alundeb wrote:
Don't get us wrong, the Nikon offerings are fantastic! Yet, they don't remove the fact that we still have to choose which lens(es) will work best for us, and having many options to choose from doesn't remove the tendency to always want something that is different from what we already have.
Absolutely, and for many reasons, the big primes are no longer on my menu, namely because of the size, weight, and cost. That's why the messy middle is so intriguing, and it pains me that Canon is noticeably absent.
Some personal rumbling while waiting for the 200-800.
It is actually rather funny that I am here now firmly on the zoom side of arguments, as I was a firm prime guy some 15 years ago. My reason was simple. Only primes were sharp enough, the 400/5.6L was the longest lens that was well suited to my way of life, handheld, fast and opportunistic. Simple choice.
My conversion to the zoom side came with the 100-400LIS2, add the 1.4xIII, add Pixels Per Duck with the 5D4. One swan with prime, many swans zoom. Yes! The 100-400LIS2 had, still have, the sharpness and accuracy. I tried it on my R5 before I got the 100-500. It did rather well, the 100-500 does better.
But I got the 800/11 before the 100-500 as the latter was back ordered. 800mm! Yesss!! Now we´re getting PPD! And with the R7 I got to try 200-800mm field of view and found it perfect. 1280mm with the 800/11. Wow, but not handheld especially in a small boat. The 600/11 on the R7 gives 960mm FoV, barely workable. The main drawback at these FLs with primes is the super narrow FoV. The longer the FL the more of a specialty tool they become. A third body with the 100-500, well... Two is about max I´d carry around, one wideangle obviously.
So when C brings a 200-800 2kg lens at an equally manageable price, well, as the Borg said, "resistans is futile!" It is a must have. Spot on!
- - -
I can sympathize with the dream of middle ground lenses. And I´d love to read all the arguments against whatever C would bring to market.
The 200-500/4 will no doubt be a 10k+ lens, the big sister to the 100-300/2.8.
What could they make in the middle that would not eat too much out of the big end? 500 f/4 is dead unless it´s a DO. Could a 6k$ 600/6.3 DO be a threat to the mighty f/4? A 400 f/4 DO is rather un-everything now that we are accustomed to 800mm, well, at least on Canon, at 1k$. The rumored converter-zoom is out there in the shadows too. A nice small 400DO with a 0-2x converter...:400 f/4 - 800 f/8 or 500DO/4 - 1000/8! How many lenses in the middle would it actually take to fill the worst thirst?
Z250SA wrote:
What could they make in the middle that would not eat too much out of the big end? 500 f/4 is dead unless it´s a DO. Could a 6k$ 600/6.3 DO be a threat to the mighty f/4? A 400 f/4 DO is rather un-everything now that we are accustomed to 800mm, well, at least on Canon, at 1k$. The rumored converter-zoom is out there in the shadows too. A nice small 400DO with a 0-2x converter...:400 f/4 - 800 f/8 or 500DO/4 - 1000/8! How many lenses in the middle would it actually take to fill the worst thirst?
I'd love to ask Canon to target a wildlife lens at about $5k-6k range and see what they come up with.
If a prime, then it should be 500DO minimum and not any slower than f5.6. A little faster would be much prefered.
If a zoom, what would something like a 300-600 f5.6 look like? Size & weight?
As long as the IQ and AF speed is there, I don't care if it's not completely weather sealed. Rain jackets are cheap.
Make it out of recycled pink shopping bags as far as I care so long as it doesn't effect performance and durability.
It'll have camo skin on it day one anyhow.
lighthound wrote:
I'd love to ask Canon to target a wildlife lens at about $5k-6k range and see what they come up with.
If a prime, then it should be 500DO minimum and not any slower than f5.6. A little faster would be much prefered.
If a zoom, what would something like a 300-600 f5.6 look like? Size & weight?
As long as the IQ and AF speed is there, I don't care if it's not completely weather sealed. Rain jackets are cheap.
Make it out of recycled pink shopping bags as far as I care so long as it doesn't effect performance and durability.
It'll have camo skin on it day one anyhow.
...Show more →
Three months ago, I would have thought a 200-800 mm lens at 2 kg would be a great offering at $5k
Well now my "status" at B&H is still backordered but the "Expected to Ship 12/13/23" has changed to "Coming Soon". Anyone receive shipping confirmation or has Canon pushed the availability date back?
coppertop wrote:
Well now my "status" at B&H is still backordered but the "Expected to Ship 12/13/23" has changed to "Coming Soon". Anyone receive shipping confirmation or has Canon pushed the availability date back?
My order at Adorama continues to show 'backordered' and the product page still shows 'expected to ship12/14'
Canon has not officially delayed the release. There was one rumor monger on YT suggesting new orders may take months to get, but cited no credible sources, and that rumor has not been repeated elsewhere that I can find.
This is my first ever pre-order. Trying not to let it stress me out. But if I did know it was going to be a couple months....I'd do other things with the money in the mean time. I guess I'll see what happens tomorrow!
