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May 15, 2009
A two-week rental from www.rentglass.com
Immediate impression:
Heavy. Compared to my own lenses, this is a massive, solid piece of equipment. Start lifting weights, 'cause you'll need stamina to carry this with you all day. |
| Reviews of this lens are uniformly positive. You can't argue with super-fine glass, a 2.8 aperture, and near-instant autofocus. Throw in image stabilization, and this lens is probably well worth the US$1,800 price tag.
For the purposes of your own evaluation, the four images presented here are untouched as they came from the camera (Canon Rebel XT). Click any thumbnail for a larger version in a separate window (tab). |
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| f/7.1, 1/60, ISO400, 70mm |
f/5.6, 1/80, ISO400, 70mm |
f/2.8, 1/100, ISO400, 200mm |
f/4.5, 1/126, ISO400, 190mm |
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I won't go into the various switches...
Focus limiter...
Auto / Manual focus...
Image Stabilizer...
That's all stuff in the manual, and I know that we all like to read manuals. |
| I should point out that this is a second rental of a Canon 70-200 lens. My original review covered the f/2.8 version without image stabilization and appeared here in January 2007. For that one week, the sun never made an appearance and the results were not the best gauge of this lens. Here are three images taken during that overcast week, each linked to a larger 1600x1200 version — |
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My review, despite the weather, was utterly positive.
I expected the same lens with IS to be even better. |
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| I offer a series of shots taken Monday, May 25, 2009. It was Memorial Day and I forgot to turn off my normal workaday alarm. At 6:40AM, I was awakened as I am every normal Monday, and decided that I might as well get up. Filling the coffee pot at the kitchen sink, I looked out on my back yard and had an "Oh, %*#^&!!!" moment. I ran downstairs, grabbed the camera, and took a series of very bad photographs. Don't blame the lens, blame the idiot on the other side of the viewfinder.
View the following sequence in 1000-pixel version here. |
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I'm sorry. I rushed to shoot, and - in my defense - the rising sun was behind the bird. (Ah, if he'd only show up at sunSET and not sunRISE...) Photos are cleaned up and enhanced as much as my poor talents will allow. For those keeping score, settings on the EOS 50d were at f/13, 1/800th second, ISO400. |
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| I had another opportunity to rent this lens for the latter half of August 2009, especially for a family trek to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. This was a great chance to see what this lens could do in the hands of a tourist. In a three week span, I managed to snap about 3,000 photos, all with better-than-good results. Family photos aside, here are a random group of samples, which should give a good idea what the average amateur can do with a fantastic lens in hand. |
Random images from my backyard and a recent trip to Lake Tahoe with the 70-200 on a Canon 50d
All images link to 1440 x 900 version (which is my own screen resolution at the moment). |
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Spy cam? This shot was taken from a healthy distance.
f/5 - 1/1600 - ISO 400 @ 70mm |
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Chase the crows away
f/10 - 1/800 - ISO 200 - 200mm |
Example of bokeh?
f/5 - 1/500 - ISO 400 - 85mm
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Mountain blue jay
f/2.8 - 1/160 - ISO 400 - 200mm |
Lake shot
f/8 - 1/640 - ISO 400 - 70mm |
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Not the Geico gecko
f/8 - 1/250 - ISO 400 - 165mm |
Spy cam II
f/5 - 1/1250 - ISO 400 - 70mm |
Lake shot II
f/5 - 1/1000 - ISO 400 - 145mm |
Duck from a distance
f/5 - 1/1000 - ISO 400 - 175mm |
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| ...more to come... |
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