Aaron Kennedy
EF5
Intro: At one point, I was a firm believer in prime lenses. I owned a 20/50/100/200/300 suite of primes, and 90% of the time, I was completely satisfied with them. Unfortunately, the other 10% of the time happened to be during situations where time was of the essence. As you may of guessed... storm chasing can be fit into this category.
In a perfect world, we would have an infinite amount of time to setup, the light would remain constant, and there would be no dust. Storm chasing is a far cry from this photographer's utopia. In a hobby where mother nature can mix things up in seconds, switching lenses simply became too much of a liability. Sure primes have their benefits; they are low weight, sharp, good low light performers, and relatively cheap. They have a place in every photographer's lens collection, but now they will play a much smaller role in mine (I am only keeping the 50/1.4).
With that in mind, I bring to you my review of Canon's esteemed short to midrange telephoto. The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L.
The word WOW comes to mind after using this lens for a day.
---Construction---
As part of Canon's L series, it is no wonder this lens gets a 10/10 in my book for construction. Solid metal body, firm but smooth turning focus/zoom rings, and a sturdy tripod mount all contribute to a lens that has the word business written all over it.
---Optical Quality---
When I purchased this lens, I accepted the fact that I would be taking a small step backwards in optical quality from my previous 100 and 200mm lenses. While I have shipped off my 200mm prime already, I was able to test the zoom againt my Canon 100/2 prime. The results were shocking... at f/2.8, the zoom out performed the prime by a slight margin. At f/4-f/8 they were practically equal, and up to at f/16, the prime appeared like it had a *very* slight edge. As for contrast and saturation, both lenses seemed to be on par. When I was viewing the images in photoshop, I had to use the file names to tell them apart.
While I was not able to test the lens at 200mm against a prime, I did shoot many shots at that focal length. The results satisfied my thirst for sharpness.
Final score: 9.5/10
So far, the verdict is a postive one for this lens. While the true test will be how it performs while chasing, I am confident it will live up to my expectations.
Final notes:
Canon also produces an IS (image stablization) version of this lens. This feature lets you take shots at insanely slow shutter speeds (like 1/15 at 200mm!). While this would be extremely handy chasing (it also features all-weather seals), it is simply too far out of my budget at $1500~.
Image gallery of the lens and shots with it from today:
http://ww2.convectionconnection.com:8080/CANON70-200/
In a perfect world, we would have an infinite amount of time to setup, the light would remain constant, and there would be no dust. Storm chasing is a far cry from this photographer's utopia. In a hobby where mother nature can mix things up in seconds, switching lenses simply became too much of a liability. Sure primes have their benefits; they are low weight, sharp, good low light performers, and relatively cheap. They have a place in every photographer's lens collection, but now they will play a much smaller role in mine (I am only keeping the 50/1.4).
With that in mind, I bring to you my review of Canon's esteemed short to midrange telephoto. The Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L.
The word WOW comes to mind after using this lens for a day.
---Construction---
As part of Canon's L series, it is no wonder this lens gets a 10/10 in my book for construction. Solid metal body, firm but smooth turning focus/zoom rings, and a sturdy tripod mount all contribute to a lens that has the word business written all over it.
---Optical Quality---
When I purchased this lens, I accepted the fact that I would be taking a small step backwards in optical quality from my previous 100 and 200mm lenses. While I have shipped off my 200mm prime already, I was able to test the zoom againt my Canon 100/2 prime. The results were shocking... at f/2.8, the zoom out performed the prime by a slight margin. At f/4-f/8 they were practically equal, and up to at f/16, the prime appeared like it had a *very* slight edge. As for contrast and saturation, both lenses seemed to be on par. When I was viewing the images in photoshop, I had to use the file names to tell them apart.
While I was not able to test the lens at 200mm against a prime, I did shoot many shots at that focal length. The results satisfied my thirst for sharpness.
Final score: 9.5/10
So far, the verdict is a postive one for this lens. While the true test will be how it performs while chasing, I am confident it will live up to my expectations.
Final notes:
Canon also produces an IS (image stablization) version of this lens. This feature lets you take shots at insanely slow shutter speeds (like 1/15 at 200mm!). While this would be extremely handy chasing (it also features all-weather seals), it is simply too far out of my budget at $1500~.
Image gallery of the lens and shots with it from today:
http://ww2.convectionconnection.com:8080/CANON70-200/
