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ComSoup
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Registered: Jan 29, 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 325
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Review Date: Jun 16, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,800.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Killer DOF, Sharp as hell, accurate AF w/ my 1DsIII, outstanding blur
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Cons:
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Large lens, rear element flush with mount (nature of the beast, though)
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This is my favorite lens, and used the most often. It's an outstanding lens for portraits and creative uses, even with simple event documentation. Love the DOF and smooth, creamy blur. It's certainly a must-have for me.
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 Jun 16, 2009
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canonfan93
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Registered: Dec 24, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 113
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Review Date: Jun 15, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,769.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp even from F1.2, beautiful color reproduction and contrast. All in all, IQ and excellent built deserve its legendary reputation as a top notch L-series prime.
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Cons:
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Price, but you truly get what you pay for in this case.
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I have gradually weaned off my Canon zoom collection in favor of primes. I read many reviews on the positive and negative aspects of this lens then decided to take the plunge. I love portrait photography and this lens really represents one of my best purchases to date, despite of its price. On my 5D its FL is perfect for what I need. Its built and the IQ production exude top-rated L-series excellence. Along with the 35L and 135L, it truly completes the Canon holy trinity.
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Jun 15, 2009
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Perry Ge
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Registered: Jul 29, 2007
Location: N/A
Posts: 9
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Review Date: Jan 15, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $2,000.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp, bokeh quality, IQ IQ IQ IQ. Build quality excellent, accurate focus.
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Cons:
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Slow focus, heavy, extends during focusing, weird FTM, exposed rear element.
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This is the best lens I own. By far.
- It's the slowest focusing, by far.
- Its full time manual implementation is annoying, especially since it only works when the camera is on, and since it extends during focusing, this means I have to turn the camera on to retract the barrel.
- The rear element is really exposed and looks vulnerable, care needs to be taken when changing lenses with this one.
- It's heavy, and very expensive, and not weathersealed.
However, despite these shortcomings, this is my favourite lens ever. The images it spits out are jaw-droppingly good. Images are tack sharp wide open, and they make my eyes bleed at f/1.8 - I have to soften most of the shots that I make with this lens, not sharpen them. Bokeh is unbelievable at all apertures. Pure quality. The build is great, and there is a wonderful, subtly rubberized finish on the lens that makes gripping it very comfortable. AF is extremely accurate, and only slow if you are going from one end of the throw to the other - if you're in the ballpark already it's pretty quick.
For all the shortcomings of this lens, all is forgiven when I look at the images it produces. Canon have something special here, and IMO this lens is one of the best arguments for using the Canon system. I love it.
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Jan 15, 2009
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solomon10
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Registered: Nov 21, 2008
Location: Norway
Posts: 178
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Review Date: Dec 11, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Outstanding sharpness, great bokeh,
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Cons:
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none. okay, a little slow to auto focus-
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I have previously owned nikon 105mm f2 dc lens, 135mm f2 dc, canon 135 f2 and now this gem. This is the best portraits lens i have used. I believe this lens is sharper than my Canon 300mm f2.8(non IS). The ability to isolate subjects is so much fun. This is the only reason why i will stay with canon.
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Dec 11, 2008
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toma7
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Registered: Jan 31, 2007
Location: Austria
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Nov 15, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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sharp at 1.2, razor sharp at 1.8, fantastic contrast, creamy bokeh, clip-on hood, one of the best lenses out there
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Cons:
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heavy, CA wide open, pricey, slow in focusing
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Nov 15, 2008
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Jman13
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Buy and Sell: On
Registered: May 1, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 17300
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Review Date: Oct 13, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,160.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Incredible sharpness, even wide open. Best bokeh of any lens I have ever used, (including some other f/1.2 lenses). Beautiful color and saturation, very nice microcontrast at f/1.8 and beyond). Accurate AF.
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Cons:
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AF is slow, but still manageable. Not a fan of focus by wire manual focus. Big and heavy. Some fringing at very large apertures in very high contrast situations.
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Picked up my copy used here on FM. Absolutely outstanding lens. The lens is very sharp over 80% of the frame right from f/1.2. By f/1.8 - f/2, the lens is absolutely tack sharp. Brilliant color response and very nice contrast curve. f/2 and smaller yield nice contrasty images without being over the top, while larger apertures are a little lower contrast, but have such a good tonal response that postprocessing contrast enhancement is flawless.
Color is exceptional. Bright, vibrant yet natural colors. AF is definitely on the slow side for a USM lens, but is only an issue when focusing from near to far. AF is also very accurate. I'm able to nail the eyes at f/1.2 with little trouble.
Bokeh is the best I've ever seen...smooth, even bokeh with perfectly evenly illuminated specular highlights. The shallow DOF and narrow AOV with the super-large aperture also help this lens obliterate the background. Background separation is possible even on relatively distant subjects. When the right aperture is chosen, this lens really has an ability to pop the subject out of the background, and provide a very nice 3D effect.
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Oct 13, 2008
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Xibalban
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Registered: Dec 1, 2005
Location: Finland
Posts: 109
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Aug 11, 2008
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Bruce Sawle
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Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Sep 26, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 4519
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Review Date: Aug 1, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,700.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Great build, razor sharp at 1.2 and incredible bokeh
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Cons:
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None
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I love everything about this lens. I was a little apprehensive at first to throw down 1700.00 on this lens. After a couple days of shooting with it I was amazed with he images this lens produced. Between F 1.2 and F4 there is no lens better.
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Aug 1, 2008
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Mick I
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Registered: Sep 10, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 137
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Review Date: Jul 25, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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The best there is.
