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 p.1 #5 · Focus Speed - Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II vs Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II v1? | |
Hi Patrick,
When the lights go down it's the camera that decides to lower the AF motor speed of the lens. It does so because if the lens is driven too fast, the camera might miss the focus point because when light levels are low, contrast is low and the AF system of the camera needs contrast to focus.
You say you have a 5D and a 5DmkII. I have the 70-200/2.8mkII and a 5Dclassic. I tested the AF speed for you in different light levels.
What I did:
- set the ISO to 3200
- set the aperture to f/2.8 (assuming that is what you use for your events)
- look for several dark corners in the house
- tried to focus and determine if the focus speed is lower than in bright light
Findings:
My general conclusion is that this combo focuses as fast as in bright light even when light drops to levels you can't shoot anyway because your shutter speed gets too long to capture anything.
Detailed findings (@ISO3200 and f/2.8):
- @70mm and focus distance 2 metres or more, the lens focuses lightning fast as low as 1/30s
- @200mm and same focus distance, the image is too blurred when starting to focus from MFD, so the AF motor speed drops to turtle mode @1/80s and longer.
- @200mm and same focus distance, when starting to AF from approx. the correct focus distance (you can do this manually, but usually you won't have to if you shoot several images in succession) the AF speed will be very high even @1/30s
When shooting concerts and stuff it really helps to set the focus delimiter to 2.5m-oo, but of course you don't need me to tell you that.
So now you know that the 70-200mkII is not the limiting factor for ISO3200 (assuming you don't shoot concerts @200mm at 1/30s or longer), even for a 5Dclassic. You can repeat the test with your 5Dclassic and the mkI version to see if there is a difference. I would not know, I've never used it.
You also know that buying a mkII will get you the performance you need, even on your current cameras. If you had no reason to upgrade your cameras otherwise, then I suggest you go for it and upgrade to the mkII lens. Additional benefit is that the mkII is very sharp wide open, just where you need it to be. I shoot everything wide open with confidence.
If you should decide you want to upgrade your camera, there are only 2 that I can think of: 5D3 or 1D4. The 1D4 will get you just 10% of extra reach (which is neglegible in my book) but it is more responsive, which you might really like for events.
Hope this helps and good luck!
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