I picked up my 200-800 on Friday and have been very impressed with it in the short time I have had to test it before the rain arrived in Nor Cal. Even with the 2x it autofocused just fine and was surprisingly sharp. It far exceeds what I was expecting from a 2k lens!
I have the DO II and looking at the Digital picture it looks like at F/8 with the 2x there is not much difference. So not for me . But, I am dying to try the DOII with a mirrorless camera. To see how the AF performance is. Does anyone have that set up with the R5? Very curious
jedibrain wrote:
I watched that this morning. Good press for this lens, espeically from a guy normally shooting a big white. The tradeoffs are as you expect.
One question for those who have it - what do the lens function buttons do?
Brian
See page 12 of the manual. By default it is used as AF-Stop but can be programmed (see camera manual). AF-Stop is useful if you want to pause autofocus while in AI Servo. This would have been great at the aerobatics competition I photographed earlier this year.
I do not have this lens. But I'm on a pre-order list.
gkinard1952 wrote:
I have the DO II and looking at the Digital picture it looks like at F/8 with the 2x there is not much difference. So not for me . But, I am dying to try the DOII with a mirrorless camera. To see how the AF performance is. Does anyone have that set up with the R5? Very curious
I got in touch with a guy I used to buy cameras and lenses in a camera store, and He told me they didn't receive any unit of the Canon RF 200-800mm until today. It seems that Canon didn't have a significant stock on December 14 when they released it for shipping.
jedibrain wrote:
Miraculously, I got a tracking number from Adorama tonight.....
Brian
Congrats.
Can only hope B&H gets a healthy supply in the next week or two.
Not losing sleep but the longer it drags on, the more uses I find for the $2K.
Got an e-mail from my shop to review the 200-800... I kindly answered that I could do that, but the only thing I can review this far is my feelings about waiting for the lens. I got a kind reply, they only got a few in the first batch. I was obviously too late. Luckily I´m in no hurry until around April, so...
Duade´s short review confirms my expectations. It will be a very usable tool, this lens!
I was able to test the Canon RF200-800 for wildlife photography and I need to say, I was quite impressed. Image quality, autofocus and image stabilizer are very good and in my opinion on the level of an L-series lens. The rather small aperture can make it a bit harder to isolate the subject and definitely calls for higher ISO speeds. But I guess that’s the price you pay for having a relatively lightweight and inexpensive lens that reaches 800mm. The only thing I really didn’t like was the manual focus ring, that also acts as a control ring and was a bit hard to use.
You can see a full review with tests and example pictures on my YouTube channel:
I was able to test the Canon RF200-800 for wildlife photography, and I need to say I was pretty impressed. Image quality, autofocus, and image stabilizer are very good and, in my opinion, on the level of an L-series lens. The relatively small aperture can make it a bit harder to isolate the subject and definitely calls for higher ISO speeds. But I guess that’s the price you pay for having a relatively lightweight and inexpensive lens that reaches 800mm. The only thing I didn’t like was the manual focus ring, which also acts as a control ring and is a bit hard to use.
You can see a full review with tests and example pictures on my YouTube channel:
I watched your review today before you posted the link here in the Forum. Congrats. I mostly agree with your conclusions and for the f/9 aperture at 800mm I must say that is the price you pay to have a small and affordable lens in hands. Many people can't afford a BIG WHITE Prime lens, nor can they carry it around.
After testing the Canon 200-800 against the Sigma 150-600 "C" and Canon 100-400 (v1) I'm keeping the 200-800.
The 200-800 images are obviously better when shooting at extreme distances (in decent light) and then cropping the image.
It would be interesting to compare the 200-800 with the RF100-500 and extender or RF 800mm but I don't have those lenses.
I wish you could remove the tripod collar on the 200-800
This is from the review on Fstoppers. In the pictures it looks like perhaps you loosen the collar and then slide the ring off the back.
”The aforementioned tripod collar can get in the way when you’re shooting handheld, though, so for those occasions, it is much more comfortable to either rotate it upwards to use as a handle or remove it completely.”
I originally pre-ordered from Adorama on 11/2. Didn't get anything in the first batch and it had the date pushed back to February 2024. I canceled that order and then ordered from Canon directly (with a nice 7.5% CB from Rakuten), figuring that they would hopefully be quicker than a store.
I just got my shipping and tracking info today, so looks like those with a pre-order might have better luck elsewhere!
Daverich4 wrote:
This is from the review on Fstoppers. In the pictures it looks like perhaps you loosen the collar and then slide the ring off the back.
”The aforementioned tripod collar can get in the way when you’re shooting handheld, though, so for those occasions, it is much more comfortable to either rotate it upwards to use as a handle or remove it completely.”
I don't see how to remove the tripod collar on the 200-800. You can loosen the collar but it won't slide off the back
I kindly answered that I could do that, but the only thing I can review this far is my feelings about waiting for the lens. I got a kind reply, they only got a few in the first batch. I was obviously too late. Luckily I´m in no hurry until around April, so... 
