Canon EF 75 300mm F 4 5 6 III USM Review | 54 Data compared

The Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM lens is positioned by The Digital Picture as an affordable, lightweight telephoto option featuring a 7-blade aperture and a Micro USM for faster autofocusing. It is characterized as a budget-friendly choice for amateurs entering sports or wildlife photography. However, the review notes significant drawbacks, including a mediocre build, a lack of image stabilization, and soft image quality that decreases towards the 300mm focal length. Visible chromatic aberration is also mentioned as a performance issue, reflecting the lens's low-cost design.

The Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM is a lightweight, budget-friendly telephoto zoom lens priced at £149, making it a highly accessible choice for APS-C sensor DSLR users seeking extra reach. It features an Ultrasonic Motor (USM) that ensures the autofocus system operates both quickly and quietly. Built with a mostly plastic body, the lens still manages a reasonable build quality and includes a durable metal lens mount. Additionally, it features a comfortable grip around the main barrel and offers a full-time manual override on the focus ring, allowing users to fine-tune focus even while in autofocus mode. However, the lens delivers mixed results when it comes to performance and optical quality, earning a total performance score of 70 and an image quality score of 75. On the downside, the maximum aperture of f/4 means it is not a fast light-gatherer. Optically, image sharpness rarely rises above average and suffers from a general softness, especially around the edges. Chromatic aberration is another weak point, degrading significantly from fair or good at the 70mm end to very poor at the 300mm...

The ePHOTOzine review describes the Canon 75-300mm USM III as a disappointing, entry-level, and budget-friendly option, highlighting its low price, lightweight design, and reasonably quiet Micro USM autofocus as pros. While the lens shows decent control over chromatic aberration and distortion, performance is significantly hampered by soft, poor sharpness, particularly at the 300mm telephoto end. Cons include the drastic drop in image quality at full extension, a rotating front element, and a very narrow, hard-to-use manual focus ring, leading to a verdict that it only delivers acceptable results for small prints.

The DXOMARK review evaluation of the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM lens, when mounted on the high-resolution Canon EOS 5DS R camera body, gives it an overall DXOMARK Score of 21. Released in April 1999, this telephoto zoom lens shows a mixture of strengths and technical limitations under testing. On the positive side, the lens delivers a notable sharpness score of 13 P-Mpix and exhibits relatively low distortion at just 0.5%. Additionally, DXOMARK notes that the lens achieves its optimal performance baseline when shot at its widest focal length and aperture setting of f=75mm & f/4. However, the review highlights several optical vulnerabilities that serve as major drawbacks for demanding photographers. A significant limitation is its light transmission score of 5.4 TStop, which indicates a noticeable loss of light moving through the glass elements. Furthermore, the lens suffers from quite heavy vignetting measured at -1.8 EV, resulting in darkened corners in the frame. Finally, chromatic aberration is fairly pronounced at 10 µm, pointing to visible color fringing issues that can degrade final image clarity around high-contrast edges.