I received my 70-200 II today...the hype is real.. the weight difference is amazing... along with the lighter wallet after buying this thing, you will feel the difference.
A few observations:
- the new location of the aperture ring is much better, and the clicks (when ON) are subtle...but enough feedback.
- the lens came with the lens collar detached...and the cool thing is it has that familiar felt lining. so putting the collar on will not scratch the lens barrel...it is also beefier than the old collar...
- the inside of the lens hood has the ribbed texture instead of the felt lining which makes the lens a bit more substantial (which is my minor quibble with the original where the lens hood felt cheap)...but still a step below the Sony 70-200 hood IMO because it had a rubber on its tips so it can be laid on the floor/table with the hood on with more stability and less prone to scratches
- the AF is definitely faster and i cannot hear a thing..i thought it was broken...the OG has a slight whirring sound (not loud, but audible) and this has no sound at all.
- probably a minority, but i actually like the OLED display...hopefully they don't remove it on the eventual 105 macro replacement because that's useful to me... (make it slightly wider and higher resolution) .. but i digress.
Below is a quick and dirty shot @ 85 f2.8 comparing the two lenses. Full resolution here:
This one is 200 at f2.8 on a tripod. The II is doing slightly better in terms of sharpness and the I has ever so slightly bokeh fringing on the (OOF) base of the mic, but only really noticeable when zoomed to 300%
I received my 70-200 II today...the hype is real.. the weight difference is amazing... along with the lighter wallet after buying this thing, you will feel the difference.
A few observations:
- the new location of the aperture ring is much better, and the clicks (when ON) are subtle...but enough feedback.
- the lens came with the lens collar detached...and the cool thing is it has that familiar felt lining. so putting the collar on will not scratch the lens barrel...it is also beefier than the old collar...
- the inside of the lens hood has the ribbed texture instead of the felt lining which makes the lens a bit more substantial (which is my minor quibble with the original where the lens hood felt cheap)...but still a step below the Sony 70-200 hood IMO because it had a rubber on its tips so it can be laid on the floor/table with the hood on with more stability and less prone to scratches
- the AF is definitely faster and i cannot hear a thing..i thought it was broken...the OG has a slight whirring sound (not loud, but audible) and this has no sound at all.
- probably a minority, but i actually like the OLED display...hopefully they don't remove it on the eventual 105 macro replacement because that's useful to me... (make it slightly wider and higher resolution) .. but i digress.
Below is a quick and dirty shot @ 85 f2.8 comparing the two lenses. Full resolution here:
