Hey all.

All my new lenses i run through a simple sharpness test using a bob atkins chart. I picked up the 70-200 2.8 IS II on the current Adorama deal (after agonizing on that wallet hit- OUCH!!) However experience has showed me that canons quality control generally sucks..the only lens that i've bought that wasn't exchanged was the 50 1.8, and the 85 1.8. all my others have been exchanged for 'better' copies.

So to get to the point- this lens is renowned for its sharpness, and i always refer to the iso charts here as a guide of how a lens should perform. My xsi is my reference body- as my 7d is schizophrenic and exhibits too much noise (off to the shop, sigh).

I use a bob atkins chart against a wall. The lens shots so far look good, contrasty, consistent..but not what i would call really sharp. no hard edges on any of the lines. Ive taken several sets of shots at 2.8 through 70, 100, 135, and 200mm. they look ok. I put my trusty 24-105 back on the chart, and it is waaaay obvious that the sharpness is immaculate. every line and edge is 'hard', not a hint of soft anywhere. The 70-200 was meant to be shot at 2.8- and if its not going to be great here, then that affects the rest of the zoom range. Thats not good.

So of course, with the price of these lenses, im not settling for anything less than heaven. Ill run some more test, and ive compared my results against the results from the iso charts here, and the tests here looks sharper for sure.