Canon 70-300/f4-5.6 L

[Bobobird]

Adorama has the 70-300L for $1100 in-cart price. That's about the best deal you'll find on it new.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/N...aspx?News=3844

B&H has the same promotion I think.

That is almost 30% off from what I paid for it when first released.

The 100L and 70-200/2.8II as well. Could be more but have not checked.

[Geoff F]

I was thinking about that lens a little while ago but it hadn't been released in the UK at that time and the advanced order price was rather on the high side; so I purchased the old favourite - a 70-200 L IS (the F4 version).

A friend has recently bought the 70-300L and thinks it to be an excellent lens.

[rpcrowe]

I absolutely love my 70-200mm f/4L IS lens. However, if the 70-300mm f/4-5.6L lens had been available first, I would have bought it and I am sure that I would have loved that lens equally well.

So many photographers seem to think that the uses of a lens of these focal lengths are limited to sports, wildlife and zoo shooting. However, the 70-200mm f/4L IS is one of my favorite people lenses (both formal portraits and for candid people shots); for photographing my dogs (both indoors and out) and for isolating both landscapes and urban scapes. I use it 4-5x more often than I could ever use the f/4L non-IS lens. Simply because I can hand hold the IS lens in considerably lower light.

I selected the f/4L IS over the three f/2.8L (series) lenses because of the considerably lower weight. The 70-300mm L is also lighter in weight than the f/2.8L (series) lenses and would great for the same ways I use my 70-200mm f/4L IS lens...

[davidedric]

'snot fair. It's about the same number of £'s in the UK as $'s in the US. Mind you, I'm visiting the US next month..........

[rpcrowe]

'snot fair. It's about the same number of £'s in the UK as $'s in the US. Mind you, I'm visiting the US next month..........

I have sometimes noticed that the prices of some photo gear from B&H Photo & Video and from Adorama (both in New York City) are about the same in U.S. Dollars as they are in £'s in the U.K. Since the Pound Sterling is worth more than the U.S. Dollar, this equates to quite a difference in price. However, I don't know what your customs/tax people do about gear you have purchased in other than the U.K. when you return home.

BTW: If you have someone who lives outside New York State who can order an item online from either of the above vendors (who are very reliable), you don't have to pay the New York State and City of New York Sales Tax. I don't know the NY and City sales tax rate but, think it is in the area of ten percent or so - maybe a bit more!

Not to steal your thread but, how do I find the character £ on a computer. I cut and pasted the " £ " character from your posting to put it in this post.

[Geoff F]

Not to steal your thread but, how do I find the character £ on a computer. I cut and pasted the " £ " character from your posting to put it in this post.

Simple, Richard, you need a UK keyboard!

Or set your existing keyboard to UK settings. Once I accidentally changed by keyboard settings to US mode and lost the £ plus a few other items.

I think there is a method of adjustment to make these optional items available but it was fairly complicated; at least to me.

Some people use GBP as an alternative.

I just checked my best price for that lens and found £823 but this is from a Hong Kong based company. They do have UK offices though and goods arrive fairly promptly; without any extra tax being payable. I haven't had any problems when placing an order with them.

A friend once purchased directly from a different Hong Kong company which sold 'grey market' items without tax. They got around import charges by claiming that the items were the delivery of a personal gift which was exempt from UK import duty.

However, he had the package delivered to his business address so the UK Customs decided it must be for business use and charged him extra import tax.

Always something to check out it purchasing from foreign sources.