A constant-aperture 70-200mm f/2.8 ‘trinity’ zoom is often the go-to telephoto lens for enthusiast photographers, but they tend to be big, heavy and expensive, and they’re certainly not the only option. The 70-300mm zoom range is something of a classic, stretching back to the 35mm film era. These lenses typically have a slower, variable aperture range of around f/4-5.6 but they give more powerful reach on a full-frame camera, and go further still on APS-C format bodies, with an effective range of around 105-450mm (112-480mm for Canon), which is stretching into super-telephoto territory.
Other advantages of 70-300mm zooms are that they’re relatively compact, lightweight and easy to live with, especially for travel, action, sport and wildlife photography. The slower aperture rating compared with f/2.8 zooms isn’t necessarily a drawback, considering…