My very first L: Canon's EF 70-200 2.8L IS USM

After months of coveting, and after an entire agonizing week of waiting for its arrival, I finally, finally, got my hands on my own copy of the 70-200 2.8L IS USM.

The Canon EF 70-200 2.8L IS USM

I have to say that I am absolutely awed just by the sight of it and how it looks with the camera mounted on it.  Yes, I said the 'camera mounted on it'.  The lens is big!  I am awed even more by the quality of the images it produces.  Of course, I am also awed by how much I paid for it.  RM 6,385.  That is a lot of money.  That's actually more than twice the money I paid for my 450D and 18-55 IS kit lens combined!  But hey, I got this lens for its low light capability, and after my first few tries with it, I'm thinking it's large aperture and USM makes it ideal for low light.  Lets take a closer look at the lens.

Uhh.. is that a bazooka?  No, its a Canon!

But before we go any further, I just want to say that I won't go into a detailed review of this lens.  If that is what you're looking for, you can find many of those on a number of sites on the Net.  Just google 70-200 2.8.  As per my other posts, and as is the underlying theme of this blog, this is a novice's point of view of this hobby.  I just wanted to share my excitement of finally getting my own copy of this top notch lens!

The very first thing I noticed when I held the package from Pos Laju was that it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be.  I heard a lot of people on various forums discussing and complaining about the weight of this lens and how their backs ached after a few hours of use.  Well, it didn't feel that heavy.   I opened the packaging and held the lens in my hands and it felt good.  Solidly built.  The build quality is the best of any lens I have ever owned.  Of course, I have only owned entry level gear up until this point.

In the box, there was the lens, a petal shaped lens hood, a soft lens case, a user manual, warranty card/slip, and tripod ring.  Upon opening it, naturally, the first thing I did was look for any physical defects.  I was glad to have found none.  The second thing I did was to make a physical comparison with my current work horse telephoto zoom, which is the venerable EF-s 55-250 IS.  Take a look at the pic below and you will see that this 70-200 is huge compared to the 55-250.  And significantly heavier too.

The EF 70-200 2.8L IS USM along side the EF-s 55-250 IS

The next thing to do was, of course, mount the lens and see how it performs when taking pictures.  I must admit, I was initially a bit worried about things like back focus, and getting soft pictures with it.  I blame my past experiences with the EF 50 mm 1.8 MkII and the 55-250 IS for this expectation.  Both of those were not properly focus calibrated when I bought them.  So I was ready to see some of the same problems here.  But to my pleasant surprise, there was absolutely non of that.  The focus was dead on, exactly where I aimed it.  No back focus.  No front focus.

Another niggling thought in my head was focus accuracy.  Out of habit I developed with my 50 1.8 and 55-250, I'm accustomed to tapping the focus button twice or 5 times.  Each time, the focus will shift just a little bit, until it's focus is dead on.  And if I tap it again after that, it would be just slightly out of focus so that I would have to tap it once or twice more to get it back in focus. With the 70-200, I only need to tap the button once, and the camera locks focus, and it locks focus quickly. Subsequent taps on the focus button will not shift the focus one bit.  That means its accurate from the beginning.

The image quality?  Well, take a look below.  Most of my shots were wide open and I'll tell you now, I have never been so impressed at how sharp the images are, even when the aperture is wide open at 2.8 and the lens is on the longest end of the focal length, at 200 mm.   Here are some of the first few images that came out of the camera.

This was the very first picture I took with it.  Okay, okay, it was the third.  The first two, I screwed up because I was way too excited and eager to give it ago, I'd forgotten to set up the camera properly.  But in any event, the cherries above were shot handheld at 200 mm and wide open at f/2.8.   I did some minor post processing, namely changing to Landscape style, a bit of sharpening, reduced exposure by 1 stop, and added a touch of contrast.

Above are flowers from my wife's garden.  I had to take this shot and show it to my wife to justify (*sheepish grin*) the amount of money I spent on the lens.  Again, this was handheld at 200 mm and wide open at f/2.8.

Finally, this last shot below I took but a few minutes ago.  As I was wrapping up this blog entry, my daughter and wife called out to me and said that the sunset was really beautiful.  We have not had this type of sunset for about two months now, since it is the rainy season.  So I went out and took the pic with my 70-200.  This shot was also handheld at 200 mm, but at f/9.  And the shot was straight into the sun.  As you can see, there is no flare.

In conclusion, I'm thinking that this lens is really all that its hyped to be.  My only gripe is its price.  At RM 6,385, its the most expensive piece in my camera bag.  Also, the weight maybe a bit bothersome and as is the color but I think I can manage the weight after handling it for a while.  However, that white lens paint with the menacing black petal hood just screams of photog from a mile away.  I'm thinking its gonna be pretty difficult to get candids.   But all in all, I am extremely pleased with this lens.  This is my first L and I'm fairly certain that it will not be my last!