You can create fantastic photos with this lens. It is very, very limited in what it can do from a technical standpoint, but it will let you take shots you couldn't otherwise get without a telephoto. Just because some snooty photog thinks you need a $1000 IS L series to take a picture of a squirrel in a tree, does not mean you should sell your house for camera equipment. Shenanigans. If you are an amateur, and can't spend $1000, buy this, and use a tripod. When you reach the limits of the abilities of your equipment, then consider the upgrade. This is not useful as a macro lens, and you will not be pointing it downward for long periods of time. The lens creep shouldn't affect you. Spend money on the lens you use most. This is not likely to be it. This is a fine entry-level lens. Not only that, but if you hate it within 90 days... Just to prove I'm not being a complete smart-alec, I slapped this lens on a 20D body and shot this squirrel through my bedroom window. And that's a jpeg compressed to 130kb...

By reading the other reviews I believe I got an exceptionally good one. No problems with auto focus (unless I try to get to close to the subject) and I do not miss the IS at all even at full zoom hand held all my pictures come out just beautiful ! The only issue I have found is in high contrast you do get a lot of CA even with a CPL filter, but this is my only complaint. For the price you pay you get a really great lens.

Lens is what you would expect for the price. You can get some good shots, provided you always carry a tripod. This lens is not the stabilized version (EF 70-300mm F/4-5.6 IS USM), nor does it have an ultrasonic motor so focusing can be a bit on the slow side. That said, if you really want a better value, go for the version with the ultrasonic motor and image-stabilization. You will discover soon enough, you pay for what you get when it comes to lenses.

Bought this one a while back and have been very satisfied with it. Just like a few others on here mentioned, quality can be a bit fuzzy when not using a tripod but it still pretty decent. Would not be my first choice to recommend to a professional but definitely great to start out with and learn.

My wife and I have puppy and we wanted to take some pictures with our Canon camera. The lens that came with the camera is really good for everyday use but in this case we needed something that would allow us to take pictures of our running puppy at the off-leash park from a distance as keeping up with him was very difficult with the short distance lens. This is not a paparazzi telephoto, but it is just perfect for us, images are stable and we have some great pictures of our dog! Buy it!

I have used the telephoto lens with my Rebel camera with great success. My sister lives in the Hill Country of Texas. The morning after Thanksgiving there were several deer in her back yard. I used the telephoto lens to take several photos of the deer. The photos came out crystal clear and with the UV filter I used on the lens, the colors were outstanding. The lens was part of the package and I am truly glad I ordered it.

I use this lens to take pictures for all my son's football games. The pictures turn out so well that all the other parents want to pay me to take pictures of their children. This is my first camera and lens no I am so pro and this lens is easy to use.

Out of the box, my focus ring sticks before getting to infinity when on autofocus. It canl not take a distant object in focus while set over 200mm on any setting. In over 100 attempts ZERO pictures are in focus. Even on landscape mode or manual with focus set on infinity and the Fstop raised to f16 are still blurry at 200mm - 300mm. This lens is simply no good.

i have not had this lens for very long, but it is VERY good for the price. i use it mostly for airplane photography and it performs very well. even though it has no IS it doubles for that with fast AF. my only complaint is that it did not zoom as far as i thought, but it does the job, espacilly for the suprisingly low price. i will most likely buy the 100-400mm IS in the future though to zoom further and have IS.

"Perspective" and "Context" are the key words here. In the context of 154 dollars this lens totally rocks. From the perspective of someone who's livelihood does not depend on a camera (ie a non-professional) and who cannot afford to drop 500+ bucks for a lens this thing gets me very close to what a professional with a 500+ dollar lens can get in exchange for a little more patience and a tripod. Note: I did not say it gets me exactly what a pro with a 500+ lens can get -- the reviews I've seen are reasonably accurate, though in my opinion a bit harsh; c'mon, it's a 154 dollar lens... Okay, so what can I offer you of value? Well I can say that I have in fact gotten some very clear shots at full zoom without a tripod in exchange for having to take about three blurred shots for every sharp one (tip: try using burst for this, I've had splendid results). I can also say that I've had good luck with low light conditions. To be fair I'll add that I'm using a Canon EOS Rebel Xsi and it's a camera that does very well in less than ideal lighting conditions (I highly recommend CPL and UV filters - they help get the light you want to the electronics, reduce the light you don't want, and thereby yielding lower noise low light shots). For bad low light results on still objects - blame the camera not the lens. If the subject is moving in low light then yes, it's true a more expensive lens with faster focus and stabilization will yield usable results where this lens may not, no matter what camera you use. Ask yourself these questions: 1.) Does my livelihood depend on my camera(s)? 2.) Am I photographing more than 10 percent of my shots in less than ideal lighting? 3.) Are a significant portion of my shots going to be of subjects in motion? 3.) Can I afford to spend more than 500 bucks? If you answered yes to at least two of those questions then this lens is not for you - spend the extra money and get the extra quality and user-friendliness. If you answered yes to any one of those questions then this might be a good spare lens to have handy but not a primary. If you answered no to all questions and you have a little patience (see note about using burst to get about 1 in 4 sharp shots at full zoom w/out a tripod - results will vary based on lightening and caffeine) you can get some astounding shots for the price. Like say point it at Jupiter (for this you'll want a tripod) and notice you can cap it's brighter moons - it also takes very impressive base to peak / peak to base mountain shots if you can handle a little bit more expense for the CPL and UV filters (you should have these anyway if you're buying lenses that can use them, this one can, because they serve to protect the lens as much as they do to enhance the shots). I hope Canon makes versions of all their more expensive lenses for those of us on a budget. I do have the patience and I do shoot mostly still objects. For me this gets me very close (sometimes side-by-side) with the quality results achieved by professionals and were it not for these cost effective and well built (context - for 154 bucks the quality is outstanding). My only beef with this and some of Canons other lenses is the lack of a locking mechanism. It's not earth shattering and there are ways to pack lenses to keep things from moving, but a lock to keep things from moving while stored would have prompted me to give the overall rating that one final star. Good luck and remember - if you have to have 500 dollar quality and are gambling on 154 dollar items to deliver that quality consistently and in the same manner as a 500 dollar item - don't be so harsh when your expectations aren't met - you only push potential buyers away from products that some of us really enjoy and can actually afford (which tends to push manufacturers away from producing them).