Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens

[MrGreenBug]

The second photo is the best IMO -- feeling the motion and speed unlike the first photo where I was thinking if it was parked or moving. Nice photos nonetheless. []

[jeffersonposter]

I get that alot. I just like the detail in the "parked" shots.


JeffersonPoster

[wwp]

Buy the tripod collar, about $70.00, and you can use it on the 70-200m f/4 IS lens as well. wwp

[dbdb]

just to keep you all in the loop, i received my copy of the Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM lens last week


my first impressions of it, after a few indoor shots at home, were not too good as i was struggling with getting clean shots. plus, i'd not properly used a 200mm focal length lens before. i could tell that the build quality was clearly there, as soon as i held it though.


anyway, over the weekend, i decided to take it with me to my best friend's wedding, and i'm pleased to report that i have now fallen in love with this lens!!! it really started to shine in the daylight, and the AF performance is achingly good ...giving me super sharp images. and don't even get me started on the bokeh... creamy and dreamy - non of my other lenses are capable of producing anything like this kind of bokeh. and i soon got used to the fixed 200mm focal length - superb head/shoulder shots were made effortlessly.


as we moved indoors, i decided to up the ISO to 1600 whilst shooting at f/2.8 on my 450D, and that seemed to do the trick, in terms of stopping the action and eliminating camera shake. another cool thing i noticed too, was that people didn't notice that i was taking pictures of them, as the lens is relatively small, and also black. as i'm standing quite far away from them, capturing candid moments was easy!


i's so looking forward to using this lens again soon - thanks for all the advice from this thread guys!


=]

[jimgarvie]

Glad you decided to get the lens. Yes, it takes some getting used to not having a zoom and to hand-holding a 200mm lens (280mm on a crop body) but the lens itself is very sharp, relatively light and much more compact than the 70-200 zooms. I recently purchased the 200 F2.8 prime and after several shoots, both indoors and out, I sold my 70-200 F4L because it simply was not as sharp. I've been using the prime for several weeks now and love it, especially with the 1.4X extender which gives great reach and the resolution is still better than my old zoom.





There is no question that the 70-200 L lenses are great zooms. But there is equally no question that good primes are better than good zooms in terms of sharpness. The 200 F2.8L is an extraordinary lens that performs almost as well as the 135 F2.0L but has greater reach. You simply have to accept the fact that you'll not have the convenience of a zoom but you will be able to get better images if your technique is up to the quality of the lens.





Good luck with it and have fun.





Jim