Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

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Simply spectacular. Not writing a long review because there are thousands out there. My personal experience was great with purchasing this item. Got it because Ive always wanted the 2.8 (had the 4 and loved it) and my partner uses it and the images are off the chart awesome. I sold my 4 and got this with the rebate ($150) for a total of $2049. On my 6D its spectacular. The images are bright and sharp, but I know this wont be news to anyone :-). The images this produces on the 5D III are just pop-off-the-page awesome. I think its a no brainer to get this if you dont mind the $2000 price tag. Im mostly a portrait photographer (seniors and weddings) and its great in the studio as well as in churches and other low-light areas. Anyway, if youre taking a serious look at this lens and youre reading all the other reviews, Im going to say buy it without hesitation. I own this, 24-70 2.8, 24-105 4, and the 85mm 1.2. Id like to add the 135mm 2.0 someday. With that, I feel well equipped. I believe this wedding season, the 70-200 will be my go to lens in 70-80% of cases. Ill add the 24-70 for wide shots..... Sorry drifting from the review..... As usual, Amazon delivered it quickly (2 days). Had to remember to ship it to work because it required a signature for delivery. Might have felt a little better if they would have padded the box they put the lens box in (they just basically dropped the Canon box into an amazon box). It was sliding around a bit when I received it. Just feel like a precision item like this would be better packaged by Amazon. However, I am fully pleased.

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The MIR and sale gave me the push I needed to buy this lens. Its still a lot of money to shell out for one piece of glass but it just covers so many areas its worth it. One of reasons I purchased the 2.8 over the 4 was future considerations, the ability to add the 2x converter + a crop body will yield 600mm+ @ 5.6 with this lens. The converter can be had for less than $500 which makes it a no brainer unless you have the budget to afford some of the higher dollar teles. Unfortunately, I do not! Ive only had the lens for about two weeks now but everything from it so far has been nothing short of great. Im using it on an older 40D body and the AF is still incredibly fast. The images have been crisp/clear with great color. As everyone has already mentioned the lens does weigh a good bit however its not terrible. I went on a 3hr (5-7 mile) hike/walk with this thing attached to my camera body the day after I received it and was fine. Sure its heavy, but I wasnt lugging around a tripod because I was able to handhold most all the shots I took that morning. Bottom line is, if you need/want the 2.8 abilities youll have to deal with the weight and cost. If you can get by with the f4, save yourself the money and weight and just go with the f4. Personally I could have got by with the f4 for the normal 70-200 range however with the rebates and sales over the holidays it made the 2.8 much more attractive when considering the addition of a teleconverter. Make sure you do your homework, rent/borrow or test these before you purchase and buy the right thing once.

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The title says it all, this lens is amazing. The only problem is that it weighs a ton. I knew that going in, but the weight is such that I have to make a decision that I will be using this lens for the day, and then set about with my monopod etc. I wish it were lighter so that I could just carry it around. I can hand hold it, and the image stabilization feature works well -- even when zoomed in to 200 mm. The quality of the pictures is awesome. It is just a bit much for me to hand hold for very long, or to even carry around for more than an hour or so while walking and taking pictures. But when I have it with me, it is my go to lens. With the F2.8 I can take amazing portraits, and with the zoom I can frame it just perfect. This requires very little post processing.

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My god I love this lens. My son does competitive gymnastics and I got tired of blurry too-slow shutter speed shots of his competitions. I rented this lens a few times to try it out and was absolutely convinced. There are a ton of reviews about this lens around the web already, by people way more qualified than me. But I will add that I shopped on Amazon for a mint condition used one and saved a bundle of money. My shots now are crisp, bright, beautiful depth of field and rich colors. Im so happy that I bought this lens, and I know I could never afford it if I had to buy a new one. Great purchase!

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I feel like this is my new primary lens. I shoot mostly action and mostly indoors in dark/semi-dark/changing light conditions (cheerleading competitions). This lens gives me the control, speed, and zoom that I need for precise, clean shots. Im in love.

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I bought this from Amazon two days before I left for my trip. The Amazon representative made sure I got it in time. I cant thank her enough. I used this lens with a 1.4 canon extender, on my Canon 5D II camera, hand held. I took over 800 pictures all over Costa Rica in rain and shine and got great pictures, from flying birds to a 1 inch frog on a leaf. When I cropped distant shots I couldnt believe how clear each picture turned out. When people viewed these pictures they thought I was a better photograher than I really am. Most of the pictures I took on auto setting but some on manuel focus and got good pictures both ways. I waited three years and several trips before I invested in this lens. The only mistake I made by making this purchase was that I waited so long. I missed some great shots I could have made earlier with this lens. You get what you pay for.

