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ForcedHorse Offline
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Registered: Nov 2, 2009 Location: United States Posts: 0
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Review Date: Nov 18, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Light, fast and sharp
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Cons:
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No
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This was my first L lens and was very impressed, it's nice and light and I can walk around with it without killing my arm. For my budget it worked out great.
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Nov 18, 2009
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risnandar Offline
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Registered: Aug 30, 2009 Location: Indonesia Posts: 0
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Review Date: Aug 30, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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excellent build, great optical quality,my walk around tele
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Cons:
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nope.. the price is worth it with this lens
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My first L lens and i don't regret sell my other tele for this product. The quality of image is very astounding, very sharp and the colors details is amazing. Previously when using other tele, i have to fix the colors like saturation, contrast, brightness, sharpen, etc but with this lens i don't have to post processing with software.
very recommended for L grade lens with lowest price.
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Aug 30, 2009
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DocTP1885 Offline
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Registered: Aug 15, 2006 Location: United States Posts: 26
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Review Date: Jul 23, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $600.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Excellent Build. fast and whisper focus. Solid feel in hand.
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Cons:
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really wished they included a ring mount with it.
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after a year of researching, I concluded I wanted to go with this lens mainly due to budget and what I will be doing. This is my 1st L lens and I have to admit, I'm officially spoiled. The quality of this lens is excellent as well as funcionality. I was a little surprise by the color of the lens (very very light tan color) but the construction, feel, buttery zooming,and performance is astounding. It does hog attention though. I wouldnt say this lens is 'silent.' More of a very low whisper 'shhhhhhh' sound which is way better than my sigma 24-70 F2.8 lens...sounds like I'm using an electric can opener. I've done several shots with this and was blown away with the image sharpness of the pic, even at F4. nice contrast and very fast on focus. Bokeh is great. I'll eventually go to the F2.8 IS version once my son will be doing indoor sports (he's 4, so it'll be a long ways before I get the 2.8 IS). The only down side I would say is I wished they added a ring mount with it. Yes, the lens is light and anyone can carry it all day, and the price for this is lens is a perfect, but a ring mount would have been a 'nice' bonus. the canon ring mount is ridiculously over priced...thank God there are other 3rd party mounts which can be bought at a 1/4 price which I did buy and has been excellent so far. Overall I'm satisfied with the lens and it's a great introductory to the L series line up. It'll def get you spoiled and eventually empty your bank account when you start buying other L lenses.
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Jul 23, 2009
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margilli Offline
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Registered: May 13, 2008 Location: United States Posts: 14
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Review Date: Jul 4, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $485.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Perfect weight and size for walk around and hand holding. Fit and finish is very high quality. Images are stunning.
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Cons:
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None
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Absolutely fantastic lens in every way. This is THE best lens at this price point on the market.
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Jul 4, 2009
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Kabuki Offline
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Registered: May 20, 2009 Location: United States Posts: 1
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Review Date: Jun 4, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Super sharp, great contrast and color capture. Fast focus and very fine manual focus. Put this on a tripod and it's as sharp as your wildest dreams.
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Cons:
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Does not come with tripod ring mount. Auto-focus will hunt when object focused on is very small in the frame. Above f22 start to see some (very little- noticeable at high magnification) quality loss, no surprise there.
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One of those lenses that was an extreme let-down when I first used it. Have since hiked about 40+ miles with it, use it almost always on a tripod, and absolutely love it. I've taken about 600 shots with it so far.
This is a lens that makes you sit back and say "Oh wow" when you get your shots on the 'puter screen.
It isn't very fast, and it isn't IS, which means you are using a tripod if you want to see what this thing is really capable of. It is capable of extremely sharp, beautiful images with almost 3-D quality to selective focus shots.
It should come with the tripod ring mount, shelling out another $150 after the lens is a let down, and it is necessary as the lens is just heavy enough, just long enough, to be prone to shake when on a standard camera mount tripod.
I have taken some great handheld shots at all focal lengths, but in truth this is a lens for the tripod at 200mm.
A great landscape lens, and not heavy enough to hate hiking with.
Purchase it with a clear conscience, you are getting something of real quality.
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Jun 4, 2009
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Mingming Lu Offline
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Registered: Feb 4, 2007 Location: United States Posts: 282
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Review Date: Jun 2, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $600.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Light weight, very sharp, rich color and contrast.
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Cons:
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Not any considering its performance and price.
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My first L lens. Though I don't use it very often (I like bokeh from my prime lens better), it always makes me amazed whenever there's a chance I need to pull it out.
