Hi Roland,


It's a great lens. Period.


My only gripe, if you can call it that, is the focal length - for me, it's too long for use in the house, and too short for wildlife/birds. Since you already have two 70-200mm lenses, you clearly know what you want to do with that focal length.


AF performance, sharpness, color and contrast, all excellent.


It does great in low light - although you wouldn't know it from the relatively bright image below, this shot was taken in my yard, about 30 minutes after sunset. This is before I shot everything RAW, so it's a jpg straight from the camera. The 100% crop shows good detail (including part of our house and some trees reflected in the eye). The shutter speed of 1/30 s at 200mm is a testament to the performance of the IS system.



[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer-Components-UserFiles/00-00-00-35-15/IMG_5F00_3079.jpg[/img] [img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/8/3122.IMG_5F00_3079crop.jpg[/img]
EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8<span style="color: #ff0000;"]L II IS USM @ 200mm, 1/30 s, f/2.8, ISO 1600


Here's one from a family outing to a local science museum, where this majestic fellow was being cared for after being shot in the wing. [8o|] The 'jittery' background bokeh is actually the wire mesh of the enclosure; the mesh in the foreground is effectively blurred out by the f/2.8 aperture.



[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_brain/4844142176/in/set-72157624462563459/lightbox/][/url]
EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8<span style="color: #ff0000;"]L II IS USM @ 200mm, 1/250 s, f/2.8, ISO 200


In short, it really is an excellent lens!


I do shoot in the rain occasionally, and the 70-200 II with a 1.4x extender gives me out to 280mm with the weather-sealing that my 100-400mm lacks (one reason I'm considering the new 70-300mm L). Here's a shot from a dim, drizzly morning with the extender. Even though that slows down AF speed (by Canon's design), AF is remarkably fast and accurate.


[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_brain/4844161720/in/set-72157624462563459/lightbox/][/url]
EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8<span style="color: #ff0000;"]L II IS USM + EF 1.4x II Extender @ 280mm, 1/2000 s, f/6.3, ISO 3200