The best landscape lens is less than $200.00?
EF 70-300mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM adapted to Canon EOS R5
The time spent outside photographing landscapes requires a few tools and telephoto lenses are in a lot of camera bags. You can search Google or comb through Youtube and find plenty of suggestions of what to use but virtually all of them fail to mention the EF 70-300mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM. I would have completely overlooked the lens as well if I hadn’t been waiting for my new RF 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 L IS USM to arrive.
What makes it so great?
From a landscape standpoint it’s the weight. This lens on it’s own comes in at 1.5lb (720g) and weight adds up quickly when you’re looking at a multi-mile hike. For comparison the new RF 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 that came in is a full 1.1 lb heavier than the EF 70-300mm DO. A pound here, a pound there really makes itself known over the period of a days hike.
The other great part of this lens is the price tag. They can still be picked up for pennies and like the title of this article says, some are less than $200.00 for a super light, high performing lens. There is always going to be a range of pricing for used gear on eBay, Facebook, OfferUp and others but with enough patience and the right seller the good price is there for this lens.
But, how’s the image quality?
Passable at the least and damn good at best. I didn’t expect to get the results from this lens that I did, let alone prompt me to write up a review about it. I completely expected to use it while I waited for my more expensive, revered and highly anticipated RF red ring telephoto zoom lens. Take a look at the photos below taken with the green ring contender and the respective 100% crops.
EF 70-300mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM. ISO 200, 110mm, ƒ/8.0, 1/50s
100% crop
100% crop is far more than anyone would (or should) crop for an image they intend to print but the detail is there. Completely usable without making any real compromises. The image was shot at ƒ/8.0 and that’s what makes this lens so usable as a landscape lens. It produces quality images at the apertures commonly used. Take a look at the next one.
EF 70-300mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM, ISO 200, 140mm, ƒ/8.0, 1/30s
100% crop
Will the 70-300mm DO lens give you the ability to pick out a flea from 200 yards? absolutely not but what it will do is produce great images if used judiciously without breaking your back or your bank. If your style requires a shallow depth of field then go with a faster lens. If your picture style requires more light gathering then definitely go with a faster lens. However, if you shoot at ƒ/5.6 or smaller and focus on composition in camera rather than cropping then keep this on your list of contenders.
The good
To make things easy here’s a bullet point list of the reasons this lens makes all the sense in the world
lightweight: 1.5lb
sharp when it’s stopped down for landscape DOF
INEXPENSIVE (not cheap). Around $200, maybe less for used ones
Image stabilized
An extra 100mm of reach compared to 70-200mm lenses
The bad
It’s not without it’s drawbacks however and it does have a big one that effects landscape photography and thats weather sealing. This lens isn’t sealed up like it’s red ring counterparts. There isn’t a gasket on the mounting flange meaning any heavy weather conditions like moisture or dust could pose a problem. Has this been an issue for me? Not one bit and I stay cognoscente of this while out in the field.
What is a DO lens?
DO stands for Difractive Optics and simply put it’s the way the glass is shaped within the lens and it resembles the glass from a lighthouse. Instead of the glass elements being smooth and rounded or concave the glass a DO lens uses Fresnel lenses. This helps shrink the size and weight of the lens but it comes with a price in image quality (but not enough to matter for landscape as shown above).
Difractive Optic or Fresnel lens type design
Traditional camera lens element
Because of the concentric rings and the way the light is cast through the lens element the DO lenses can be made smaller and lighter. But as mentioned there is some image degradation. Not much but enough. Additionally, the added expense of manufacturing meant that the DO lenses weren’t any cheaper than their traditional lens counterparts. When faced with similar pricing and possibly worse image quality consumers generally chose to go with non DO lenses.
This leaves an opening in the market for second hand value for people like you and I. When we don’t put an emphasis on wide open image sharpness we get the benefit of a smaller and lighter lens with great telephoto reach while still getting excellent image quality when the lens is stopped down for landscapes. I do hope Canon brings back the DO line for the RF mount though. would be nice to have native mounts with weather sealing.
The result
I honestly can’t say enough good things about this lens. It’s light, inexpensive and produces great results. It’s easy to use and as long as you don’t expect to get published in Nat Geo for wildlife or on Sports Illustrated for sports photos you will find it will be living in your landscape kit. Because it’s so inexpensive compared to other telephoto zooms you can feel comfortable abusing it a little. Like I mentioned the DO lens can be had for around $200 and the new RF mount zooms are pushing 10x that amount.
So buy one, use it, if you don’t like it, sell it. The risk is incredibly low but there is a noticeable difference when this is in the bag vs my L series glass.