List Price: $9,500.00
Sale Price: $5,699.00
Today's Bonus: 40% Off
Pros:
Super fast auto focus
Speed, F/2 at 200mm!!
Unbelievable perfect 10 Images!!
This lens WILL get you attention
Otherworldly image stabilization!
Great build quality weather sealed
Fantastic perfect buttery smooth Bokeh
What a lens case! More like a high quality hard cover suitcase
The absolute best in-door concert and event lens ever created!
Cons:
Heavy and huge
This lens WILL get you attention
This is a lens cap; you gotta be kidding me! It won't fit with hood in ready to shoot position only in stored position!
Ok, what lens bag can I purchase to have this lens and my camera and the hood extended in a ready to shoot position?
Assembly:
I've always lusted after this lens and finally have my hands on one but there are a few things you don't think about. Probably like when you first win the Lotto and purchase your first Lamborghini there will be some details not in your dreams. The case was smaller then I expected but is very nice having very high quality aluminum build with lock and carrying handle (see photo I uploaded). The case even includes a set of two keys; not that locking it would do any good if the thief knew what was inside. The first thing you notice upon opening is the strange lens cap and hood assembly. The lens system takes some assembly to get ready to shoot each time since you have to remove this strange weird leather with a draw string lens cap, unscrew the hood attaching screw and reverse. If you buy and like to shoot at a moments notice you will want to purchase a large quality photo bag.
Mounting and setup:
Mounting the lens is almost a mount the camera to the lens affair but not quite as you can still do it either way. It feels a little fat and a little bit heavy if you are coming from say a Canon 70-200 F/2.8 L or 100-400 L lens. If you are used to those two lenses you will have a similar feel at first except that the hood is pretty large on the end making the lens seem bigger then it is and it's a little bit front heavy in comparison. If you are coming from smaller lenses you are going to say holy cow this thing is huge! If you have just used a Canon 500mm f/4.0 L IS then you are going to think man this lens is very light and even hand hold able. But I say handhold with caution as my back was aching after an hour of use. For extended portrait sessions I would suggest using a monopod. And it has an excellent tripod ring with perfect tensions knob and spring loaded detents when rotating. When using without the monopod or tripod I have found it's best to keep the ring rotated upside down as it makes a good carrying handle and if you also rotate the lens hood upside down so that the tightening knob is on top the entire assembly lens camera and all will sit pretty flat.
Controls:
All the controls were for me well placed and I rarely touched them. The manual focus ring is perfectly placed and perfectly dampened and you will never need it. Auto focus on this lens is blazing fast the fastest I have ever experienced.
IS off switch, leave it ON! Unless you are shooting birds in flight or maybe trying to track a football player just leave IS ON. It even knows when you mounted it on a tripod and continues to work well. More about IS later.
There's a 2-position focus limiter switch that limits the minimum focus distance to 11.5' (3.5m) to infinity. Forget that! You don't need it. This lens focuses so fast from minimum to infinity it's a non-issue. So just leave it set to 6.2' (1.9m) so you don't end up forgetting and wondering what the heck is wrong.
Preset focus system, there is a focus record Off On Record button on the control panel and preset go to buttons near the end of the lens. Don't worry about them, you won't need them this thing is an auto focus lighting bolt!
Stabilizer Mode 1 and 2 buttons, 1 is for vertical and horizontal and 2 for horizontal panning only. This system works so well and so much better then my old Canon 100-400 IS L that I just leave it in the 1 position no matter what I am doing and it's just fine. On my Canon 100-400 IS L I have to turn if off when panning rapidly as it can't keep up and produces a dark area in the exposure sometimes. I could not get it to fall behind no this lens, like I have said before the IS on this lens is the best there is!
Image Stabilizer:
Otherworldly, insane, impossible, rare, perfect, out of sight, crazy, what other adjective could I possibly use to describe the most perfect Image Stabilizer (IS) I have ever used. You can get crazy and get all the way down to 1/15s and still get sharp shots although for consistency I found 1/30 second to be more like the actual limit.
Image Quality:
You probably thought I would never get here. Remember those adjectives I just used to describe the IS earlier. Well they all apply here. Image quality taken with this lens with a high-end camera such as a Canon 5D Mark II are: Other-worldly, insane, impossible, rare, perfect, out of sight, crazy.
They are so perfect I'm sure for the first time I am seeing what this sensor can actually do. I thought I was seeing everything with my Canon 85mm F/1.2 II L lens stopped down to F/4 as it's been the sharpest most resolving power lens I have used so far on my Canon 5D Mark II and I thought it didn't get any better then that. Well not so, the Canon 200mm F/2 IS L lens blows it away! You will see every eyelash, every pimple, and every defect, but also every lovely feature of each person's face when you use this lens for portraiture. It's as good wide open at F/2 as the 85 at F/4 and gets even sharper and clearer at F/2.2 and even clearer at F/2.5. After that the only thing you get is a little more depth of field, which you just might need as at minimum focus distance wide open the depth of field or DOF is razor blade thin.
