A daring plan for some length...

hyakuhei

hyakuhei

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Robert
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Hi All,

Every now and again I like to go to airshows. I can't justify spending big bucks on a lens for aviation as I make no money from it so I was thinking:

Pick up a good condition 80-200L f/2.8 (<£300) and a Kenko Pro 300 2xTele for using at the airshows, I might be able to make some use of it without the tele too!

Any thoughts or obvious bad points ?:shrug:
 
are you sure you can focus with that combo or do you normally manual focus.
 
I'm hoping for an AF solution... I'm not sure if I could do that with this combo though...
 
200mm f2.8 with a 2x would give you a 400mm f5.6, which IIRC would AF on an EOS body. I'm assuming your EOS as you mention an "L" lens.

They are actually 70-200 and I had no idea that you could get a 2.8 version for as little as £300. Are you sure about that bit as the f4 versions seem to get about that price?
 
Nope, Its definately the Canon 80-200 f/2.8L and yes, they go for ~£300 because they are older and not Grey.

Linky to the 80-200
 
Well well, good find there. You have seen this bit I take it???

Unlike the 70-200/2.8L USM, this lens does not take the Canon TCs. You can fit them if you use a 12mm extension tube between the lens and TC, but then you lose infinity focus. You can use the Tamron TCs and still get decent (what some would refer to via the meaningless phrase "publication quality") images. Not as good as those from a 300/4L (with or without a 1.4xTC), but still usable. The lack of compatibility with Canon's TCs is the thing I miss most in the 80-200/2.8L.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, I've been wondering about that though, as I've read that the Kenko/Sigma Teleconverters can be used where the Canon TC's cant....
 
It's got to be worth a go, hasn't it???

A 400mm f5.6 for about £400 and a tasty mid range zoom into the bargain.
 
hyakuhei said:
Nope, Its definately the Canon 80-200 f/2.8L and yes, they go for ~£300 because they are older and not Grey.

Linky to the 80-200
Click to expand...

I had one of these a couple of years ago. They're also known as the 'magic drainpipe'. In fact someone here bought it from me.

These older 'L' lenses offer sharpness and resolution equal to, and some might argue, better than the more modern variant. They are slightly heavier, and don't use the USM motor, though in practice, I doubt you'll notice any difference.

If buying second hand, try and negotiate a good warranty, because official Canon service centres no longer service or repair these, as parts are no longer available from Canon, though I phoned a couple of specialist Canon repairers before I bought mine, and most said they should be able to handle repairs.

IIRC, I was able to AF perfectly with mine on a 1d MkIIn, using Kenko pro 300 converters, and the 2X didn't cause any metering problems either. Image quality was not a problem. The Kenko Pro 300 converters are top class items.
 
Thats great to hear Doug, Thanks!
 
I've been using this lens for a few events, and it's an amazing piece of glass. I borrowed if off a friend and took it to the Silverstone GP. One thing, even without a teleconverter the max burst is very slow. Maybe it's the copy I borrowed, but I couldn't shoot anywhere near max burst on my 40D perhaps as low as 2fps. I don't know if this is due to the age of the lens and the af not able to lock on as fast as newer glass. He's got a sigma 1.4 converter and the af is even slower. I can only comment on the setup I've used.

It does take amazing pictures, and it's well worth it. This copy is rattling and looks very well used with wobbly bits, yet takes crisp photos. Go fot it.
 
Thanks for the info chemosabe. For what its worth, slow burst speeds might be down to a sticky aperture in the lens perhaps ?
 
hyakuhei,

Maybe. My 70-300 had a sticky aperture but it still shot at 6ftps. What happened in that case was that some of the exposures were heavily underexposed. Canon replaced the iris under warranty.

With the 80-200 f2.8 I've never experienced variations in the exposure; it simply won't shoot at max burst rate.

Either way, I'm still not complaining. For one reason it's not my lens, but also gives more reason to improve shooting technique to move away from the machine gun approach to the one-shot approach.

Enjoy your purchase, and make sure you do some test shots before you buy. I think it's been mentioned that the lens is no longer supported by canon.

Chris
 
hyakuhei,

Whereabouts are you sourcing the 80-200 from, is it in this country, I could be quite tempted with one..........

There is a mint looking one on ebay in the USA??


Victor
 
Thanks for the info Chris.

Victor, I've got feelers out all over the place - If by some miracle I happen upon more than one I'll be sure to let you know.
 
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