Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

I've tried to get the most of my camera equipment but I've always felt that something was missing when I see other shots that just look better than mine. Digging into it a little I noticed that almost every pro that I saw shooting Canon equipment was using the 70-200 2.8 IS L. I gave it a try and it's truly the "great equalizer." I'm using it now as my go-to telezoom lens because it just looks better on all my shots. Naturally sports it's a huge plus shooting high shutter speeds while the IS lets you hand hold. In motor sports the multi function IS lets you pan smoothly while still keeping the image from jumping around. It's taken my photos to the next level. Oh yeah, it is heavy, but I'll sacrifice weight over image quality anytime.

I work in commercials, specifically in motion graphics and graphic design. On the side I have a small photography business. [...] is my side business's website, from there you can rate my professionalism.

For it's medium range, it's the most excellent lens in it's class I have or have used, bar none. In the words of a buddy of mine, the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM is sharp and fast; just like the price.

It's bulky, and I only found one bag locally I could buy to carry this juggernaut in. It comes in around 3.1 lbs I believe, which makes it almost 3 times the weight of my camera body. Don't worry, your wrist will adjust to the weight after 2 weeks. If you put this lens on your camera every soccer mom with an SLR and junior high kid will seek you out and comment, "that's a huge lens you have."

There's a host of sites that give you technical specs based on what body you're using, full-frame or digital-frame, etc. But this lens is so good you really see the difference in the minute settings of your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. With a lens like this you'll really get a feel for your camera and experiment more and more with the creative controls (Tv, Av, and M).

This lens is great for candids - especially if you are doing weddings or parties - for portraits, and with it's f/2.8 you get great, great shots without the flash; essential for party and dinner and intimate settings. Before this lens I was only keeping around 20% of my shots after photoshop. With this lens I get so many great shots it's hard to choose what to keep and what not to keep. (And once you discover shooting in RAW, and you get a good RAW editor, like the one in photoshop, modifying a photo takes about 1.5 minutes instead of the 20 or so in photoshop doing all the highlights and adjustment layers, etc.)

As another wedding photographer told me, I shall tell you: a lot of times you'll put this lens on and never change it out. Apart from architecture or landscape shots, it's a great, quality lens that makes you feel confident in your professional gear - if you don't already (and it better, considering the price)!

I bought this first for portraits on a full frame camera (5DMkII) and second as a wildlife lens with Canon 1.4x and 2x extenders (for 280mm F4 and 400mm F5.6).

First the good: The lens does not extend when zoomed, a convenience in many situations. The large aperture is good for viewfinder brightness and autofocus.

Now my disappointments:

With extenders, this lens is terrible...actually terrible isn't my word of choice, but this is a family website. In my controlled testing, I found that I had to stop down to F8 with the 1.4x and F11 with the 2x, if I wanted even decent sharpness. So much for wildlife. The 100-400 is far superior in that role.

Normal use is also disappointing, as F4 is really the largest aperture that will give an acceptable photo. At F2.8, the corners are very soft and vignetting is also a problem at 200mm. Fairly annoying CA at all zoom ranges, too. So if I can't really use F2.8, I might as well have bought the F4 for less money.

Last, this lens is heavy. Another reason to consider the F4 version.

Thinking I had a bad copy, I did some research (as I should have done before the purchase!) and found that Photozone (photzone.de) in its objective testing of two copies, found similar results. In comparison, the F4 version got rave reviews. My recommendation is the F4 IS, if you need this zoom range.

This is the perfect lens for anyone wanting to get professional results from a lens thats quick (ultra fast focusing), long enough to get "in close", yet light enough to be able to use hand held. I'm not sure if the "IS" feature is needed for sports photography or not, but it's a nice extra.

This lens is AMAZING. It performs exactly how I expected it too. I am an advance amateur photographer, so I knew there would be times when I would need the features of this lens. My first major usage was during my sisters graduation where I was able to capture photos of the graduates walking across a dimly lit stage. Long story short, if you need the features and can afford it there is no better lens in the canon lineup in this range.