It's so good in fact that higher ISO shots which didn't show noise or very little noise in out of focus areas are now showing noise. At first I thought I was seeing things but after going back and looking at 3200 ISO shots with other lenses on my 5D Mark II there is very little noise. But the resolving power of this lens shows every little thing including more noise at higher ISO's. But shoot at 50 to 200 ISO and the photos are impossible to describe. The little JPEG's samples you can download off the web do NOT do this lens justice. Pixel peeping 100% exploration with the original RAW files is not a must to truly appreciate. And speaking of JPEG's make sure you always shoot in RAW and process using Canon's Digital Photo Professional (DPP) or you won't be seeing what this lens can really do.
Bokeh:
Oh my GOD! Nothing prepares you for it, you get back to your high def computer screen and pop up the first images taken with this lens and the Bokeh takes your breath away. So buttery smooth you wonder how it's not an optical illusion. So perfect people will ask how did you pull that off in Photoshop and their mouth drops open when you say it's all from the lens.
DOF:
The depth of field or DOF on this lens is so well defined on this lens it looks like someone drew a line and said BOKEH on one side and RAZOR SHARP on the other. At the risk of over using this statement I've never seen anything like it.
Sharpness:
I like my photos sharp. Sometimes I am asked why so sharp. Because I like it that's why. With my other lenses I end up either leaving the sharpness in the middle or adding some. With this lens especially at F/2.2 or F/2.5 you can slide the sharpness down to 0 and its sometimes still too sharp for portraiture!!
Attention:
This lens will get it. Almost everywhere you go people will talk, stare, and ask questions even more so then with my other white L lenses. This could be good or bad. Good for your ego but bad if you don't like answering the same questions over and over. I personally like it and use the time to hand out my business card and chat up potential customers. Think of this lens as part of your advertising budget.
Conclusion:
It's heavy on the pocketbook, and it gets heavy on your back and shoulders and it attracts attention. But if you want to see what your very high-end digital camera or film camera can really do there is only one way to see it. Buy this lens. For all the positive reasons above I am highly recommending the Canon 200mm F/2 IS L lens if you can afford it. If you shoot quality high-end portraits or need this focal length for in-door sports you can't go wrong.
4-17-2009 Update:
I'm falling in love with this lens, head-over-heals in love. The tripod mount is fantastic, easily adjusted and has spring loaded detents every 45 degrees making it easy to rotate from portrait to landscape without messing with your tripod and to rotate to the upside down position for carrying by the mount.
Just got back from a model photo shoot at the park the park I usually go to. And... I thought my Canon 100-400 IS L lens and 70-200 F/2.8 L lens got attention. But they have absolutely nothing on this lens! Not ONE person was unaffected by it's presence! Everyone either had a comment or question or was very quick to jump out of the way and say excuse me during the shoot or had to simply stop and stare. I never handed out so many business cards or answered so many questions. Typical questions were "How far does it shoot?" and "What do all those buttons do?" If you crave attention this lens is absolutely for you. If you crave fantastic image quality this lens is for you. It's a little long for portraiture on a full framed sensor and probably too long on a cropped sensor camera. But I love the compression the 200mm provides and find it worth it even if I have to use hand signal to my model.
4-25-2009 update:
Just got back from an in-door band photo shoot and I must say this is where this lens may be at it's absolute best. If you need the 200mm reach and F/2 speed and super IS to get a shot in the dark at a concert, play, etc then there is no real alternative with the closest lenses being the 135mm F/2 (no IS and shorter focal length) and the Canon 300mm F/2.8 IS L (longer and 1 stop slower).
Alternatives:
Don't like the large: size, price and/or weight of this lens, but want 85 to 90% of this lens sharpness and usability for portraiture and / or in-door sports? Try the Canon 135mm F/2 L lens. This is a fantastic lens that I still use to this day especially when I want a lighter stealthier lens. No it's not quite as sharp and no it doesn't have IS but it's very light, small, stealthy (black) and it cost's less then 1/5th what this lens costs.
01-11-2012 Update: Still stunned at what this lens can deliver click here to see stunning images I have taken with this lens
Other lenses reviewed:
Canon 15mm Fisheye F/2.8, crazy ultra wide wall bending fun!
Canon EF-S 17-55 F/2.8 IS Ultra sharp, great colors, great low light, poor zoom action
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Rebel XTi Kit lens Muddy, slow, pile of junk
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L Fantastic colors, sharp zoomed 17 to 24mm, ultra smooth zoom action, light weight
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L Fantastic colors and contrast, sharp zoomed 40 to 70mm, zoom a little stiff at first, heavy, repair prone!
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Good budget portrait lens, light weight, disposable, sharp from F/2.5
Canon EF 85mm F/1.2 L II The best portrait lens for female and children clients, buttery smooth Bokeh, heavy and expensive it shares sharpness with 135mm
Canon EF 135mm F/2.0 L The best portrait lens for males and tied with Canon 85mm F 1/.2 for sharpest lens I own, buttery smooth Bokeh
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L fantastic colors, sharp for a zoom, very versatile ego boosting and attention getting and heavy! My favorite zoom lens!!!
Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L great IS, super colors, sharp for a zoom, extremely versatile, variable Bokeh, even more ego boosting and attention getting when extended and 400mm reach!!
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