Big lens, Big price tag.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fast, Accurate, Sharp

Cons: Price, Focal range

Author's Review
As a professional, I use this lens for a small amount of portraiture work, but mostly for wide angle and low light shots. Typical of the high quality "L" lens series from Canon, this lens is built to last.

With the 77mm filter size, filters get expensive real quick. Not overly heavy or long, this lens balances nicely on an EOS 1N. It does not balance as well on the lighter weight Elan series. Makes the lighter bodies "nose heavy".

Optics are excellent thru all focal lengths and apertures.

I like the part where a case and hood is included with purchase. The case is leather, and hard sided. Canon HAS to do something, because at purchase prices around $1000 or more, they should throw in these little extras.

When I purchased this lens, I thought that it may "live" on my primary camera the majority of the time. I was wrong. The 70MM just does not reach out quite as far as one would want or need. A 28-135 IS replaced the 28-70 2.8, as far as living on the camera.

However, I do night time slide pictures for businesses that really come thru with this lens. I'm talking VERY long exposure times. I have had no instances of flare. The included lens hood helps with this. Also, the lens hood reverses and fits back over the barrel of the lens for storage, which is nice.

Focusing speed is extremely quick. And accurate. No hesitation during low light situations. Focusing is done internally, which is handy with certain filter types, and it keeps the balance the same.

When working with people, this lens is a bit intimidating. The large opening will sometimes bring forth comments from hobbyists. Kids are sometimes spooked by this lens as well. BECAUSE, the camera must be so close to the subject. I know a longer focal length solves this problem, but in reviewing this particular lens, if used with kids, it may be a problem...

A negative on this lens are the generic Canon instructions that are printed to work on about 8 or 10 other Canon "L" series lenses. Not that these lenses need a lot of instructions, but specific model performance criteria, specifications, etc. might prove helpful to the buyer post purchase.

This is a top quality, professional level, SPECIFIC use lens. What it does, it does great. Low light, wide angle, this is a good one.