Help choosing Canon 70-200mm Lens

[scottduffy]

I am about to purchase a Canon 70-200mm lens and i was wondering if anyone owns one of the these and how your lens performs. I am really struggling to decide whether to purchase a lens with IS considering the extra cost or even if i should go for f2.8 or f4.0. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will buy one of the following and was hopeful someone could give me some advice. This lens will mainly be used for portrait photography.

Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS cost approx £1479.00

Canon 70-200mm F2.8 NON cost approx £935.00

Canon 70-200mm F4.0 IS cost approx £939.00

Canon 70-200mm F4.0 NON IS cost approx £490.00

 

[Freester]

Hi and Welcome.

It really depends on what you want to do. Portrait photography - are you indoors / outdoors? Will you have flash / studio lighting or not? Do you need the extra stop of the f/2.8 or the IS?

The question has been asked a few times on here. Maybe this thread helps...

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=123557&highlight=70-200

 

[kimo]

hi Scottduffy
have a look at kerso prices a lot of people on here use him
www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=46451&highlight=kerso
just emil him for the prices

 

[andrewc]

What body are you using it with?

 

[stelkise]

Hi Scott,

This reply is not specific to portrait photography, but I own one of these beauties, the canon 70-200 f2.8 IS, and all I can say is it is absolutely fab. I use it for motorsport, it is great having the IS as it can save 3 stops of light, especially good in Scotland when the weather suddenly goes dull, and that happens quite often When i use it close to fully open (f3.5 - 4.5), the image quality is superb, with nice background blur. Generally i use it for panning to obtain motion blur when required, and find it easy to hold, it is not too heavy, I use one of those crumpler bags to carry it.

Highly recommend this lens, you would not regret the extra cash outlay, it is fast, IS can be a saviour, and can be used for a multitude of photographic situations, and it produces great quality images.

Hope this helps in making the all important decision..........

 

[knocker]

i have the f4 non is and can honestly say it is fantastic, sharp as anything and i don't miss the sigma 70-200 f2.8 it replaced, i tried a 2.8 in the shop when i was deciding, the weight of that and the 1dmk2 was just silly :shake: the is would be nice but i can't see how nearly double the price for the f4 is version can be justified

 

[scottduffy]

Right now i have a Canon 450d which i am just about to upgrade from. I have still not decided which body to move to though but i will get round to that in the next couple of months. I was thinking about a Canon 85m f1.8 instead of the 70-200 as it's cheaper and it gets a lot of good press for portraits but i think the 70-200 might come in handy for all sorts of photography.