Firmly on course to get addicted to photography again having bought my 350D, I purchased a Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM lens. This was my first experience of an L-series and Image Stabilisation lens and I really couldn’t bear being without IS on anything beyond 70mm now.

As I was told to expect, the lens is very heavy due to the construction, but it’s one of the best lenses available. I was torn between waiting for the 70-200 f/4L IS which has 4-stop IS (as opposed to 3-stop on this lens) but the extra light compensates for it slightly, and availability of the other lens is still unsure although it is due our soon. It may well be an economical alternative if anyone else is considering this type of lens if the pricing I’ve seen is correct. The weight makes it difficult to use as a general carry-around lens, but it’s an excellent wildlife, portrait and nature lens. I may consider a DO (Diffractive Optics) lens in the long run as a general carry-around lens to solve this problem.
I experimented a bit to try and work out how useful the 2.8 vs 4.0 aperture was going to be and so far I’ve had mixed results.. The control over the bokeh offered by the lens is a feature I wanted, which is already making me consider my next shorter lens.. something with a f/1.2 or similar aperture.

In terms of the next lens, I have considered the following:

EF 24-105 f/4L IS – Very nice general purpose lens for walking around with as it extends nicely into framing shots from further away.

EF-24-70 f/2.8L – Recommended by many over the 24-105 even without IS. Fast lens that would complement my 70-200mm well (albeit some overlap would be good).

EF 17-40 f/4L – Dedicated wide angle lens. Considered as an amateur alternative to the faster and more expensive 16-35 f/2.8L which would be better to achieve control over the depth-of-field.

MP-E65 f/2.8 macro – Dedicated macro lens with zoom factor. This is probably ideal as a macro option but limited otherwise, and expensive.

Interestingly, in the primes, the EF 35 f/1.4L, EF 24 f/1.4L IS or EF 50 f/1.8 II which one of the cheapest Canon lenses may have some potential for isolating the subject. I suspect for the next zoom the 24-105L f/4L IS will be most tempting due to the IS and more general purpose use, although having used a f/2.8 lens it will feel bad going with a slower lens.

Incidentally I purchased my 70-200 from Calumet on Wardour Street in London W1. The staff member who assisted me was very friendly and was perfectly happy for me to try the lens on my camera without question. He was also very open about his own views (he’s a Nikon person as he has about every lens he can get for them, but he viewed Canon IS as one of the best). I would highly recommend Calumet to anyone who wants to buy something more than a point-and-shoot.. They appear to have quite a bit in stock too – www.calumetphoto.co.uk

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 10th, 2006 at 1:30 am and is filed under photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.