70-200mm f/2.8L IS II Test images

[btaylor]

Hi Guys! Well the new 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II was waiting for me in the living room last night when I (finally) got home from work.


Initial impressions are:


- It's bloody heavy compared to the 70-200mm f/4L IS!!!


- Build quality is simply amazing. On the zoom ring you can ever so slightly feel the gears working which I really like. Everything is built really well. The new lens hood snaps into place nicely and the tripod collar is rock solid. There's nothing I would improve in terms of build.


- Image quality is outstanding, very very sharp wide open. In fact I don't think I've taken a shot stopped down yet because I'm so happy with it wide open. As good as, if not better than my 70-200 f/4L IS wide open. Contrast is spot on, bokeh is delicious.


- Autofocus is very very quick, and silent.


- IS works very well, hand holding as low as 1/10sec is easily achieved.


- It looks rather sexy on my 5D2.


Here's a few test shots I just took of the dish lickers (Jack and Tilly) in the back yard. Nothing too special just yet but I wanted to be able to post something for you to look at.


5D2, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II @ ISO 200, f/2.8, 200mm, 1/2000sec


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5D2, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II @ ISO 400, f/2.8, 190mm, 1/1250sec


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5D2, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II @ ISO 400, f/2.8, 102mm, 1/2500sec


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5D2, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II @ ISO 400, f/2.8, 200mm, 1/640sec


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All images are straight out of camera, exported to JPEG from CS4. Needless to say I'm pretty stoked. I had some issues getting it because it was stuck in customs in Cairns for a bit and the cyclone came through and flooded the customs warehouse, luckily the lens didn't see any water.


I had to give it a -1 autofocus microadjustment so it's pretty close straight out of the box. I'm glad I upgraded, it's a really fantastic piece of gear that will now last me a long time.


I'm off to take it for another lap out and about now.


Cheers,


Ben.

[Richard Lane]

Congrats on the new lens Ben!


Nice images! The contrast on the black and white dog looks very nicely exposed. This lens does it all; contrast, resolution, bokeh, fast AF, zoom, IS.


What else could anyone want in a lens? OK.., besides a 200-400mm f/4L IS with built in 1.4X extender!


It works great with the 1.4X extender as well.


Enjoy your new toy!


Rich

[btaylor]

Thanks Rich, yep the teleconverter

[Richard Lane]

Some people aren't that pleased with it, but I'm very happy with the 2X as well, especially for stationary objects in good lighting, since the lens essentially becomes a f/5.6 with a 75% reduction in AF speed.

[btaylor]

Yep not everyone's happy with the combo. The way I see it for me, if I wanted the extra reach the 1.4x could provide me I'd just use my 40D. BUT I'm so in love with my 5D2 that I'd be more likely to use it with the 2x extender than the 40D with nothing. I'm a little bit hooked on the images from the 5D2 so the 40D doesn't get much use these days. It's good to have as a backup though.


The 2x extender combo images look sharp enough to me, but you're right it'd be best used for stationary objects. DOF at 400mm is still nice and shallow at f/5.6.


I wonder how much the reduction in AF speed would hurt. At the moment AF is pretty much instantaneous. 1.75 x bugger all = still bugger all []

[btaylor]

Oh, by the way. "Bugger All" isn't some sort of foul language. A bit of Australian slang I suppose meaning "very little". I often forget about the language differences between us and... well... the rest of the world. []

[HDNitehawk]

Very nice btaylor...congratz


I got mine last week, and I was really impressed with the IQ. I have never had a canon zoom that I could crop so much out of, until now.

[Richard Lane]

I wonder how much the reduction in AF speed would hurt. At the moment AF is pretty much instantaneous. 1.75 x bugger all = still bugger all [img]/emoticons/emotion-2.gif[/img]

That would be correct!


The AF speed is still very useable, as you mentioned 75% slower X very fast is still fast.


The AF speed reduction as reported by Canon, has to due with the smaller aperture of f/5.6 as well as the reduction in IQ from the extender.


By the way, in case you weren't aware, the 1.4X extender has a 50% reduction in AF speed.





Rich

[JJphoto]

you know I

[btaylor]

Yeah I was a little hesitant as well JJ. But so far I've got no regrets purchasing this one. It's a big step up from the f/4L IS in my opinion. Here's a couple more I took this afternoon.





A bit of new growth after a bush fire just went through this area:


5D Mark II, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II @ ISO 100, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/3200 sec.


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5D Mark II, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II @ ISO 500, 200mm, f/8, 1/500 sec.


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5D Mark II, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II @ ISO 400, 200mm, f/8, 1/640 sec.


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