Canon released their first version of the 70-200 with a 2.8 aperture for the EF mount in March 1995. To this day the 70-200 was upgraded a few times and now features image stabilization, weather sealing and better image quality. But is the original version from 1995 still a good lens in 2021?
lmost every other situation. The 70-200 is one of my most used lenses in my kit, because it is easy to get a nice differentiation from the foreground to the background and is a nice focal length on a Full-Frame sensor to get closer to objects. Here are some more example images.
I like having a telephoto lens, because it can be used for all kind of different situations from portraits to wildlife to almost every other situation. The 70-200 is one of my most used lenses in my kit, because it is easy to get a nice In March of 2021 I upgraded from the Canon 70-200 L f/4 to the f/2.8 version, because I realized, that f/4 did not gave me the shallow depth I wanted and in some low light situations I also needed a slightly faster lens. The f/2.8 version was the best choice and did not cost a lot more. I was able to pick one up for 500€. It is obviously heavier and bigger than the f/4 version, due to more glass for the lower aperture. For me the increase in weight does not matter and also has it advantages when using a bigger camera body.
The image quality of this lens is amazing, especially when looking at its age. I did not analyze the image quality under laboratory conditions, but more in real life use. Compared to the f/4 version the lens is just a tiny bit softer wide open, but not really noticeable. Except that, these lenses are very similar if not identical in image quality.
