|
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS II - Full Format Review / Test Report |
|
Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (Full Format)
|
|
Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published April 2010
Introduction
Fast tele zoom lenses a la 70-200mm f/2.8 are one of the key players in a lens lineup.
These lenses are used by many profession photographers, especially photo journalists, and
they're also very popular among "prosumers". Canon dominated the market in the early AF
years - the EF 80-200mm f/2.8L and EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L were pretty much legendary and
excelled most of the competition at the time. In 2001 Canon shocked Nikon & Co. by releasing
the first IS lens in this segment - the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS. Initially the lens was
perceived with some enthusiasm but soon thereafter it became also obvious that it wasn't able
to match its non-IS predecessor in terms of quality especially at 200mm (where it counts the
most with respect to tele-converters). A few years later Canon released the EF 70-200mm f/4 USM L IS
which proofed to be a vastly better lens and the community started to get a little impatient.
In early 2010 Canon listened to the calls by releasing an improved EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L II
featuring a next generation IS and, of course, a supposedly better performance. Well, so let's
have a look ...
The build quality of the 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L II is truly superb. It's mostly made of tightly
assembled metal parts - there's no wobbling whatsoever and the rubberized control rings operate
very smooth. Just like its predecessors the lens does not extend during zooming nor focusing.
Thanks to an IF ("inner focusing") system the front element does not rotate so using a polarizer
is no problem.
The lens incorporates a new third-generation Image Stabilizer (IS) with a claimed gain of
4 f-stops for hand held photography (at cost of shutter speed). This is indeed achievable in
field conditions. Unlike the consumer variants the IS system has 2 modes - a normal one for static
shooting (horizontal + vertical stabilization) and a panning mode (horizontal OR vertical
stabilization - the panning direction is automatically detected). It also features tripod
detection so the IS can remain activated here.
Typical for most modern EF lenses it features a ring-type USM drive which offers near silent
and extremely fast AF operations. The AF accuracy was great during our field tests.
The 70-200mm mk II is compatible to both the EF 1.4x (-> 98-280mm f/4) and EF 2x (-> 140-400mm f/5.6)
tele-converters. Live-View AF is decently fast although not comparable to the normal phase
detection AF - this is more a limitation by the camera rather than the lens though.
The similarities between the various 70-200mm f/2.8 variants are quite interesting so let's
have a short look at the paperwork here before going on to the test results.
|
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L |
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS |
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L IS II |
| Release Date |
1995 |
2001 |
2010 |
| Elements/Groups |
18/15 |
23/18 |
23/19 |
| Special Elements |
4x UD |
4x UD |
1x CaF2 + 5x UD |
| Image Stabilizer Efficiency (*) |
none |
3 f-stops (with tripod detection) |
4 f-stops (with tripod detection) |
| Aperture blades |
8 |
8 (circular) |
8 (circular) |
| Min. focus (magnification) |
1.5m (1:6.25) |
1.3m (1:5.9) |
1.2m (1:4.8) |
| focal length @ min. focus (200mm) |
178mm |
161mm |
172mm |
| AF motor |
ultrasonic with FTM |
ultrasonic with FTM |
ultrasonic with FTM |
| Zoom type |
"true" IF |
"true" IF |
"true" IF |
| Size |
85x194mm |
86x197mm |
89x199mm |
| Weight |
1310g |
1470g |
1490g |
| Filter size |
77mm |
77mm |
77mm |
| water/dust protection |
no |
yes |
yes |
| approx. Price (EUR) |
~1200€/US$ |
~1850€/US$
(now discontinued) |
~2450€/US$ |
|