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Cons:
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Perfection at it's finest.
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Jul 25, 2008
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CGrindahl
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Registered: Dec 17, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 18355
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Review Date: Jul 12, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,100.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Wide aperture, unbelievable build quality, color and contrast as good as it gets and incredible sharpness in the focal plane, which, thankfully is VERY narrow.
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Cons:
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Weight...
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I note that one person posted TWO reviews giving this lens FIVE POINTS! WHAT????
Yes, the lens is heavy and yes, it focuses slowly, but when you have a piece of expensive glass as big as the one in this lens, what did you expect?
This lens has limitations. I wouldn't dream of shooting sports with this lens, for example. But who in their right mind would? If you're trying to capture your kid running around in the back yard, do yourself a favor and stick to the 85 f/1.8. This is a portrait lens among the best available from any manufacturer for any camera. The images it produces are so luscious that I take every opportunity I can to have this lens on my camera. Where the image is sharp, it is perfectly sharp, but where it is blurred it is GLORIOUS. It produces bokeh that is perfection. Focusing is never a problem once you've initially established the range. Slight movement of the subject requires only minimal movement of lens elements resulting in easy focusing. It is only when going from one distance to a significantly different distance that one will experience delay. Is that so hard to understand?
If I could own only one Canon lens, this would be it. Thank heavens that is not a requirement, however, so I can enjoy all those wonderful L lenses. But this beauty is first in the heart of this man...
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Jul 12, 2008
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ps2user
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Registered: Jan 21, 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8
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Review Date: Mar 20, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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F/1.2, sharp, excellent color, lovely bokeh and built like a tank
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Cons:
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Slightly slow to focus but manageable
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Managed to get a good price on a used one as i found the mk12 a bit too pricey for me.
I use this lens with my 5D and the pictures come out fantastic. Never understood people saying they have a favourite lens until i got this lens - I just try to take photos all the time with this lens and dont' feel like changing to my other lenses. I don't know what it is but the images from the lens are just in a different league to the rest of my L lens.
I use this lens for taking photos of my super energetic 3yr old daughter who can't keep still and my 3month old son. Focus is slightly slow but its bearable. Even managed to track my daughter running around in the back garden 
Even wide open the pictures come out sharp
I wouldn't mind trying the mark 2 just to see if the focus is better but i'm more than happy with this lens and it comes highly recommeded.
I was going to be sensible and buy the cheaper 85mm f/1.8 but i knew that 1.8 was not enough for me to use indoors when i find my 50mm f/1.4 just about copes.
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Mar 20, 2008
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xrayvision
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Registered: Feb 19, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 587
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Review Date: Mar 19, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,749.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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The best headshot / portrait lens I have. Superb color , contrast and bokeh
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Cons:
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Nothing worth mentioning. Lenses that perform as this one does tend to be on the expensive side and on the heavy side. Goes with the territory.
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Mar 19, 2008
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kierontan
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Registered: Oct 19, 2004
Location: Philippines
Posts: 31
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Review Date: Mar 18, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,888.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Aperture at 1.2, Build quality
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Cons:
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Very slow in focusing, expensive
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The best wedding lens I ever used, great for low light situation. Superb image quality, it produces really sharp images. Has a beautiful bokeh too. Highly recommended!
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Mar 18, 2008
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shime
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Registered: Sep 7, 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 11
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Review Date: Mar 18, 2008
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Overall performance
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Cons:
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If I had to choose something I would say the auto focus could be faster.
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Everything positive you read about this lens is true.
The auto focus could be faster but it is not a show stopper.
I shoot dancers and acrobatics while they perform fast and complex moves in very low available light (wide open) without a problem. The auto focus is very accurate and fast enough.
In my opinion this lens is great for low light indoor sports. While it is not a forgiving lens, with the right technique this lens is amazing.
The lens balances perfectly on a 1d series camera.
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Mar 18, 2008
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Peter Kotsa
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Registered: Nov 1, 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 268
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Review Date: Feb 6, 2008
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Recommend? |
Price paid: Not Indicated
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Pros:
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1.2 aperture, "L" glass.
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Cons:
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Heavy , expensive, very very very slow to focus....ridiculously slow
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This is an interesting lens indeed. Although I found the lens to be quite sharp, I also found it to be almost unusable in many many applications.
Anything that moves with slightly faster than normal speed is almost impossible to focus on.
The lens just wont focus fast enough for real life applications, and that is very frustrating when you want to capture a moment in time.
As far a build quality, this lens lacks nothing, as far as sharpness and bokeh, it is second only to the MKII version.
But as far as focus speed, I found more winners focussing manually.
I have since upgraded to the MKII version and it is a 10 out of 10.
I think Canon tried very hard with this first version of this lens , but maybe should have left it as a manual focus lens, then at least the expectations were realistic. Apart from that its a 9 out of 10 in all other areas.
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Feb 6, 2008
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recordproducti
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Registered: Jul 11, 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 381
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Review Date: Feb 6, 2008
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Recommend? |
Price paid: Not Indicated
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Pros:
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This lens is awesome, one of the best there is.
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Cons:
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I'm only posting this as the two last reviews seem bogus, both gave it 5, neither said why such a low score or anything really. If they had really used this lens and had any experience of taking pictures they wouldn't have rated it a 5.
Maybe because of the price this lens suffers a bit of envy but I saved up for ages to get mine and it was well, well worth the wait. This lens is better than a 10.
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Feb 6, 2008
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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130
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269443
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Aug 23, 2017
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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95% of reviewers
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$1,379.02
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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9.70
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8.50
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9.5
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