So I type that last post, then get an email from Adorama saying my items are still on backorder. Maybe that means I didn't make the first wave? Or maybe its just an automatic email because the order has been sitting for x days.
coppertop wrote:
Well now my "status" at B&H is still backordered but the "Expected to Ship 12/13/23" has changed to "Coming Soon". Anyone receive shipping confirmation or has Canon pushed the availability date back?
jedibrain wrote:
So I type that last post, then get an email from Adorama saying my items are still on backorder. Maybe that means I didn't make the first wave? Or maybe its just an automatic email because the order has been sitting for x days.
Brian
I got the same e-mail. I don't think its saying anything new as it includes the text "Pre Order - Manufacturer will start shipping this item on 12/14/2023. Orders will be filled on a first come first serve basis. We do not charge your card until we actually ship the item to you. "
I get the appeal of this sort of lens for certain kinds of photography. The reach at the long end is great. But as a general telephoto, I can't get overly excited about the potential of a *300mm f/7.1* lens.
I would have been more interested in an f/4.5 to f8 zoom in this range, even with the penalty of increased size and weight. But maybe I'm just old school.
garyvot wrote:
I get the appeal of this sort of lens for certain kinds of photography. The reach at the long end is great. But as a general telephoto, I can't get overly excited about the potential of a *300mm f/7.1* lens.
I would have been more interested in an f/4.5 to f8 zoom in this range, even with the penalty of increased size and weight. But maybe I'm just old school.
Would be nice. I'd guess about 50% heavier and about 2x the cost too. Its really all about the long end for this lens.
An EF 100-400 4.5-5.6 , which I have, is definitely better for when you're using the 100-400 part. But when you need 800...what do you do? I think if they made it a 400-800, or 500-800, it would have seemed a bit limiting. So going down to 200 gets you some leeway for when stuff is close up, relative to 800.
coppertop wrote:
Well now my "status" at B&H is still backordered but the "Expected to Ship 12/13/23" has changed to "Coming Soon". Anyone receive shipping confirmation or has Canon pushed the availability date back?
Exactly the same experience here. Actually, now it just says Backordered.
Don't worry guys, delivery starts slowly
I Received mine yesterday (phone call from my shop)
the first for the shop , and only one item received .
First impression , sinificantely bigger than the 100-500
But fits very well on the R3 , very well balanced in any zoom position , seems dedicately designed , really pleasant to handle just the size is big compared to the light combo R7+100-500 with similar zoom range (small sensor) .
The foot looks very strong more close to my 600 prime's one and far from the frail 100-500's one .
Simplified buttons , no distance limiter no stabilization mode 1-2 and no memorization of focus (like one prime) would have been helpfull at 800mm.
Weather is very bad at the moment I hope to try it this week end with R3 and perhaps the R7 .
I received an email yesterday from Adorama stating they were sorry, but my order is still on backorder.
I also noticed that my credit card was not charged, so no Canon RF 200-800mm by now, even having ordered on the first day of sale.
mslino wrote:
I received an email yesterday from Adorama stating they were sorry, but my order is still on backorder.
I also noticed that my credit card was not charged, so no Canon RF 200-800mm by now, even having ordered on the first day of sale.
Starting to think Canon underestimated demand and only sent one or two units to retailers.
Maybe we'll be lucky and the full shipments are sitting in a UPS truck that's stuck in traffic.
And while it's only been a two days since the "ship date" has passed, if it drags on for a month or so I'll just cancel and use the money to buy a 2x converter for my 100-500mm.
garyvot wrote:
I get the appeal of this sort of lens for certain kinds of photography. The reach at the long end is great. But as a general telephoto, I can't get overly excited about the potential of a *300mm f/7.1* lens.
I would have been more interested in an f/4.5 to f8 zoom in this range, even with the penalty of increased size and weight. But maybe I'm just old school.
On a serious note, I don't expect the 200-800 to be as excellent as my 100-400 L IS II for landscape. It won't be because of the aperture though, as I often stop down to f/11 or f/16 anyway.
My 70-200 2.8 doesn't see much use since I often prefer to pack the 100-400 instead, but that might change after I get the 200-800. Having 200/2.8 and maybe 280/4 will give me some low light/shallow DOF capability.
mslino wrote:
I received an email yesterday from Adorama stating they were sorry, but my order is still on backorder.
I also noticed that my credit card was not charged, so no Canon RF 200-800mm by now, even having ordered on the first day of sale.
Same boat. I was hoping by getting in just a few minutes after everything went live I'd be in good shape. But this is pretty common. Back in the R5 days for example, there were posts around here about people measuring how far in seconds past opening they got in, and where the cut off was to make it in the first shipment.
I figured this lens would be not as bad as that body was....but there is no real way to tell how many orders were put in or how many lenses were sent to each place.
One thing I'll say - DO NOT buy anything over retail price off Ebay or and B&S forum. Those will likely be people who used bots to place dozens or more orders within milliseconds of launch, with the aim to flip them for a profit. Don't support their business model. May not even see it for something like this, but if you do, don't bite.
Back to Adorama though - its like they haven't updated thier site yet. Still says 'expected 12/14'....odd.
