Awesome Affordable L Lens

I got mine used, lucky I got one with pretty much in mint condition, and a tripod mount collar ring as a package, which I found useful since it is heavier than the camera body I use. The result images are sharp from wide open with minimum vignetting, AF is fast and the ring itself is smooth with subtle dampening when hitting the focus range limits. I don't know is it just mine being old (or worse still, defective from the factory) or just the characteristic of it, the zoom ring is too light to rotate. Though that said there's no zoom creeps at all (maybe just an internally rotating zoom lenses characteristic? idk, this is my first lens with that feature). The IS is effective, but my God it makes such an annoying high pitched sound when turned on. But again, I don't know is it just mine being not new or actually a "feature" of this lens.

The original Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L is also an awesome bargain!

John Crowe wrote:

The original Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L is also an awesome bargain!

This is the one I have and I love it. I'm usually on a tripod so IS isn't a big deal for me.

jerry1 wrote:

John Crowe wrote:

The original Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L is also an awesome bargain!

This is the one I have and I love it. I'm usually on a tripod so IS isn't a big deal for me.

So why are you reviewing the image stabilised version if you have the earlier , original , non stabilised version ?

This is the lens you've doing a review on ; https://www.dpreview.com/products/canon/lenses/canon_70-200_4_is

So what lens do you have ?

You also stated 'The IS is effective, but my God it makes such an annoying high pitched sound when turned on." Which suggests you have the image stabilised version and not the original , non IS version .

I also have the first image stabilised version , but I can't say it makes much noise .

They are all different posters, despite them all starting with "j".

trulandphoto wrote:

They are all different posters, despite them all starting with "j".

Quite right , well spotted .

That's what happens when people post things that aren't about the O.P .

Hello - I own this lens - it's fantastic. IMHO.

julyas43 wrote:

I got mine used, lucky I got one with pretty much in mint condition, and a tripod mount collar ring as a package, which I found useful since it is heavier than the camera body I use. The result images are sharp from wide open with minimum vignetting, AF is fast and the ring itself is smooth with subtle dampening when hitting the focus range limits. I don't know is it just mine being old (or worse still, defective from the factory) or just the characteristic of it, the zoom ring is too light to rotate. Though that said there's no zoom creeps at all (maybe just an internally rotating zoom lenses characteristic? idk, this is my first lens with that feature). The IS is effective, but my God it makes such an annoying high pitched sound when turned on. But again, I don't know is it just mine being not new or actually a "feature" of this lens.

The noisy IS is a known flaw of this lens. It's a 2006 design, something's gotta give. Other than that, I agree that it is a great lens, especially at the kind of price you can buy it for these days. I expect it will be among the last EF lenses to leave my inventory as I slowly switch over to RF.

"The IS is effective, but my God it makes such an annoying high pitched sound when turned on."

This is why I sold mine and now have the RF 70-200 f4 L the silence is awesome.

That's why I said "affordable" as I've got it secondhand, it was less than 1/4th the price of a new RF 70-200 f4. For the price I've got, a whining IS is the least of its problem.

julyas43 wrote:

That's why I said "affordable" as I've got it secondhand, it was less than 1/4th the price of a new RF 70-200 f4. For the price I've got, a whining IS is the least of its problem.

In many situations, you don't need the IS, so you can always turn it off.  This will help with battery life too, which is not great on the RP.  Another trick is to limit the time the camera remains on, then the lens goes quiet sooner!  And yes, it's a very good lens.  if you find the AF slow, do use the focus limiter, this speeds it up a bit.