Unexpected - Superb Lens

crazybadger wrote:

bronxbombers4 wrote:

billythek wrote:

What I don't get is why it was "unexpected"? This lens always gets great reviews. The only problem is the aperture, and the fact that the available focus points are restricted excessively on the 5D3.

When it was release it was kind of derided and mocked, for at least the entire first year. Only more recently have people, en masse, discovered that it's actually not a joke, but a pretty useful lens, with top quality (and something unique to the Canon line-up, the Nikon and third party 70-300 type lenses simply don't match up). So I could see how it could be unexpected. It really took a beating, right from the initial press release, for quite a while.

You ain't kidding there . I remember the threads claiming "canon has totally lost the plot with their pricing", or "it was the beginning of the end for canon", and "the new Tamron is going to kick its ass". Some people were REALLY upset. A number of early "reviews" by the resident armchair measurbators (those that only look at the spec charts and then pass judgement) went on and on about "who would want to buy such a thing" or "only people with too much money to waste" yadda yadda...

But to be fair I seem to remember most of this happened early on before the lens was really released and most of the angst was directed at the price and a disbelief that the lens could compete in IQ with the much loved 70-200 f4 IS. Once people started to get their hands on it and actual user reviews showed up it was pretty much all positive.

Oh, OK, I guess I missed out on the early announcement hysteria.  All the reviews I've seen from people who actually used the lens have been very positive, as are the pictures I've seen taken with it.