Are you happy with your canon 70-200 f4.0 L ?

[yb98]

Just wanted to know how many people are satisfied with their 70-200 4L and how many are disappointed (before I order one...) ?
Thanks.

[BobbyC]

I'm very happy with mine. It's so sharp and the color and exposure are always right on. I use it as much as I can. I sometimes wish I had the 2.8, then I just bump the ISO up one stop and keep shooting.

[tommykjensen]

Extremely happy.

I think this shot has to be one of my favorites

http://www.klein-jensen.dk/external/HarrisHawk.jpg

[Cadwell]

Yes, it's a very good lens.

[kiwimichael]

Yep - I'm also very happy with mine. It's lighter (and cheaper) than the 2.8 (IS).

[2new]

I love this lens. tack sharp & relatively light

[Mike H]

I've only used mine once, and already I'm thrilled with the sharpness and the bokeh. :D

Mike H

[Whaler]

You'll love it :D

[Belmondo]

You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't love that lens. I will grab my f/4 before the f/2.8 IS unless I know i'm going to need the extra speed.

[DieselGirl]

No, I am not happy with mine......








I am estatic about it!!

[Vegas Poboy]

Yep, very happy but within the next year I'm sure I'll move up to the 2.8L IS only because I'm heading in the semi pro market. Other than that great lens & when I do move up it'll stay with me as a backup or I'll give it to my kid.

[roanjohn]

Very very happy with it.

Ro1

[tommykjensen]

You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't love that lens.

Not if the question is asked on DP. On DP You will get more negative than postive responses about this lens.

I don't know why a lot of the users on DP are unhappy with this lens.

See this topic (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1031&message=9007124) as an example.

[Malaxos1]

I love mine as well...Dean

[drisley]

I love mine too.
However, I used it this weekend and did get a lot of out of focus shots.
I checked the focus points, and even though they were right where I wanted, the actual focus was often not where I wanted.

I've done testing on objects around the house which seem perfectly fine though. So, currently I am chalking it up to user error, or some other anomaly.

Question, if only 1 out of 10 shots in "the field" seem in focus (even at shutter speeds of 1/1000 or faster, but tested perfectly on stationary objects like bottles at 45 deg angles, would this rule out a hardware problem, and place the blame on the user? OR perhaps just a problem with the DRebel focusing (ie, AI Focus not kicking into servo)

Here is an example shot with the 70-200F4L at 1/1600sec F4

Focus Point
http://www.mts.net/~lftbrain/rebel/focus_point2.jpg


Here is the
100% Crop (http://www.mts.net/~lftbrain/rebel/foucs_point2_full.jpg)

[tommykjensen]

Are You using all focus points or just the center focus point?

I have permanently switched to only use center point focus where ever I can.

[Mthorpe_Davies]

I really like mine, however I wouldn't mind trading up to the 2.8 non IS. It isn't all that much bigger and I'm a big lad so can handle the tiddly bit of extra weight it entails. Not sure why people think it's a big heavy lens, go do some bicep curls.....and stop complaining!

[drisley]

Tommyk, I almost always use a fixed focal point.
As you can see in the above picture, the focal point I chose was the top-center. Perhaps the AF system has trouble with low contrast on the skin?

Here is a test I've done a few times which is totally fine. Again, I'm chalking the problem up to the 300D's so called Auto-Intelligent autofocus (although a few of the out of focus shots were on people standing still :? ).

http://www.mts.net/~lftbrain/rebel/alarm.jpg

[yb98]

Thank you all for your answers.
I was almost decided till the tommykjensen's message :cry:
I did post the same question on dpreview and will see what the answers will be...

[tommykjensen]

Thank you all for your answers.
I was almost decided till the tommykjensen's message :cry:
I did post the same question on dpreview and will see what the answers will be...

Sorry about that I wasn't trying to discourage You.

I don't know why there is that big difference of opinion from here and on DP.

But really, I think the majority of users with this lens are happy with it and the bad lenses are few but the trouble is that most users that have no problems don't say so. Maybe thats the big difference from here to DP. Here we also hear about the positive sides, but on DP mostly the negative sides are posted.

[dn7elson]

I don't know why a lot of the users on DP are unhappy with this lens.

See this topic (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1031&message=9007124) as an example.

