Lenses:

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

Class:: Zoom Telephoto
Part number:: 9321A002
Introduced:: January 2004

Similar Lenses

Canon	EF	75-300mm	f/4.0-5.6					$159.95	Details
Canon	EF	75-300mm	f/4.0-5.6				USM	$189.95	Details
Canon	EF	100-300mm	f/4.5-5.6				USM	$279.95	Details
Canon	EF	70-300mm	f/4.0-5.6			IS	USM	$559.95	Details
Canon	EF	70-200mm	f/4.0	L			USM	$584.95	Details
Canon	EF	70-200mm	f/2.8	L			USM	$1,139.95	Details
Canon	EF	70-300mm	f/4.5-5.6		DO	IS	USM	$1,149.95	Details
Canon	EF	70-200mm	f/4.0	L		IS	USM	$1,249.00	Details
Canon	EF	100-400mm	f/4.5-5.6	L		IS	USM	$1,399.95	Details
Canon	EF	70-200mm	f/2.8	L		IS	USM	$1,699.95	Details

Thoughts

This is the bigger brother of Canon’s 70-300 f/4-5.6 lens. Or, littler brother. It’s twice the price because of the little green ring.

The green ring is the signature of Canon’s Diffractive Optics. This uses a diffractive lens element, rather all refractive elements, and manages to be smaller than lenses covering similar focal lengths. Much smaller. The 70-300 DO doesn’t look like a lens that can reach out to 300mm, which attracts less attention and makes fewer people nervous.

Other than the diffractive element, both lenses have Canon’s three-stop image stabilizer, both support IS panning (mode 2), and both have tripod sensing. Additionally, the 70-300 DO IS’s image stabilizer is more frequently praised than the 70-300 IS, despite the fact that both are the same on paper.

Bottom Line

Optically, it’s not a 70-200 L, and isn’t that much cheaper than the comparable 70-200 f/4 L IS which, unlike the 70-300 DO, is compatible with Canon’s 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters. That said, you can’t beat this lens as a discreet telephoto zoom.