First published May 2008.

OVERVIEW

The Canon EF 200mm L F2.8 II USM telephoto lens tends to go unnoticed by many Canon photographers. Most Canon users cover 200mm with zoom lenses such as the various Canon 70-200mm L family. I must admit - I did the exact same thing. The Canon 70-200mm L F4 IS has proven to be a great lens and has been my “go to tele-zoom” when traveling. The 70-200mm L F4 IS is quite sharp and the IS is outstanding; however, its own shortcoming is the bokeh. F4 is not a wide aperture, so isolating the subject from the background can be difficult with the F4 zooms.

This past winter I bought a Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO lens to use with  the Mamiya 645AFD II & Phase One P25. For whatever reason I really liked the 200mm prime (more about the Mamiya here) on the medium format set-up. Generally I do not use 200mm very often, so I was surprised at how much I liked the focal length on medium format. I have owned the Canon 200mm F2.8 II before and did not use it much. After experiencing a change of heart with Mamiya 200mm F2.8 APO, I decided to give the 200mm a second change on a Canon a dSLR.

I intend to use the Canon 200mm for portraits, landscapes and potentially some product shots. A 200mm telephoto has a relatively narrow field of view, a moderately compressed looked (flattening effect) and nice background blur - even at moderate apertures. I love using a fast aperture to separate the subject from the background, so the 200mm should be a good fit. As noted above I could cover this focal length with a Canon zoom. I have owned all three of the Canon 70-200mm zooms and both of the F2.8 versions were very disappointing at 200mm. I have even tried multiple copies over the years. Each time they have lacked resolving power and the 200mm images lacked detail and contrast. When the zooms were stopped down to F5.6 of F8, then the result were okay.

The 70-200mm F2.8 zooms are rather heavy. Each weighs ~3 pounds while the Canon 200mm prime weights only 1.7 pounds and the prime is about 30% shorter. The Canon 200mm F2.8 uses fewer elements (nine in total), so it has less light loss than a zoom. Thus, shutter speeds are ~1 stop faster than the zooms. When traveling I like to keep the total travel kit under 10 pounds and stuffed into a Crumpler  7 Million Home bag. The new Canon 70-200mm F4 L IS is light and easily fits into the bag, so when traveling it is an obvious choice. And its quite sharp which makes the decision process all the easier. The 70-200mm F4 L IS did a great job on a trip to San Francisco (pictures here) and earned its stripes. It also did a good job in Hawaii (click here), but I did not use the lens as often as anticipated. While the 70-200mm F4 L IS has been a great travel lens, its wide open bokeh is lacking. Creatively I find the F4 zooms limiting, so maybe the 200mm prime be a better a choice for awhile.

HANDLING

The Canon 200mm F2.8 uses a rear inner focus system, so the lens length remains unchanged while focusing. The front element does not rotate - which is good when using circular polarizers and gradient filters. The rear focus design improves focus speed (less mass being moved). Canon added their Ultrasonic USM motors - which are quiet and quick. For the sports shooter, focus can be sped up even more by using the focus limiter switch and setting the minimum focus distance to 3.5 meters. All of these features come together and produce fast, accurate focus system.

The 200mm F2.8 is well balanced with its weight evenly distributed. On the Canon 1Ds Mark III the 200mm F2.8 feels light and does not pull the camera downward. The lens is well built and feels durable. Nothing rattles or clunks inside the lens. The 200mm F2.8 feels like a lens you can “use” it and not like something you have to worry about should it get bounced around in the camera bag. On my first day of shooting with the Canon 200mm, I walked around with the 1Ds Mark III and 200mm for over 3 hours. The combo is large, but it was not fatiguing.

Manual focus is mechanically linked, not electronically linked like the Canon EF 85mm L F1.2 II, so the 200mm’s manual focus responds immediately to any focus ring movement. Manual focus is available at all times, so the lens can be auto-focused and adjusted manually if auto focus fails to achieve the desired focus point. The 1Ds Mark III’s viewfinder is very large and bright, so I do find myself using manual focus more often just because it is easier and quicker than selecting the appropriate AF point.  (Continue to next page)