Canon EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM Reviews

I just changed my Canon 70-200 f/4L non-IS for the IS version. FANTASTIC lens. The non-IS was great, but this one delivers better contrast and sharper images.... by far.

I was just about to purchase the non-IS version of this lens when I noticed that the newer IS version seemed to have superior optical performance, according toand one or two users on this site. Users comments at other sites also said the IS version offered top quality prime lens performance, expensive - yes, but worth every penny, or cent.

The price differential between the non-IS and IS versions is quite significant. Here in the UK you can get the non-IS version for £348 UK pounds incl Canon cashback while the IS version is £629 UK pounds incl Canon cashback (www.warehouseexpress.com).

Anyway, after a few days of deliberation, I bit the bullet and bought the IS version.

I'm glad I did. First thing I did (today) was shoot a Reala test film to check that everything was correctly functioning and aligned. Viewing the 6 by 9 inch prints confirmed that all was well with the lens and that all the good stuff I had read about this lens was absolutely true. You would think that my pictures had been taken with a top quality 50mm prime. Oh, and my shots today were taken in winds gusting top side of 30 miles per hour - ridiculous conditions for hand-holding a tele zoom.

So, in short, the lens is "prime" sharp, has contrast enough to poke your eyes out, and the image stabilization is is able to cope with 200mm at 1/30 sec in winds gusting around 30 mph.

My advice to anyone reading this? 1) Buy the IS version. 2) Immediately shoot a test film or some digital shots, esp including pics of boring old brick walls (dead square on) so you can check for anything being off-axis due to bad manufacture or drop damage (symptom will be one side or corner of the pic being noticeably more soft than the other sides or corners). 3) If unlucky and you've got a problem lens then return to seller for a replacement. If lens is OK then put the high purchase price behind you and enjoy it!!!

Fantastic lens.

I've now had a chance to use this lens on a digital body, a brand new 400D. Using the standard out of the box 400D settings (e.g. JPEG mode rather than RAW, sharpening = 3) I find the lens sharpness to be jaw dropping even wide open, and even in really dull completely overcast low contrast shooting conditions. Viewing the images at actual size on my IBM T42 laptop, I can see way more detail than I can with the naked eye (even at the lowest mag 70mm setting). For example, there is a small wire mesh construction bird feeder around 30-35 feet away at the bottom of the garden. The wire mesh isn't resolvable with the naked eye but is crystal clear on the JPEG. I can only assume that there is still more image quality to be had by shooting in RAW and then using a high quality RAW converter s/w package like Capture One.

Awesome lens.

The sharpest of all the Canon, Minolta and Nikon lenses I have used over 30 years. Absolutely tack-sharp, even fully open. Colour rendition to me can be a little cool and I prefer the warmer rendition of my 24-70/2.8L.

Beautifully built and compact (it does not extend or retract during focus or zooming), it benefits hugely from the excellent image stabiliser.

Recommended without hesitation.