I'm sorry to hear that, Brian! No actual insights for you, but based on the reviews that are tricking out, it would seem you got a bad copy. Hopefully that's a really rare occurrence!


Personally, I'm still sort of considering this lens, even though I have the 70-200mm f/2.8<span style="color: #ff0000;"]L IS II and the 100-400mm. I plan on taking my 5DII on my upcoming trip (not the 7D) and the 70-200mm in addition to a few other lenses. I keep looking at the space the 70-200mm takes up in the bag, and wondering if I should get the new 70-300mm to bring instead. 200mm on FF just isn't that long. I have a feeling I'd use the telephoto zoom mostly outdoors, with sufficient light for the slow aperture not to be a problem. WIth the 70-300mm instead of the 70-200mm, I could probably squeeze in the 135mm f/2<span style="color: #ff0000;"]L as well. But then, I would also likely bring the 1.4x extender, which plays nice with the 70-200mm II. Hmmmmmm...