Canon 70-200mm f2.8 AF

I picked up a second hand (although mint example) of this Canon 70-200mm f2.8 'L' series lens 3 weeks ago at my favourite camera store.

Although I had just upgraded my camera body I knew that to get much better pictures I needed to spend money on the lens and not the camera - and I was still using the standard 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 USM which gave me soft pictures and vignetting on wide angles.

This lens is completely different to the standard Canon lenses. If you have not seen or used an 'L' series lens close up then you'll be surprised when you do - I was. The big white lenses you see the pro's use at sporting events are all 'L' series.

OK lets talk specifically. This lens covers the 70-200mm mid range zoom. It can be used for portrait, wildlife, sports, close up and even some landscape work. It is compatible with the Canon 2x extender (goes to f5.6 as it loses 2 stops of light) and results in a high quality 400mm top end zoom.

At a constant f2.8 this lens is bright, autofocuses fast and gives pin-sharp images through the entire range. There is little or no distortion due to the extremely high quality flourite lens elements used by Canon in the lens. It is suggested that this lens delivers similar quality to prime lenses (e.g. 200mm - no zoom).

Build quality is very high. This lens is made of metal and you can tell - it does weigh more than you would expect. My mint example came in a leather hard case and with the hood and tripod ring. This ring allows you to mount the lens on the tripod (or monopod) rather than the camera, providing easier control of the camera. I can handhold my 1N RS and this lens at 400mm and get good shots down to 1/125.

Results are impressive. I have pushed lots rolls of film through in quick succession and the first 3 back (I'm waiting on the others) show a massive improvement over my previous pictures taken with the standard zoom.

If you are serious about your photography and want to get great pictures of the above subjects consider investing in this lens.

Remember better to spend money on lenses than the camera - they are what make the difference to the quality.

This lens comes in an IS version now (Image Stabilisation) which prevents camera shake with small gyroscopic motors in the lens. Second hand examples can be found in specialist camera shops and auction sites on the net.