Had the chance to briefly toy with the 200L f/2IS yesterday at a camera expo in Toronto.
I should qualify right up front that I don't own any long glass, don't have any realistic expectation in ever buying this particular lens (apart from the absurd release price), and don't often get overtly goofy over gear.... but I have to admit it was a bit of a rush handling that thing. Closet gearhead apparently.
Maybe they are out at displays alot now, but it's the first time i've actually seen one, let alone got to play with.
Was quite suprised to see that Canon had one on display (although just randomly sitting in a case amongst all the other pedestrian L's).
Suffice to say, it's quite the chubby little chunk.
Makes my poor 200L 2.8 prime feel like a twig. A small skinny anemic twig.
And while I am sure it would get heavy in short order hand holding, it didn't feel unwieldly in the couple minutes i got to pretend i was a pro-shooter.
From the pictures I had seen of it, i had imagined it would feel like hoisting a small fire hydrant.
In fact, I found it a bit more comfortable to hold than the 300 2.8 (that I spent considerably more time with).
Being about the same weight but almost 2 inches shorter than the 300, i guess maybe it simply doesn't have quite the same physics/leverage working against you to re-aim the thing.
Well, probably won't be long now before they are on the shelves.
Wish i wasn't so spellbound at the time. Amongst the numerous things i should have done but didn't, i wish I had checked the date code (assuming there was one.... the lens was fully badged so i'd think it was most likley a true production model). Would have been interesting to see for how long they've had finished products made.
Greg