First of all, it's very sharp. Probably sharper than my prime lenses at the same apertures(85/1.8 and 50/1.4). Every time I was pixel peeping, I'd be glad to see those very rich and clear details. Color and contrast are also its strength, I feel it's slightly better than my non-L primes. But those things most of time would be determined by lighting conditions.
The only thing I wish it'd have is nicer bokeh which requires a larger aperture of course. But people need extra money to pay for that. For this price, it's a super great lens.
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Jun 2, 2009
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asanduloiu Offline
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Registered: Feb 2, 2009 Location: Romania Posts: 23
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Review Date: May 19, 2009
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: $625.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Fast AF, very sharp and vivid colours. Lightweight and though good build quality.
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Cons:
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None. I would say "no IS" but that is another product I couldn't afford at this moment.
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I purchased this lens in april and I already used it in field, photographing birds, on my 40D. Last week I went in Danube Delta which is the last unspoiled wetland in Europe, where I know a white pelican colony of about 300 individuals. As I was approaching through the mud, mosquitos and vegetation, I checked for the "last" time all the camera parameters, and I succeed about 50 shots which really enchanted me. I've been disappointed to see that I didn't take care of ISO, so in the middle of a very bright day I've shot with ISO 800. But at home, on computer, everything was very good. Hard to describe the difference between last year shot when I used a 100-400 mm 4,5-5,6 Soligor. Lots of feather details even it were about 80 meters to the pelican group. I strongly recommend it...
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May 19, 2009
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Phil UKNet Offline
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Registered: Oct 20, 2007 Location: Thailand Posts: 0
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Review Date: Apr 6, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Image quality; build quality; bargain price. Lens hood included.
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Cons:
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Rather obviously: no IS! Other than that, perfect. As you will be aware, this becomes a 320mm lens on a crop body and that is starting to stretch the limits of hand-holdability when the light starts to go.
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This has to be the best Canon 'L' lens bargain there is. I'd owned a Canon FD 70-210 F4 for many years while shooting film so this was a natural purchase after moving to digital.
The image quality blew me away. Not only that, but it was always 100% consistent and reliable.
I'd still have it today if Canon hadn't brought out the IS version. A version of this lens plus four-stop IS was just too much to resist.
I didn't want to sell it but after purchasing the IS version I had no need for this lens. It continues to sell for a bargain price new, and there are many good samples available second-hand.
If you are on a bit of a budget I would recommend this lens to anyone unhesitatingly.
I've posted a few sample images at the following link. Click on the thumbnail images to see a larger version.
http://phil.uk.net/photography/canon_70-200F4L.html
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Apr 6, 2009
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toma7 Offline
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Registered: Jan 31, 2007 Location: Austria Posts: 0
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Mar 14, 2009
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Gary Lee 44 Offline
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Registered: Jan 1, 2009 Location: United States Posts: 45
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Review Date: Jan 18, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Light weightand fast focus. This lens is sharp!!!!!
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Cons:
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None
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I really like this lens. It is easy to carry and the focus is fast when the light is good. If you need more light, boost the ISO. THAT SIMPLE!
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Jan 18, 2009
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UCDEngBoss Offline
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Registered: Mar 14, 2008 Location: United States Posts: 167
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Review Date: Jan 16, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $560.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Weight, Sharpness, $Price$, build
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Cons:
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Sometimes hunts in low light
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This is an exceptional lens and my first "L". It is VERY sharp, gives great color and contrast. There are f2.8 versions and the f4 IS version, but you have to pay for those things. Can the 2.8IS get shots this lens can't? Of course and that's what you pay for. I wanted an outdoor "backyard" lens for photographing my son and this lens delivers on that within my budget. This lens weighs next to nothing. I have shot the 2.8IS a few times and this is just a different lens altogether when it comes to weight. The focus has been very fast and accurate. Few shots are missed and the ones that are missed tend to be error on my part (back focus on BG, etc). I would recommend this lens to anyone looking for a lens that regularly shoots outdoors in decent light. If you want to shoot weddings in dimly lit church's or indoors you need to get a more expensive version (2.8 or IS) or have a body that can shoot at ISO 6400+. As for low light hunting I do not believe this lens to hunt any more than any other lens. AF requires light and a contrasting object. Without both of these locking on is hard to do for any lens.
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Jan 16, 2009
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fatwalker Offline
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Registered: Nov 12, 2005 Location: Bulgaria Posts: 5
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Review Date: Jan 6, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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lightweight, extremely sharp, fast focus
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Cons:
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no tripod collar but you can buy made in china copy for $15-30 from e-bay
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Excellent lens for excellent price!
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Jan 6, 2009
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