70-200 f2.8 IS MKII non-professional owner - how much use?

It lives, breaths and eats with my 5D III 24/7.

I usually have mine. Don't always use it but its nice to have. Depending on what I am doing it usually gets used within whatever I'm doing.

I use it a lot for cycling and sports. I don't do a lot of portraits but it works nice for them. I would say its used about 35-40% of the time.

I only use a long telephoto for walks in wildlife refuge. It is too big for portraits, I use an 85mm for that. It is too heavy for a walkaround lens. It is not needed for my European vacations. I thought of buying this, but decided it will not be used much.

Stone 13 wrote in post #15311332
I probably use mine about 50% of the time but I take it everywhere. I travel quite a bit for work and that lens has never missed a trip.

Same here... about 50%. The few times I left it at home, I regretted it. It goes with me everywhere now.

My 70-200 only comes off my 1D4 when I want to use the 300.

Amazing lens. USe it all the time.

I've only used it twice in the past year as I normally shoot macro & it's a bit too short for most wildlife shooting, but it is an amazing lens.

inspectoring wrote in post #15311035
How much do you use your lens? All the time ? Do you carry it in your bag all the time?
I am trying to gauge how much do regular guys with families actually find this lens useful.
Thanks...

My most favorite lens for portraits - the only other competitor is 85mm II...

I just checked, its been nearly 2 months since I last used it, and, it was another 3 months the time before that. Its a great lens though, probably the single most thing which has stopped me dumping my Canon gear for a Nikon D800/600 or a Sony A99.
Either I have to step up to the 5D3's £££ and couple it with a 24-70ii, or I will part with it and defect. Its the IQ from the 24-70ii which is comparable to the 70-200ii which is making me hesitant..........

inspectoring wrote in post #15311035
How much do you use your lens? All the time ? Do you carry it in your bag all the time?
I am trying to gauge how much do regular guys with families actually find this lens useful.
Thanks...
Gear: 7D, Canon 70-200 f8 MK II, 70-200 f4 IS, 24-70 f2.8 and Sigmalux 50 f1.4 Flash: 580EXii

I use it whenever I can.. I copied your signature- and I'd make two comments about it; 1) you'd use it more if you sold your 70-200 f/4 IS.. 2) f8

Before you ask- I keep the Sigma for the T4i- where it works wonderfully- and it's a nice stealthy black..

Don't need it for my work, but LOVE that lens. LOVE it. The colors and IQ are so gorgeous you will find stuff to do just for a reason to use it.

Just got mine from FedEx 2 days ago, haven't had the chance yet to REALLY try it out, took a few test shots around the house and LOVE it already!

The only reason mine comes off the camera is because I've yet to buy a camera bag large enough to store it attached!

70-200 f2.8 II IS with Canon 5DIII is a match made in heaven. Crisp, sharp, high contrast pictures on almost every picture.

I can't really give a good answer, but a speculative one instead. That is because I just received mine a couple of days ago, and have been working solid even through the weekend. However, I have a basketball game lined up for Tuesday, and that will be my first real use of the lens.

I don't actually think I will use the lens to that great amount. It will be soccer, basketball, karate (when I have to be back in the stands), and I am sure I will find other uses since it is such an amazing lens (I can tell that with the small amount of time I have had to play with it).

However, my guess is that my 17-55 2.8 will still be my most used lens.

By the way, this sucker is heavy. I already see that my monopod is going to get more use than in the past. When I attach the monopod, it is 100% easier to handle.

My brother ask me how could I possibly justify spending $2100 on a lens when it is just a hobby. I simply ask him how much his bass boat cost (also a hobby). He just said, "Never mind".