Canon EF 5,6 100-300mm L

This Canon zoom was a genuine milestone in the company’s history. It holds the title of being the first-ever standard zoom to earn the legendary "L" badge, which represents Canon's uncompromising commitment to peak optical and mechanical performance. It also introduced a faster, quieter era of focusing thanks to the then-new Ultrasonic Motor (USM).
 

Back in the 1990s, this was my workhorse standard zoom across multiple EOS bodies. It accompanied me from the EOS 650 and 620 to the EOS 600, until it ultimately found a permanent home on my EOS-1N.
To this day, I am incredibly impressed by its mechanical construction; it truly feels like a substantial, heavy-duty instrument made of pure glass, metal, and premium plastics.

These days, it’s one of my favorite lenses for hybrid road trips where I routinely shoot film (on the EOS RT or EOS-1N) alongside digital (on my Sony A7 III).
 

Granted, the lens has its optical quirks. When shooting wide open—particularly at the wide end—performance drops a bit. However, that’s a compromise I’m entirely willing to make. For landscapes between 28mm and 35mm, I just stop down to f/5.6, or use f/8 to f/11 to pull out the best possible corner resolution. At the 80mm telephoto long end, the outer edges are admittedly a bit soft as well, but since I mostly use that focal length to separate my subject from the background at f/4, edge-to-edge sharpness isn't really a priority anyway.