I am looking for a long-zoom and am especially attracted to this lens. It's one of Canon's new "Diffractive Optics" designs that offers a much smaller and lighter physical design than comparable zoom lenses. Of course it also features Canon's image stabilization.

I've followed comments about the lens on DPreview an other venues and am aware that occasional psycho-swirls might appear in an image. But I wondered if anyone from our community has yet worked with this lens?

(The Canon page is here (http://www.usa.canon.com/eflenses/lenses/ef_70-300_45/ef_70-300_45.html).)

My favorite review is Michael Reichmann's at the Luminous Landscape. (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/Canon-70-300mm.shtml) I got to play with one at a local store, last week. I was very impressed by the small size and light weight. Size and weight are important considerations for someone your age, too. If you can live with the slower apertures, you'll be fine. If speed is more important than size and weight, I'd opt for the 70-200mm F2.8 with Canon's superb 1.4x tele-convertor.

Thanks very much for that reference, Jeff. (And thanks also for the reminder that weight should be a prominent consideration for me. My AARP invitation arrived last week...no kidding. <g>) That's a very thorough review.

The 70-200 f2.8 is, indeed, on the list of finalists. It's such a faster lens and, at least on my 10D, has a nice reach that it's very tempting, too. But the bottom line from a practical perspective is that a smaller, lighter lens will likely get used more often than a larger, heavier lens. Regardless of its minimum aperture. My 10D's excellent high-ISO properties partially offset the F4.5 deficit.

Now, about the 1DMII...

Well, since my last post I upgraded my camera to the new EOS 1D Mark II. It's a different ball game, but that's a matter for a different thread.

But my lovely wife gave me the Canon 70-300 f4.5 DO IS lens for my birthday! I've only spent one solid day shooting with it so far but I can safely say that this is quite a lens and certainly the best choice for me. It's actually smaller and lighter than my 24-70 f2.8L, something that boggles me.

Regarding Canon's "Diffractive Optics" design, all I can say is that I've seen absolutely no anomalies or aberrations from this design after perhaps 100 RAW shots, many near water where I would have expected whirls to appear in reflections.

Dont know much about the lens in question but I can cope with the size of the 70-200 f2.8 when I factor in the Image Stabilization--an amazing technology.