Parting Thoughts on the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mark II lens

When I first received the new 70-200mm lens from Canon Professional Services, I was instantly reminded why I sold my old 70-200mm f/2.8 (non-IS) a few years ago: it’s big and it’s heavy.  But it lets in a lot of light, and you can achieve very nice, selective focus with it.  I didn’t have  an opportunity to make any portraits with it, which is too bad because I think it would be an excellent lens for that application.  I did take it out on the street, but I was very conscious of walking with an enormous white monstrosity: subtlety is not an option with this lens.

A Worthwhile Upgrade?

The image quality is remarkably high (although I wouldn’t consider its resolution to be any greater than it’s f/4 stable-mate, and while the image stabilization is improved over the previous version, I did not think it any better than the aforementioned 70-200mm f/4L IS.  That said, this is the first zoom lens that I would consider using with the 2x teleconverter on a regular basis.

If you currently own the older IS version of this lens, you might wonder if it’s worth the upgrade.  I would offer that I believe the image stabilization is certainly better, but if you shoot sports, that might not matter to you at all.  The image quality is higher, and will enable you to use the 2x teleconverter freely.  If neither of these features interest you, then you can probably pass on this lens and wait for something “better.”