***Please click on each image to see the full size version. For comparison shots, I suggest opening both images separately and switching between the browser tabs***
After getting my 200L F/2 IS couple weeks ago, I have finally found time to do a proper review. With a wife and a kid and a very demanding full time job (which is not photography!), doing things like this gets extremely difficult as most of you can understand.
That being said, my objective with this review is to share as much information as I can. The purpose of this thread is to help any prospective buyers of this lens. Coming from the 70-200 2.8 IS II, when I started researching a few months back, I realized how little information was out there in terms of comparing the prime to the zoom. I spent weeks going over and over the same forum posts and a handful of reviews. I finally came here - POTN forums for advice, which I'm sure many of you are aware now, and thanks to lots of you, I was able to learn a lot more about this lens.
As there is a 8 picture per post limitation in the forum, I am going to have to make several posts in the same thread, I apologize for that in advance.
I am going to go ahead and skip the standard intro as every review of this lens talks about its sheer size, weight, and how amazing it is. Every single word you read in all of those reviews are absolutely true. I just want to add though, reading it is one thing but then seeing it with your own eyes is something else. The lens is big, you remember the day you bought your 70-200 IS II and how it made all other lenses you have look like little toys? Well I got news for you, this one makes the zoom look like a little toy as well!
I have a black rapid sport strap and carrying this lens is not a problem. I was at the beach the other weekend and had the lens around my neck for 3 hours at a stretch without any issues. One thing though, after using this lens, you won't ever care about the weight or size of the zoom.
The image quality is in a league of its own. 2.0 aperture at 200mm is something that no words can express. Subject isolation is a non issue, bokeh is unbelievable. In terms of DOF/bokeh/portraiture, this lens is like 85L II on stereoids. It's so sharp, and it is so corner to corner, Canon has done an amazing job!
The IS on this lens is simply amazing. 5 stops is a lot and I can hand hold this lens at shutter speeds at or below 1/15. The zoom has an amazing IS unit as well and I cannot tell which one is better, this isn't something I tested (but now that I think about it, I may test that as well in the near future).
Anyways, first things first, here are some pictures from the day I got it from Mr UPS!
