[Jonathan Farmer]

I bought this lens in summer 06 with the 30D camera and the Canon 1.4x TC. These three items work very well togeather. The lens not being a zoom is light for 500mm f/4 performance; attached to the 1.4x TC, it becomes a powerfull 700mm f/5.6. I can't see any image deteriation when used with the 1.4 TC and only one f stop is lost,To correct this, I simply bump up the ISO one stop, a very small compromise to make. The AF is super fast and the AF limiter is an added bonus. This lens does not hunt back and forth to find it's target and the IS is good for hand held shots with ISO 200 at f/5.6 in good light, shooting birds. The 1.6 crop factor of the 30D is very good.

I would like Canon to introduce a rugged 12 megapixle with a 1.6 crop factor. Their full frame cameras do not lend them selves to extream telephoto work. If you crop the full frame image to 1.6 factor, the results are poor as the pixle density of both Canon full frame cameras are not as dence as the 30D.

If you want the best 500 on the market today, this is the lens to have.

Best regards

Jonathan Farmer