Just scanning the DP forum, it appears that many of those who are unhappy are novices that felt that L glass would make all their images "pro quality" after all the L glass 70-200 is a "pro quality" lens.

Good glass helps, but it is like any tool, only as good as the hands that hold it.

I really enjoy my 70-200f4L, but find that I can shoot just about as many poor shots with it as with the kit lens....but the ones that I do hit on are so much nicer :lol: :shock:

[drisley]

yb98, if you get the 70-200F4L you will not be dissapointed.
It may be the sharpest L zoom around, and the price is very good.

I had never heard a single bad thing about that lens until tommyk's link to dpreview. And those are not saying the lens is bad. They are having focusing problems which may be user inexperience, camera limitations, or perhaps one or two bad lenses (which is true with any lens).

My experience with focusing problems is more than likely a limitation of the Rebel's focusing system (ie, not kicking into servo mode when it should).

There really is no other lens out there in the 70-200F4L's class.
The only thing close are the canon and sigma F2.8 versions, and they are more expensive, and a lot heavier. And, most tests show the F4L to be equal, and often superior, to the F2.8 in image quality (although very close either way).

[Mike H]

I don't know why there is that big difference of opinion from here and on DP.

But really, I think the majority of users with this lens are happy with it and the bad lenses are few but the trouble is that most users that have no problems don't say so. Maybe thats the big difference from here to DP. Here we also hear about the positive sides, but on DP mostly the negative sides are posted.

The robgalbraith.com site has a lot of negative posts, too, and I'm not just talking about with this lens. Many web sites that I see are havens for people who like to run things down. I'm not saying that no one ever has real problems with products made by Canon (or any other manufacturer), but reading the posts there seem to be many people with the "my car won't pass when I set the shifter to P" problems. :roll:

Mike H

[eric1]

mine works great, and i dropped it once.



eric1

[dn7elson]

and i dropped it once.

Ouch! :( :oops: :(

[Parallax]

Mine has a backfocus problem with my 10D and I just sent both off to Canon for adjustment after spending months avoiding the use of wide apertures. My warranty was about to expire, so I finally decided to take care of this. (I'm a professional procrastinator.) Other than this issue, I love the lens.

Eric

[drisley]

Did you find the backfocusing was constant all the time?

[Parallax]

Yes, the backfocus was always there, but only really noticeable when the lens was wide open. If your images are sharp at the focus point when focused on contrasty objects with good lighting and using a tripod, your lens is fine. If you have out of focus shots only when handheld at f/4, at 200 mm and near the minimum close focus point for the lens, it could be that you're moving slightly closer to or farther from the subject when you press the shutter release. In the photo of the woman, I can't really see any point that appears in focus. The good news is that Canon can adjust the lens and/or camera to correct misfocus. I'll see how they do with my equipment which they just received yesterday.

Eric

[Jesper]

Yep - I'm also very happy with mine. It's lighter (and cheaper) than the 2.8 (IS).

kiwimichael - nice user icon !!!!! Kinderdijk? :roll: :D

[drisley]

Yes, the backfocus was always there, but only really noticeable when the lens was wide open. If your images are sharp at the focus point when focused on contrasty objects with good lighting and using a tripod, your lens is fine. If you have out of focus shots only when handheld at f/4, at 200 mm and near the minimum close focus point for the lens, it could be that you're moving slightly closer to or farther from the subject when you press the shutter release. In the photo of the woman, I can't really see any point that appears in focus. The good news is that Canon can adjust the lens and/or camera to correct misfocus. I'll see how they do with my equipment which they just received yesterday.

Eric

Thanks Eric. I feel better now. Good luck with yours!

[kiwimichael]

Yep - I'm also very happy with mine. It's lighter (and cheaper) than the 2.8 (IS).

kiwimichael - nice user icon !!!!! Kinderdijk? :roll: :D

Hi Jesper,

Yes indeed - Kinderdijk. I saw that a few of the Dutch members had a windmill icon which I thought was fun, so I decided to do the same. I see that it is very similar to your icon - in fact it's the same windmil! The shot was taken last year in the week that the windmills are lit up each evening. The icon is only a small part of the actual image. I must confess that I used my Cambo 4x5 rather than my Canon for the shot.

Groetjes
Michael

[kiwimichael]

Jesper,

As you can see, I've changed my icon to avoid any confusion with yours.

Groeten,
Michael