canon 70-200 IS USM F2.8

Phil Wood

Phil Wood

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Philip wood
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I am thinking of buying one of these privately and am wondering what checks to make to see that it is ok. and how much I should pay for it. I think it can be bought for £700 Thanks
 
700 is a good price if it's in good nick

check the glass and check for knocks and marks,

stick it on the camera and try it, check the autofocus works when zooming in and out and for distance and close up and moving between the two

try some low shutter speeds with IS on and off, is there a difference

take your time

I got mine off ebay and it's great
 
£700 is amazing. If this is indeed the IS version then you're saving £300-£400.
 
Phil Wood said:
I am thinking of buying one of these privately and am wondering what checks to make to see that it is ok. and how much I should pay for it. I think it can be bought for £700 Thanks
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£700!?! I doubt you'll find one for that and if you do I doubt it will be in very good nick. As for testing the lens - personally I'd just take some test shot and then look at them on a computer, if you're happy with them then job done.
 
Ditto the above really. £700 for the f/2.8 with IS is an extremely good price 2nd hand.

These are about £1400 new on the high st at present, a couple of hundred less from Kerso and the others etc.
 
I was in the same boat recently and did a Google search which came back with quite a few articles on how to check what to look for when buying used lenses.
They talked about fittng the lens, pressing the depth of field button on the camera to make sure the aperture blades moved freely etc.
Cant post the link right now as I am at work and dont want to get told off for being a naughty boy and surfing the web too much!
I was quite fortunate when buying my lens as the seller came to my house as I dont have a car! Meant I was able to take some test shots and view them on my computer at 100% and 300% to check the quality.
For what it is worth, you will be able to find some websites that list which date the Canon L lens was made on.
Good luck on your possible purchase.
 
£700 for the F/2.8 non-IS or F/4 IS is more realistic. Nobody who owns a decent condition F/2.8 IS would sell it at that price unless they are clueless.

If you are on a £700 budget I recommend the F/4 IS. It is one stop slower, but the IQ is noticeaby better, and the lens is much more portable. Only get the F/2.8 if you really need that extra stop and shoot moving objects in low light.
 
To see if it's optically a good copy with all elements correctly centred, shoot a distant target (street sign, car number plate, road sign etc) to minimise focus errors, at lowest f/number and a fast enough shutter speed to guarantee zero camera shake.

Lock focus and exposure on manual so it can't change and take pictures of the target in all four corners of the frame. Take them quickly because if the light changes it can have a big effect on the result. View them on the LCD at maximum magnification. They should all be equally sharp, or possible equally unsharp as this is a very tough test. But equal.

If one or more corners is noticeably worse than the others, then something is out inside - maybe after a knock.

Testing for ultimate sharpness is extremely difficult unless you have another lens of known good quality that you can shoot an identical subject with, side by side. with identical settings.
 
Orville said:
£700 for the F/2.8 non-IS or F/4 IS is more realistic. Nobody who owns a decent condition F/2.8 IS would sell it at that price unless they are clueless.

If you are on a £700 budget I recommend the F/4 IS. It is one stop slower, but the IQ is noticeaby better, and the lens is much more portable. Only get the F/2.8 if you really need that extra stop and shoot moving objects in low light.
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The owner is not really interested but is very wealthy and just found it to much bother and leaves the 24-105 L on the camera all the time,which is a good walk about lens anyway,so has never really used the 70-200. Going to test it Sunday got my fingers crossed it's OK. I need it for weddings.
 
Hope everything is fine with it and if it is the 2.8 IS, you've got an absolute bargain (y)
 
If its in perfect nick I would bite his hand off (y)

If it is the IS ?? are these not £1500 new..
i would just buy it.. if you dont like it I will give you £720 for it :D

See.. whatever happens you still make a wee profit :naughty:
 
:):)Bought it for £700 it seems perfect done lots of tests highly delighted Thanks guys for your help
 
That's an incredible bargain! I've only seen damaged copies of the f/2.8 IS for sale under £1k.

If anyone's interested in what to check for when buying used lenses, there's a useful thread here.
 
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