Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

Being priced at around £980, this older 70-200mm lens may lack stabilisation but does include weather sealing and fast, silent ultrasonic focusing at a much lower price, making it an interesting alternative for those on a tighter budget.

Those with more money at their disposal, will probably consider Canon's latest image stabilised 70-200mm f/2.8 optic, which costs around £1800.

Sigma's current 70-200mm f/2.8 costs around £1000 and sports silent focusing plus a four stop stabiliser, but no weather sealing.

Tamron's SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD only costs around £630, but lack the weather sealing and silent focusing of the Canon optic.

Due to the lower price tag than the image stabilised version, this lens often makes an interesting choice. In this review we'll investigate how it performs.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM: Handling and features
Weighing 1310g, this lens is a little lighter than the image stabilised equivalent, but without sacrificing build quality. High quality materials have been used throughout but the lens lacks a rubber gasket around the lens mount, which is a feature often found on more modern lens designs to keep out dust and moisture.

The lens balances well on the EOS 5D MkII used for testing with the centre of gravity being just a little forward of the zoom control. Zooming is smooth and a minimal amount of force is required to move through the range. Even with this light zooming action, the lens did not suffer with zoom creep during testing.

As focus and zooming actions are performed internally, the front filter thread does not rotate, making the lens ideal for use with polarising and graduated filters. A petal shaped lens hood is supplied, which attaches to a bayonet fitting around the front.

Focusing is very quick and virtually silent on the EOS 5D MkII used for testing. At the minimum focus distance of 1.5m, the lens would occasionally miss-focus, resulting in soft images, especially at 200mm. At greater distances, the lens focuses with reassuring accuracy.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM: Performance
Shooting wide open at 70mm, sharpness in the centre of the image area is already very good, but the sharpness towards the edges of the frame is quite poor. This characteristic will suit those shooting subjects such as portratiture, where the subject is often in, or close to the centre of the frame. Stopping down the lens improves sharpness across the frame and by f/8 the edges are approaching good levels of sharpness, whilst sharpness in the centre is outstanding. Peak quality across the frame is achieved at f/11, where the clarity is very good across the frame.

Images taken at 135mm show similar characteristics to those taken at 70mm, with high levels of sharpness in the centre at maximum aperture, although the quality towards the edges is slightly improved. Again, peak quality across the frame is achieved at f/11, where sharpness in the centre is excellent, and very good towards thee edges.

At 200mm, the high levels of centre sharpness are still maintained, although the edges are visibly softened at all apertures. Here peak quality in the centre is achieved at f/8, where the levels of sharpness are outstanding, but the quality towards the edges only reaches fair levels by f/16.

Resolution at 70mm		Resolution at 135mm
Resolution at 200mm		How to read our graphs The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on an Canon EOS 5D MkII using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled throughout the range, with fringing not reaching one pixel width throughout the range. These levels are so low, they shouldn't pose issues at all, even at very large print sizes, or in harsh crops.

Chromatic Aberrations at 70mm		Chromatic Aberrations at 135mm
Chromatic Aberrations at 200mm		How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on an Canon EOS 5D MkII using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners can be quite pronounced at bright apertures. At 70mm the corners are 1.91 stops darker than the image centre at f/2.8 and 2.7 stops darker at 200mm. Visually even illumination is achieved at f/5.6 throughout the zoom range.

Distortion at 70mm is very well controlled. Imatest was only able to detect 0.251% barrelling, which is an extremely low amount of curvature. At 200mm, pincushion distortion of 1.58% is present, which may be noticeable under certain circumstances. Luckily the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, which should make corrections in image editing software afterwards straightforward.

The Super Spectra coatings do a decent job of limiting flare and retaining contrast under most conditions. When shooting directly into a bright light source, some flare and loss of contrast may occur, especially at wide apertures. The supplied petal hood does an excellent job of shielding the front element from extraneous light.

Wide-angle – ISO100, 1/400, f/5.6, 70mm		Telephoto – ISO100, 1/400, f/5.6, 200mm
Bokeh – ISO100, 1/250, f/4, 200mm		Maximum magnification – ISO100, 1/800, f/8, 200mm

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM: Verdict
Although technically not the best lens optically, the high levels of centre sharpness will please those whose shooting style often results in their subject being isolated near to the centre of the frame. The reasonable price and excellent build quality should also ensure this lens is a good investment, being more than capable of taking the rigours of daily professional use in its stride.

If however, you often shoot flat objects that fill the frame, or simply require excellent sharpness from edge to edge, say for landscapes, then this lens may not be for you.

The lack of image stabilisation may also be an issue for some, especially those shooting in low light, where stabilisation can really help to increase your chance of producing a sharp image. Those who mainly shoot in daylight, or that shoot fast moving subjects such as sports can probably live without.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM: Pros
Good value
Excellent Build Quality
Very good sharpness in the centre of the frame
Fast focusing

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM: Cons
Loss of sharpness towards the edges of the frame
Falloff of illumination towards the corners at 200mm

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
SPECIFICATION

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM: Specification

Price	£980
Contact	www.canon.co.uk
Filter size	77mm
Format	Full-frame
Construction	18 elements in 15 groups
Angle-of-view	34° - 12°
35mm equivalent focal length (on APS-C body)	112-320mm
Internal focusing	Yes
Image stabilisation	No
Minimum focus	1.5m
Maximum aperture	f/2.8
Minimum aperture	f/32
Weight	1310g
Size (lxw)	84.6 x 193.6mm
In the box	Lens hood, tripod collar, lens caps

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens costs £980 and is available from Warehouse Express here:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

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