Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Manufacturer: Canon List Price: $1,257.71 Our Price: $639.99 You Save: $617.72 (49%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours  |
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| | Product Details: Manufacturer: Canon Model No: 2578A003 Rating:  View further technical information at Amazon | | Look for similar products by category: | | Customers who bought this item also bought: | | Customer Reviews: Much Lighter Than I Expected (20 July 2010)This lens is great! I keep thinking I need to be holding more weight or listening to focusing noises. The weight had me worried, but my Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras is just as heavy. This lens balances perfectly, and is virtually silent. At $650 for an L Class 70-200 zoom... WOW. Probably one of the best bargains out there for Canon users. This lens is very nice. I was also expecting my photos to be blurred, but I've had nothing but great results hand holding the lens at f4. I just keep the shutter speed around 1/60 or faster. 5/5 for sure. 70-200F4 Sharpest Glass I have ever owned (13 July 2010)Never found a soft spot in this glass. Loved this lens. Got rid of it recently because I wasn't doing much zooming and this is a heavy lens to lug around. Now that I have a 7D, I will have to reconsider!  Great pictures -- a little heavy and bulky (30 June 2010)The picture taking quality of this lens is hard to beat - good clear crisp edge to edge images. However if you are taking pictures in shade or low light, or want good depth of field and the shutter speed gets below 1/100 it is hard to hand hold without image blur from the shake. I do get some good pictures hand held at even 1/30 but not always -- monopod helps and tripod completely corrects the shake problem. I am not sure how much of this problem is corrected by the very expensive image stabilization offered in the 70-200 f/4L IS lens but I doubt it is worth the $500 difference. I do have a couple lenses with image stabilization and with low shutter speed and they can also blur. The main criticism I have of this lens is that it is heavy and bulky which makes it less pleasant to take on trips or hiking. I also have an EFS 55-250 lens, which doesn't take quite as good pictures but is shorter and lighter, and I find that I will select it for hikes. The EF 70-200 is too long to fit in my Canon Camera Carrier which means I need to carry it in a separate backpack. The two problems of size/weight and image stabilization can be worked around and top quality pictures can be taken with this lens. Added after original review; After taking pictures with this lens for three more weeks I find that I hate to take it off the camera -- it takes much better pictures than any of my lenses. Unfortunatly, now I won't be satisfied with any lens that isn't 'L'. Perfect image quality + outstanding value (29 June 2010)This review is for the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM zoom lens. I initially had some reservations about this particular lens, but it's been excellent since day one and I'm glad I bought it. It has earned a permanent place in my camera bag, and I highly recommend it. Here's why. So many versions of the 70-200mm L USM lens are available. You can get it with or without IS, as f/2.8 or f/4, and now the f/2.8 IS USM Mark II model is on the market. The f/2.8 versions are quite a bit more expensive, and from what everybody says, heavy. My camera is a Canon 50D. I try to only buy lenses that have an aperture of f/2.8 or faster, but the outstanding price of this L lens together with reading all the complaints about the weight on the f/2.8 version were enough to persuade me to buy this lens. I really haven't noticed much benefit from Image Stabilization on other Canon lenses I own, and actually find that under low-light conditions IS can sometimes cause the AF to hang-up and flash a "busy" message, so I didn't see the need to pay extra for the IS version of this lens. I just planned on using a tripod all the time with this lens.....turns out that under most conditions, this is not necessary. My first photos taken with this lens were hand-held and under low light, and the color and sharpness was fabulous - just what I've come to expect from L glass. A few days later went out for some landscape shots and forgot to bring my tripod. Again, excellent color and clarity, and no blurry shots at 'reasonable' shutter speeds. For landscape I found I could get a decent panorama at 70mm and then zoom in on a monument at 200mm. During this shoot I needed to take a few portrait shots, and again thanks to the 70-200 range there's no need to change lenses. Even at f/4 you can get awesome portrait-perfect bokeh with this lens. Fast-forward to my daughter's first swimming class. Olympic-sized pool housed in a poorly-lit building, shooting hand-held from the bleachers a couple hundred feet away, so flash is not a realistic option. This lens nailed every single shot at 200mm - I was amazed! No tripod, no flash, and out of 42 shots not a single one out of focus or over/under-exposed. Once again, faithful colors and detail so sharp you can see the water droplets in mid-air. This lens is quite light for its length - even lighter than my shorter Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM lens. I've read other reviews for this lens complaining about the weight, but I disagree. The weight of this lens is never a problem, the only concern walking around is the length (7 inches without the hood). Sure, if I had more money, I'd love to have the f/2.8 version for those moments when you really need a large aperture and the extra weight doesn't matter. Also, this lens does not come with a tripod ring, and it's a pretty good idea to have on on hand, especially if you're using a battery grip. There are several cheap ones available, but I've had good luck with the extremely overpriced OEM one: Canon Tripod Mount Ring A II (W) For 70-200mm f/4L Lenses. And if dust & moisture is a concern, only the IS models have environmental sealing, so you might want to pass this one up. I rarely go out shooting in damp or dusty climates, and I baby my gear so I should be fine for a few years. The bottom line: I love it! Sport's Lens (13 June 2010)I have used this lens for 3 to 4 months now, I shoot almost every weekend at show jumping events (equestrian competitions) and I am VERY happy with the lens. I have improved the sharpness of my photos significantly and since I use a monopod, I simply do NOT need the IS feature, This lens is LIGHT, sharp and fast at servo AF mode, I just can't think of a negative comment regarding this lens. I use a 1.4x Kenko ring too ($100 less than the Canon version) and even though that brings this lens to a 5.6 max. aperture, I can still shoot great, sharp pictures @ 1/1250 shutter speed in a foggy day with my humble Rebel XSI body (well, with some "manageable" noise @ 800 ISO, I agree...) Bottom line, I would buy it again if I had to choose for a LIGHT, fast and sharp lens, while keeping an eye (or two) on my wallet... |