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that hasnt been said about this lens. Its fantastic and the most versatile lens I own. I did a lot of research before purchasing this lens as I am generally not a fan of zoom lenses, but this is very close to having a prime all through the 70-200mm range. Super sharp and the focusing is faster than any lens Ive ever used. This lens is a big boy too, especially long with the lens hood attached. That combined with the "white" lens pro look, youll definitely get a lot of (unwanted?) attention walking around with this. Oh any one other side note, I really like how this lens zooms internally as this helps with maneuverability since you end up getting a good feel of how much space youre going to need regardless of whether youre at 70mm or 200mm.

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I am a hobbyist photographer, and I wanted to see what the "L-Lens" hype was all about. I have a Canon 70D and figured Id upgrade my glass before my camera body. This was an upgrade from the 75-300mm lens, which is known for its softness and general bad reputation. I cannot say enough about the 70-200 IS II. I cant use it for every situation I shoot in, but when I am able to use it, its a treat every time. I am absolutely blown away at the sharpness, colors, and image quality I get out of my lens. I love to shoot at 200mm as well, so its just incredible to me that I can do that at f2.8 handheld, and still get tack-sharp photos. I love this lens for so many reasons, and if you are thinking of pulling the trigger on it... do it and dont look back!

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For the past few years Ive used Canons EF 70-200mm f/2.8L non image stabilized lens. I got great, sharp results at ISO 100 as long as I shot with fast shutter speeds (at least 1/125 or 1/160 at 70mm and at least 1/300 or faster at 200mm). Otherwise I needed to have my tripod handy or consider cranking the gain in my 5D Mark II. After dealing with enough marred shots and other compromised shooting situations I decided it was time for an upgrade. With Canon offering a $300 instant rebate I couldnt resist getting this new lens. The EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II is excellent. This lens might actually be slightly sharper than my non-IS 70-200. Lens flare is significantly reduced compared to my old lens. The image stabilization system makes it possible to get shots that were flat out impossible to capture hand-held using the non-IS version. I can get tack sharp results shooting at 1/30 sec zoomed at 200mm. I could probably try shooting even slower and still get sharp focus. However, if youre shooting candid pictures of people talking or anything else with slight on-going movement you must shoot at a fast enough frame rate to stop action. This lens has some other design touches that improve over the previous 70-200mm f/2.8L lenses. The lens hood has a different design that locks into place (you cant accidentally knock it off). The lens cap design is new. I had to remove the lens hood on my old 70-200 lens to attach the lens cap. The new lens cap design has a center grip that makes it much easier to attach with the lens hood still in place. This might be the best zoom lens Canon makes. The downsides to this lens: at over $2000 its very expensive -even with the $300 instant rebate applied. The lens is also pretty heavy. It feels noticeably more heavy than my non-IS 70-200mm lens, and that one was already pretty heavy. But the versatility of this lens and the great looking results it delivers will have most professional shooters not minding the weight. The size of this lens may also attract unwanted attention if youre trying to take a lot of candid shots.

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I have owned the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS I and now own the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II. I agree with and will not repeat all of the positive comments made in previous reviews posted about each of these lenses. My first zoom lens was the 70-200mm f/4L and it was a fine lens. I needed a very steady hand or a tripod to get the most out of that lens. It took a nice image and was light weight, but I do not carry a tripod and soon sold it to help fund the 70-200mm f/4 L IS. I saw a noticeable difference with IS and could carry that lens around all day, take some very nice shots and it was a pleasure to own. I sold it to help with the purchase of the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS I. That lens was very nice but for me the weight didnt justify the image quality so again I sold the lens. It wasnt long before I discovered that the 70-200mm was my most used lens and I missed having one in my bag so when the 70-200 IS II was available I purchased it. After owning this lens for over a year would I purchase it again YES, it is my most used lens and the images are so outstanding excelling in color, background blur, low light that I hardly notice the weight. I would not part with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II and because of its light weight still regret selling the 70-200mm f/4 L IS. Depending on the budget you have allocated and how you will use the lens, I dont believe you can go wrong purchasing any of these lens.

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