photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
lightrules | profile | all galleries >> Lens Tests by LightRules >> Canon 300 F2.8 L IS USM v. Sigma 300 F2.8 EX DG HSM tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Canon 300 F2.8 L IS USM v. Sigma 300 F2.8 EX DG HSM

Posted Fri Dec 12 2008

Canon $4100 [B&H Photo as of Feb 5 2009]
Sigma $2999 [B&H Photo as of Feb 5 2009]

Summary: The L is truly a *world-class-leading* optic. Its ability to resolve detail wide open and deliver superlative contrast reproduction is *the best* I've seen. The EX puts in a good effort but just can't match the L in sharpness or contrast. I am still in *shock* with the *wide open* imaging quality of the L when THREE 1.4x Kenko Pro DG teleconverters were stacked onto it for an equivalent 1440mm FOV. Simply amazing. That said, the EX is still an *excellent lens* with robust build quality, fantastic handling, and "almost-as-fast" AF compared to the L (this surprised me -- the EX prime's AF is much quicker than the 120-300 EX I tested last year and its accuracy is better too). Both lenses take TCs well, both deliver beautiful bokeh (thanks to their rounded aperture blades), and both lenses exude much confidence in use. If you can locate a used copy of the EX (non-DG or DG), it would be a *terrific* value. But at day's end, the L is truly a *magnificent lens* and stands alone in its class (not even mentioning the perk of having IS).
The Lenses
The Lenses 		Test 1
Test 1 		Test 2
Test 2

comment | share
lightrules 17-Dec-2008 16:46
My Good Doctor friend, it's time to come back into the light. Mwahahahahaha! [Good to hear from you, Mark.]
mark 17-Dec-2008 15:45
Lightie, great job. I still shed a tear resulting from shipping my baby 300L off to it's proud new owner when I went to the dark side.

You da man.

mark
lukeap69 14-Dec-2008 08:28
no rating per category?
nice test LR. I've heard that the 300 2.8L IS is one of the sharpest lenses of Canon of not the sharpest.
lightrules 14-Dec-2008 06:26
Hey Brian, good to hear from you. Someone asked in a forum thread the same question about the 120-300 EX and 300 EX, so see here http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=6872035&postcount=6 . Hope you're well buddy. Stay warm out there in the east coast!
Fabrian 14-Dec-2008 05:42
Hiya Jojo :)

Thanks for this test! I've been looking for an OEM VS Sigma 300mm prime comparo for months. It's almost like the Siggy doesn't exist out there :(

You results show what I've generally heard from some photog's I know - It's good, but not excellent... at least compared to the OEM flavor.

Thoughts onEX300 IQ vs 120-300?

Take care friend -
Tom Yi 14-Dec-2008 03:51
Interesting findings. I'm surprised by the amount of difference between the two. PopPhoto tested the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 vs the Sigma 300mm f2.8 and found the prime to be better, so I'd guess a Canon 300mm f2.8 IS L vs a Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 would show even more of a difference.
click on thumbnails for full image