Sharpness Cont... 5

Sharpness at 300mm

All the test pictures were taken at the same time using a Manfrotto Tripod. As with any zoom lens, it's always sharpest in the middle of the zoom range. Go out to either end of the range and sharpness drops off. This does happen with the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM, especially at the telephoto end. For this test, the lens was attached to a Canon EOS 5D MkII which was on a short self timer with mirror lock up enabled.

The full frame at 300mm

The telephoto end is usually one of the softer settings, but this is where your money has gone with lovely, sharp pictures at all settings with only a slight drop at around f/16. The same can be said for the edge of the lens with good results throughout.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/5.6
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32
f/45