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I think a lot of people have talked about the lens in full glory. A quick point I want to mention here which I could not learn anywhere else on the web.
When you click the shutter button half way, the IS gets activated. This immediately pushes an internal lens module (IS lens group) to the center and starts to correct for the lens movement. As the internal lens element comes to the nominal position, which is the center I assume, you'll notice a drift in the view (in the view finder or LCD display). This is kind of annoying when you want to compose your shot. I always like to use center AF point. So, when I keep the center AF point over the desired part of the subject and press the shutter button, the view shifts and thus the desired AF point.
I talked to Canon about this and also posted on some forums. I now believe that this is normal. Apparently, the new Mark II versions of 300mm and longer lenses have a mode to suppress this issue.
Hope this point helps.
BTW, did I tell the story of Amazon: I ordered this from Amazon, UPS shipped the package back to Amazon, Amazon quickly refunded.. I had several unpleasant conversations with Amazon employee. The price of the lens immediately increased by $250 and also went out of stock. The UPS tracking number now says -- The item is lost and search is in process -- lol. Finally ordered from B&H Photo & Fedex shipping -- hassle free purchase.
In this lens you can basically buy youself into the ranks of the great candid portrait photographers, when combining this with the 5D3, you can automatically take terrific photos of young people, but the old folks may not like the photos because they are too revealing. Try to politely change a lens or intentionally blur the images when you are shooting moms and grannies. It focuses fast so following a single person and click away, choose the ones with the most interesting or impressive moods, all the colors and bokeh are taken care of, and most of the photos are in the "pro" catagory. In "golden" hours just around sunset or sunrise, you can make your subject and your photo look so great and you now start to have the belief that all those great photographers are somehow lucky at the right moment with the correct equipment, skills had little to do with the result. It is a big sum of money, especially when you are not using it to generate income. But in the end, you will become very popular in your friend circles and people start to request your presence in their important occations.
The pictures are great. The speed is what you need for low light sports. Its allowing me to take a much better shot of the kids in poor light. Comes in a great case. The only modification I would make is allow room for the Mark III to be on the lense in the case. Would make traveling easier. Because I am shooting sports in a gym I am shooting by hand. You can see some of the shots @ [...] Remember, I am not a pro I just shot our school sporting events so I need all the technology I can get to capture the memories for the kids. Now I would like to see Canon make the 28 300 in a F/1.2 IS USM Gotta Dream!
I bought this lens after seeing images captured with it in a well known internet photography forum. Although the price made me think many times (twice wasn't enough) before I decided to purchase it, the performance of this lens has been worth every penny. I have an 85mm f/1.2L II that performs impressively, focuses sharp and has an equally beautiful bokeh, but the AF focus speed coupled with its smooth creamy bokeh put this 200mm prime in a class of its own. If you have the need for a sharp, fast focusing, prime lens that is sharp wide open and great in low light... this is the lens for you.
After much research I decided to buy this lens for our wedding photography business and I have not been dissapointed. We are a two photographer team and this lens really compliments our other lenses. The images are just awesome and the bukah is to die for. Plus the looks i get from the guests are awesome...it screams "Professional Photographer"!
Anyone considering this lens already knows its attributes from the normal photography equipment web sites and/or magazines, so there's nothing new to say about that. All I can say is that my experience with it so far is exactly what I expected - this is one of the world's very best lenses.
I've owned all of the canon primes in the L line up smaller than 200mm. The image quality easily blows the others away, including my 135L and 85L. The auto focus is also lighting fast and tends to be more accurate generally than most of my other primes. The 85L is almost unusable in dim light and fast moving situations vs the 200 in terms of AF. It's generally considered a sports and portraiture lens, though I use it for everything outdoors. The draw back is it's large, heavy, and at 200mm only, for the money it is limited in focal length, but I'm always amazed by the image quality. I hand hold this lens, but for best results you would want a tripod or mono pod. Depending on the wireless trigger quality you run for speed lights you can also get out of range quickly of you receivers and fail to trigger your lights. I've owned and carried the 200 f/2 in the wild, guiding backpacking trips, on safari, and all over the world and still cary the weight penalty and bulk for the image quality. That says a lot.