’m using the 75-300mm and 18-135mm lenses for shots of the moon where I need less light coming in. Just as your tests pointed out that when stopped down to f/8 through pretty much the entire zoom range, it is sharp although I must point out that I’m using a t5i. Hope I can grab a full frame body to run these lenses some time in the near future. Would love to see the difference myself. Overall for me, this lens has been a great starting point so far especially when it comes to composition and Astrophotography.

Im buying this. Thanks for the review.

Can you test out the Canon 70-300 IS II USM? Thanks.

Being a broke ass university student in need of a lens for his DSLR. the price range is good.

Is 55-200 also enough for wildlife photography?

When using my older systems, like my 1d classic or my 10d focus is vastly improved but this lens cannot be used with modern day cross type phase, detect af in servo mode effectively On contrast, detect systems, it’s smoothly transitions between points very well as on the tech systems it kind of jumps between points completely completely missing them in the process

Just bought this in October 2024 for £80 of EBay and in excellent condition, What can you buy for £80 for the zoom range at this price and there are sweet spots and super sharp images, Auto this, auto that is far to easy now days and that’s the joy of photograph as a camera is only as good as the person behind it 🥳🥳🥳

Great, detailed review. Thanks.

Does it fit canon 700D?

Your original review was right on. I do not like this lens. The best but diet zoom is still the Tamron SP 70-300.

Can you use 3000D

This helped me a lot. Thanks.

I learned photography on this lens and it was such a pain. LOL

I just wanna know if i can make a successful photo shoot to my upcoming 1st birthday daughter because I’m a beginner at this

Is it good for canon m50 by using adapter??

Does this fit cannon 2000D?