I was recently fortuitous enough in picking up a mk2 300 lens to potentially replace my existing 300. I’ve been really happy with the mk 1 lens version and use it with both 1.4x and 2x extenders, I didn’t plan on upgrading it but when a 3 month old mk2 was advertised at a quite frankly stupid price it was a no brainer to break open the piggy bank.
Anyway, having clicked off about 800 images using the new mk2 lens my first impressions are mixed and I’ll explain.
Positives
1.) Front element – The mk1 had a protective glass front element which was a bugger to clean if a stray finger print made it on or if you got watermarks from using it in rainy weather. The new one has a lovely new coating which makes a noticeable difference, water beads off and dries without leaving a mark and it’s easier to clean should it become soiled.
2.) Hood design – WOW what a difference over the old one, I really struggled with attaching the old hood and was always worried about taking paint off which inevitably happens. Canon has addressed this really well and the new hood locates into a black rubberised groove really easily and will not chip like on the old lens.
3.) Weight – A little less goes a long way, the new lens feels better balanced in the hand with the weight being evenly distributed - the mk1 felt front heavy. I carry the camera and lens on a Black Rapid strap and when swinging it up to shoot, I feel the camera lens mount is having less stress and torque put onto it. With the mk1 I was very conscious of this and would always try to support the lens weight, whereas the new version has me more relaxed about how I handle it to shoot with.
4.) New button layout – Another big improvement, the IS and AF group buttons have now been split out into two panels making blind switching of these much easier. The main winner for me is the relocated and later AF/MF button design which lies flatter and does not get switched over accidently which did happen a few times on my mk1 causing missed shots.
5.) Larger focus ring – I’m not sure if they have changed the gearing on this but first impressions are that it’s easier to MF using this lens, it feels more accurate and precise to me.
6.) Rotating collar – The action on the one is a lot smoother and less notchy, it has soft locating pin which locates every 90 degrees, great for when using on a tripod.
7.) Focus speed – I have mk3 extenders which was a big factor in going for the upgrade. I get faster focus using these on the mk2 lens when compare against the mk1, it’s not night and day but the difference is there to see and I found that there is no noticeable image degradation in the real world using the 1.4x extender. I’ve not used the x2 enough to have an opinion yet.
8.) Flare resistance - Shooting backlit subjects using the mk2 gave better pleasing images.
Negatives
1.) AF servo accuracy – My first impressions are that I get 20% less shots in 100% critical focus when compared to my mk1 lens. There is a caveat though, which is that my new lens does not currently have the firmware update applied which is supposed to address this aspect. I certainly will be dropping the lens off at a Canon Service Centre to get the update applied under warranty and really hope this does improve with the firmware update, as potentially it could be a deal breaker for me.
2.) Price – It will cost about 2.5k to upgrade and if you don’t use extenders I’d probably go to say it’s not really worth it. However, if you can get the cost of change to about 1k then all those those little improvements would be worth the extra money as long as the firmware update improves AF servo accuracy.
