And other L Lenses…
This is not a review, just a bit of proud gloating. lol I have recently bought a new, somewhat expensive, toy. This month I became the proud owner of a Canon 70-200mm 2.8L IS lens. This is one of the big boys from Canon and my first ‘L’ lens. I had always dismissed the L lenses as unnecessary and exorbitantly expensive. I coud never see the value in them. That was, until I got to play with one. Even then, the $2,500 price tag can seem a little steep.
But hey, that’s what interest free is for…!
The 70-200mm focal range is a little tight on my APC cropped 7D but I am slowly getting used to taking that extra step (or 3) back when composing a picture. The extra length does a wonderful job of blowing out the back grounds though so it has become my ‘go to’ lens for portraits. The Bokeh is soft and buttery making the subject ‘pop’.
Wide open at f2.8, and with the added stabilisation, I’m able to constantly take clear shots at several f-Stops lower than anything else I have in my bag. And that’s hand held. Whack this bad boy onto a tripod and I don’t imagine you could take an out-of-focus shot if you wanted to.
Last week we went down south for the weekend and I was lucky to have a friend’s lens bag at my disposal. I’ve now had a play with the 17-40mm f4 and the 24-105 f4. They were both great lenses and I’ll be looking at adding them to my own bag soon.
The lenses themselves are built like tanks. They have solid, weather sealed, bodies and everything feels sturdy. The glass is large (77mm on the 70-200) and exceptionally clean. The few pictures I have had time to take so far show a level of detail I haven’t been able to get with any of my other lenses.
At the risk of sounding like a Canon fan boy; if you can afford the extra cash, buy the L range. The weather sealing and metal bodies will mean you’ll be able to keep them longer and the far superior glass means they’ll retain their re-sale value; should you ever need to sell them on in the future.
The next thing I need is a second body so I don’t have to continuously swap lenses. Maybe a second hand full-frame 5Dmkii now that the mkiii has come out.
