Quote Originally Posted by Dave Throgmartin View Post
...depending upon your budget you can get a better 300mm lens for not a ton of money using either the Tamron, the Canon 70-300 IS, or 70-200 f/4 plus extender. If you can extend your budget to around $1200 you can get the 400mm f/5.6 which is outstanding.

Dave
I wanted to 2nd that thought. I just bought the 70-300 4/5.6 IS on Friday from Adorama. It's the first non-L lens I ever tried and I have to say it is pretty amazing for the price. Yes it's slow glass no doubt but as long as I don't try shooting things it wasn't designed for (fast-action sports) I get really great images.

I've only had it a few days but I don't see a *huge* difference in the IQ compared to my 70-200 2.8IS. There's some, esp at 300mm wide open. But if I'm shooting wide open at 300mm on a 4/5.6 lens I only have myself to blame for soft images. Shooting f/8 or f/11 and lo and behold center and mid-frame IQ is great, a little less than great in the corners. For under $400 I think it was a steal. It's a Canon refurb so it's in great shape, none of the zoom creep this lens is famous for. So far I love it.