Telephoto lens question.

Hello,

I know it is somewhat of a large topic, but here it goes. I have a friend who is looking to get a 20D and he needs a good telephoto lens preferably under $500, or just over it. Motorsports will be the main subject of the pictures, particularly dirtbikes. I was looking at the Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens which sells for around $400-$450. The Apature isnt as low as I would like it to be, expecially at the longer zoom, but it isnt bad. Two questions relating to this lens.

1.) Will IS really be worth the extra money?

2.) Has anybody had any experience with this lens they would like to share? I cannot seem to find a review on it or anything.

Lastly, I was wondering if there are any compareable lenses that I should look at? I was also wondering about the quality of the class on this lens, and others like it. I have the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM lens, which I beleive has some of the finest glass made. I was wondering if there is a noticable difference in the glass quality. Thanks a ton.

IS is worth the extra money, however on this lens, the IS is not USM and is not as effective as the IS on the more expensive lenses.

I owned this lens at one point. It was very soft from 200 to 300 mm and the focus is slow. I wouldn't recommend it as a lens of choice unless you get a really good buy on one that you can test first. Consider the Sigma EX or Tamron Di line of lenses. I consider both of those lines of better quality than the lens you're considering.

L lenses are the best lenses Canon makes and there is a huge difference between this quality of glass and the less expensive Canon line, as well as 3rd party lenses. Unless you get into high quality Zeiss lenses or a few other high end optics, it doesn't get any better than L.

Thanks for the feedback. I was wondering if you could recommend a good lens with good glass that has a wide range of zoom with a decent apature. Its hard for me to look through every lens made. Thanks.

Any Sigma or Tamron or Tokina users out there with experience with some of their telephoto lenses?

Sorry, I can't really give you anything positive or negative on any of those. But, I know several people here use Sigma. Check back later. I'm sure someone will have some thoughts on this.

Any Sigma or Tamron or Tokina users out there with experience with some of their telephoto lenses?

Sigma 70-300 APO Macro II F4-5.6 is good optically, but slow and innacurate autofocus on the long end would not be suitable for motorsports. I think a USM lens would be better for fast moving subjects.
I know the review isn't much help to you but just one lens you can rule out ;)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=206435&is=GREY

That one any good? Then it jumps to $$...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=183198&is=USA

This is driving me nutso!

The 70-200 f/4L is optically as good as your f/2.8, just a stop slower. It's worth the price difference IMO. But 200mm may not be enough focal distance length. Adding a 1.4TC would get you to 280mm (plus your 1.6 crop factor) and give you a max aperture of 5.6. A 2X would render the autofocus unusable at f/8, but there's a trick to make it work, albeit slow and so-s0.