For the next few days I’ll be trying out the new Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mark II telephoto zoom lens care of CPS.  Once upon a time I had the non-IS version of this lens and, like this new version, it was big and heavy but achieved impressive results.  However, I sold that lens several years ago to buy a Gitzo tripod and the smaller and lighter 70-200mm f/4L, which I then sold to buy the 70-200mm f/4L IS two years ago.  I’ve also had access to the the lens that this “Mark II” replaces while I’ve been a student at the University of Missouri, so I’ve had a lot of experience with Canon’s lenses in this zoom range.

While I’ll have more thoughts in the coming days, I should note that of all of Canon’s black plastic detachable lens hoods, this is the best bar none.  It goes on smoothly and actually “locks.”  There’s a button on the lens hood that one has to depress in order to take it back off.  Nice.

By comparison, most of these black plastic lens hoods suck, as noted by Mark Dubovoy in an essay on the Luminous Landscape: “…all the typical Japanese lens hoods are way too flimsy and they are a veritable royal pain in the butt to take off, reverse, install and all that. They constantly refuse to go in, or go in crooked, or jam or break. It is a miserable bad design, with flimsy bad construction to make matters even worse.”  After several years of working with these hoods, and now that my 24-70mm’s hood only stays on if I use gaffer’s tape, I would agree whole-heartedly.  I can only hope that this new hood on the Mark II 70-200mm is a sign of things to come!