canon 70-200 L f4 is question

Recently bought this lens and am generally pleased with it. I know its not a marco lens by any means but have been taking some close up shots with it with mixed results.

I have read somewhere that shots taken closer that 4 metres does not get the best out of this lens and can poduce soft images.

tongard wrote in post #5388052
Recently bought this lens and am generally pleased with it. I know its not a marco lens by any means but have been taking so close up shots with it with mixed results.

I have read somewhere that shots taken closer that 4 metres does not get the best out of this lens and can poduce soft images.

at MFD @ 200m the 70-200L f4 IS can be soft....but that's about half of four meters, if i recall correctly.

ed rader

You can get a set of Tubes to get closer.

The lens suffers at close distances between 135 and 200mm. Mine is acceptable in that range, but not as sharp as when its outside that range. In my experience, it's the only thing that is remotely a down side to the lens. However, I don't use the long end at close distances (hardly ever). If I'm close, I'm probably using the wider end, as I use my Sigma 150mm for close up shots, or I'll use my 100 f/2 or Sonnar 85mm for portraits.

I just got this lens 2 days ago. I wasn't aware of this MFD issue at 200mm. You can see my post under My first few shots with 70-200 f/4 IS thread.

Honestly, it's not much of an issue. for me, shots at 200mm near MFD are still pretty decent, just not as good as they are at a more moderate distance. I have to say, though, the only time I've used the lens at 200mm near MFD was to test the IQ at that extreme...I never use the lens under those conditions...that's why I have my macro lens.