The big monster has arrived. The Canon L series 70-200mm f/2.8 max aperture zoom in all its white colored 
splendor! Photopurity has taken some time to spend with the pro series lens from Canon and give an in depth user review. Canon’s current lens lineup generall fall into one of these three categories:
- Budget Consumer Lens
- Mid Range Consumer Lens
- Professional Series Lens
The budget series are usually (but not always) the kit lens that are included in bundles with the Canon Rebels and such. They are cheap, made primarily of plastic and offer average image quality. This of course is a generalization that may not be accurate of the entire class.
The mid range or more expensive consumer lenses offer such outstanding optics as the
The Canon L 70-200mm f/2.8 Image Stabilized USM lens is one of the most popular professional lens sought after by canon users in the market. Its sharpness is reportedly “prime-like”, we’ll take a look at that lofty praise and see if the lens measures up.
Size and Weight
The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM is a big lens, you can’t get around it. To offer that zoom range with a constant
Even at f/2.8 the image is incredibly sharp with a good overall contrast
f/2.8 aperture throughout the zoom means you have to let a lot of light in and that’s why the 70-200 measures 3.4″ wide by 7.8″ long and weighs a solid 3.24lbs. Yes, its quite big. You’re not going to be attaching this to a super stealthy spy camera that you slip into your wallet but then if you’re considering this lens you shouldn’t be worried about that. Nonetheless, for even the biggest and strongest of photographers, this lens attached to a 5D or larger body is a heavy combination and isn’t something you’ll want to carry all day long. This is a lens designed for low light indoors performance and you’ll know when you want to use it.
Fit and Finish
The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM is a pro series lens so as expected, it features a quality finish albeit in a bright white color as opposed to the typical black of most optics. The finish is pretty good not prone to scratching or peeling however I have witnessed some noticeable scratches on abused versions of this lens that have been through some rough handling. I guess the standard disclaimer applies, if you don’t treat your equipment well then you should expect some wearing to occur. For most purposes the finish of the Canon 70-200 will hold up more than sufficiently.
Ergonomically speaking the Canon is about average in its design. There is only so much you can do with a lens of this size though. There is an on/off switch for the stabilization, another switch for the type of stabilization and also a zoom focus limiter to keep your focus quick and snappy (more on this in the Autofocus section). The Canon 70-200 is a fixed length zoom so there is no zoom lock nor a need for one. The zoom action is nice and smooth in both directions, very easily manipulated by one hand. A full time manual focus override ring is available to be grabbed at any time for pin point focus corrections. In a nutshell, everything is right where you expect them to be. No nasty surprises here. (No awards to be given out either for innovations).
Image Stabilization
(For an explanation on Image Stabilization and its benefits please read this article)
Canon pioneered image stabilization and called it IS. Each of their lens that feature stabilization bare the initials IS in their titles. In my opinion IS is a feature well worth whatever price it commands. However, the price it can command is not always equal among lenses. For example the IS version of the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 USM is over $650 more than the $1349 price tag of the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 Non-IS USM lens. Compare this to a similar L series lens, the Canon 70-200mm F/4.0 IS USM lens the difference between the IS version and the Non-IS version is only $280. Quite a sizeable difference in cost between the IS versions.
The IS system in the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 USM is effective. It buys you approximately 3 stops of handholdability. I liked to shoot at 200mm on a full frame camera at 1/30th and got consistently clear shots. The few blurry results I got was typically because either my subject was moving faster than 1/30th or because I had gotten so lazy in my holding technique I was taxing the IS system’s ablities. With good technique 1/30th and even 1/15th is definitely possible on still subjects at the 200mm range.
I personally believe in the value of IS especially at the longer focal reaches of a lens. At the near side of 70mm and using the max aperture of F/2.8 with this lens its not often difficult to naturally achieve a 1/60th or better shutter speed but at the long end of 200mm its not always easy to keep the rule of thumb and achieve a 1/200th shutter speed. This is where the IS really makes it worth the cost. When you can get those nice sharp pictures at 1/30th or 1/60th at 200mm where with other lenses you only have blurry results you get that warm fuzzy feeling on the inside and you know it was worth the price.
Autofocus
The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 is a popular lens among photographers for sports (both indoor and outdoor). As such, its expected, perhaps even demanded that the lens provide accurate and extremely swift autofocus results. The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM is no slouch in this department thanks to the Ultrasonic focusing motor in the lens the Autofocus system is whisper quiet and extremely accurate. Taking actions shots of my rapidly moving beagles at play in the backyard yielded excellently focused results. Although I’m of the opinion that the camera body matters more than the lens in the autofocus equation, I would expect this lens to perform fairly admirably on virtually all of Canon’s lineup provided the right techniques are used.
Image Quality
Although downsized to be web friendly this picture holds up remarkably well under even the tightest pixel-peeping.
Image quality can be subjective to many viewer’s eyes. Not only can different people have different tastes, the price they are willing to pay to achieve those results can vary. One thing is for certain though, for the $2K that you sink in the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM it had better deliver great results. No one is willing to shell out pro money for poor performance. So does the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM deliver?
Cost and Conclusion
The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM retails brand new for $1999.99. Its a very expensive lens and its price tag has stopped more than one photographer from taking the leap. For the cost I would say there are probably better offerings however one thing that must be considered because its important, with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 USM IS you are getting the absolute best lens that is made by Canon in this zoom range, there is nothing better, no step up from here. There are some alternatives (both by Canon and 3rd party vendors) but none have the same aperture, IS or zoom range, this is the end of the line. If you go with either a non-stabilized zoom or a stabilized zoom with a lesser aperture then in the back of your mind you’re going to wonder whether you’re missing out. Still, your wallet will be a lot happier if you don’t. I can’t tell you what to buy but I can say that the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM is a fantastic lens…whether its worth its high price tag is a decision every consumer has to make for themselves.
What I can say is this, the lens is the finest that I’ve ever used and provides immaculate results that even I couldn’t nitpick. The only disadvantages of this lens is the things that even Canon can’t change, weight and size. The lens is heavy and the decision to purchase this lens shouldn’t be made without at least considering this. If you’re going to be carrying your camera and this lens all day I can guarantee you will be sore at the end of the day. However, if you’re accepting of the weight, the size and the cost then you will not find a better lens. It is absolutly an excellent performer in all respects and I highly recommend it.
