Zoom Art

When I got this zoom it was for general purpose work. Many years ago I had the old one, but sold it after a couple of years in use because I thought it was...well boring, and image quality was...you know..."standardzoomy" and meh! Because of that I never really used it much and I always reached for my preferred L-primes.

Due to an additional work approach I decided to give the MK 2 a chance. I was expecting exceptional sharpness, contrast, snappy autofocus and punchy L-style color rendition. All those were expectations were met - of course.

HOWEVER. What I wasn't expecting was the prime-like feeling in the overall rendition and especially in the bokeh. It's truly a spectacular performer in this area and a good example of how important the style of the bokeh is. The combination of super sharp rendition with high micro contrast and buttery smooth bokeh behind the subject makes images look like they were almost shot on a wider aperture. Well done Canon. I never thought a zoom would be my favourite lens, but this one is.

Rumor has it that Canon didn't add Image stabilization because it would have sacrificed image quality too much. I am glad they decided that because this is zoom art. For real...

+1.

I bought mine two years ago before my vacation trip to japan.

It was the best decision for my lenses.

I bought mine when it was still $2200--damn! But I think just about everyone who has ever used this jewel agree that it matches or surpasses most primes in sharpness, color correction and incredible resistance to flare. The resistance to flare was my biggest surprise considering it is packed with lens elements.

That said, it displays pretty blatant vignetting until you get to about f/4.5 or f/5.6, though the vignetting is cleaned up instantly in PP lens correction. Also, the front racks in and out when you zoom, instead of being tucked away inside the barrel like the 16-35 or 70-200. I would also prefer a bigger lens hood to protect that large front element, though I haven't had a problem with mine.

Finally, like everyone, I would love IS, but not at the cost of the razor sharp optics.