Canon have made lots of something to 300mm tele zoom lenses over the years. This version is the Canon EF 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 Mk2 USM. Build quality is what the manufacturers would call consumer rather than prosumer or professional. The lens is well made but has a lightweight plasticky feel to it. Still the USM is very useful with any Canon lens especially a telephoto zoom.

Most 75-300mm lenses tend to produce disappointing results at one end - usually the tele end - of the zoom range.  I keep looking for a really good one that’s light enough to carry around all day, but doesn’t mean too much of a sacrifice in performance. Could this Canon 75-300 be the one?

 So far I’ve tried Sigma’s APO 70-300 Super - superb at 70mm but downhill all the way to 300mm - various Nikon’s - the original old Nikon 75-300 is the best there - the very good overall Tamron 70-300 and the Canon 100-300mm  Will this Canon 75-300 outperform any of these or will it be another disappointment at 300?

I’ve taken the opportunity to test this lens with the Canon EOS 5D and the Canon EOS 20D so I’ll comment separately on performance with each camera body.