Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM Lens Review

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM Performance

Sharpness at 70mm gets us off to an excellent start. Results are excellent both centre and edge from f/4 through to f/8, very good at f/11 and f/16, fair at f/22 and soft at f/32. The evenness from centre to edge is commendable.

At 100mm, centrally we have excellent sharpness from f/4 to f/11. This remains very good at f/16, falling to fair at f/22 and soft at f/32. The edges almost perfectly mirror this, being excellent from f/4 to f/8, very good at f/11 and f/16, fair at f/22 and soft at f/32.

At 135mm, the centre is excellent from f/4 to f/11, very good at f/16, good at f/22 and soft at f/32. The edges are close, being excellent from f/4 to f/11, very good at f/16, fair at f/22 and soft at f/32.

At 200mm the centre is excellent from f/4 to f/11, very good at f/16, good at f/22 and soft at f/32. The edges are very good at f/4, excellent from f/5.6 to f/8, very good from f/11 to f/16, fair at f/22 and again soft at f/32.

Apart from avoiding f/32 unless absolutely necessary, the lens performs superbly well throughout its range and can be used with total confidence.

CA (Chromatic Aberration) is extremely well controlled at all focal lengths, especially in the centre, where is it close to zero throughout the focal length range. The edges are equally impressive and it is only at 200mm that figures start to climb at the edges. Even here it is much better than many competitive lenses and can always be further corrected in software.

Distortion measures at -1.57% barrel at 70mm. At 100mm correction is close to perfect, measuring +0.21% pincushion. This slowly increases, showing pincushion distortion of +1.26% at 135mm and +1.94% at 200mm. This is still pretty good for a zoom of this specification and can always be further reduced in software.

Flare is not a problem, not having shown itself in even the most demanding backlit shots.

Bokeh is very, very smooth and offers beautifully attractive out of focus backgrounds, ideal for flower studies, portraiture and many other applications.

The claim for the stabiliser is 5 stops. This is totally realistic, not for every shot perhaps, but for a very high percentage. Critically sharp images can be obtained at ridiculously slow shutter speeds, which is an amazing advantage.

Value For Money

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM lens is priced at £1299.

Competitive lenses might include:

• Tamron 70-210mm f/4 Di VC USD, £699
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, £1099
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM, £589
• Nikon 70-200mm f/4 G ED VR, £1349
• Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS, £1149

There are also plenty of f/2.8 lenses, but generally, this can almost double the price.

Overall, it may well be a fair price, offering closer focusing and improved stabilisation over the previous model.

For more options, have a look at the Top 15 Best Canon EOS lenses.

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