Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Lens




At the time of my writing this, this lens has become my "staple" lens for use with my EOS 10D. I absolutely love it... it has a great range, is capable of taking incredibly sharp images, is as fast as I can imagine really wanting (at f/2.8), and when combined with one of Canon's extenders, it becomes more versatile still.

At this point I've probably taken around 3,000 pictures with it (enough to form an opinion I'd say), and thus far am convinced that its' upsides outweigh its' downsides.

- It is noteworthy that it's a heavy lens. Being a big guy who doesn't have a problem hauling around a fair bit of equipment, I don't find this to be much of an issue -- but even for me I do find my arms getting tired after a full day of shooting. This is the price you pay for a lens this long, that is this fast. This also means that when shooting, you don't want to let the camera mount support the weight of the lens (though you typically wouldn't with a long lens anyway, would you?)

- Again, it's fast. While it isn't that often that you'll necessarily want such a drastically reduced depth of field as to use the f/2.8 capability of the lens, it is still nice to have it there if/when you want it.

- The range of the zoom itself doesn't necessarily fit everyone's tastes (Tim Grey for example, is VERY quick to point out that he'd find the 100-400 to be more to his liking if he had to pick one lens for a day of shooting), but I find it to be quite nice. It isn't all that often that I find myself wishing it could go shorter, and when I want to go longer I just pull out a teleconverter (and again praise it's speed, as the aperture loss with the teleconverters is much more "livable" as a result).

- The USM autofocus is quite nice. Quick and quiet, just the way I like it.

- It is of coures an IS lens, which can be extremely handy for hand-held photography (especially when shooting at 200mm or longer).

- Interestingly enough, the foot of the lens collar works VERY well as a hand-held support point when shooting, allowing for a comfortable hold while still having your offhand close enough to zoom in or out without having to adjust your grip.

- To my happy preference, it has the standard rotate zoom control (rather than the push-pull zoom control that the Canon 100-400 L series lens uses -- something that I have heard many people complain about).

- I must admit that it is an expensive lens. Not compared to the very long lenses, but for a mid-range telephoto zoom lens, it is on the pricy side - even for an L-series lens.

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