Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS II

New Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS II

70-200 zoom range is considered a must have for any photographer, canon has 3 variants of this range: 70-200 f4, 70-200 f4 IS and the new 70-200 2.8 IS II. Since i moved to world of DSLR i greatly missed zoom lens of this range for landscapes, actions and portraits. After purchasing 100mm macro, i used it for macro and medium tele needs but fixed focal length and slow focus were main issues (still it is excellent lens for macro work!)

Shot through 5 feet away net and grill. Click for more and large images and exif

It was until launch of this new lens which grabbed attention of photographers, followed by excellent reviews. It is considered step ahead of discontinued 70-200 2.8 L IS mark1 in IQ and IS and price too (2400$)

I took it for a ride, and shot images at various settings, IQ and IS are awesome. I noticed sharp results at all focal lengths. IS saved a shot from being blur when shot at 1/20 at 160mm focal length, so i don't have to worry about keeping shutter speed as high as focal length to avoid hand shake blur.

1/20 at 168mm handheld. Click for more and large images and exif

If you have money and lust for flagship lens with excellent performance don't be afraid of spending extra $$$ on this lens. Buying a lens is long term investment. When i wanted to buy mark1 version (which is not as good as mark2) it was around 1500$ but slowly it ended up with 1800$ price tag in 3 years. Resale of canon L glass is great too.

To protect valuable glass i also purchased Hoya HD UV filter and had it on my lens all the time, and have not noticed any issue in picture quality, though i will test it properly later.

Pros:
Excellent Image quality
Range on crop sensor
Large aperture
4 stop Image Stabilization
Weather sealing
smooth rings
solid construction

Cons:
Weight
Price

My New Baby 17-40 F4 L

Finally after 2 months canon Pakistan has delivered me 17-40 f4 L lens. It is wide lens on full frame bodies and standard range on crop bodies. In Pakistan it goes for around 53,000 Rs after dollar hike !. Filter and hood is in its way to me. Photography has become very expensive passion ! but craze never ends it is like having a beer.

It is exceptional in all ways. Built like a tank, smooth operations, quiet focusing, accurate and fast focus.

Image quality is Amazing sharp contrasty .

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="317" caption="17-40 f4 L the Red Fever ! "][/caption]

Kitty lens is not that kitty !!

I use Canon EOS 400D with EF-S 18-55 f3.5-5.6 supplied kit lens. Lovely colors of flowers always attract me and i decided to shoot closeup of the sunflower with this lens. At 55mm and aperture set to f/8 while iso set to 200. I kept moving closer and closer to the flower and kept focusing and discover how close this kit lens can actually focus !(0.92 ft)  image came our pretty good with lots of colors and detail. Click the image to purchase the print. It came out too good i decided to put into my fine art gallery.

I have been very satisfied with this lens and have used it to make a lot photos. It is not much good at focusing and very cheaply built but, it will keep happy a lot budget shooters if they use it carefully. This was not planned test shot just one from random daily shots so i decided to post.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Flower shot with canon 18-55 kit lens no cropping slight PP. click to buy Print to check how it looks when printed. Image will be printed from much smaller 1667x2500 size as compared to 2592x3888 orignal Raw from camera. "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="296" caption="100% crop no noise reduction applied slight USM"][/caption]