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.	. Canon EF 200 2.8L USM Perfection on a Budget Peter Kun Frary   The EF 200 2.8 L is my favorite lens. I love the perspective, speed, sharpness and feel of this lens. It balances perfectly on an EOS 3 or 5D but is front heavy on an Elan 7E. I often walk around Honolulu with this combo, shooting candids, portraits and landscapes. The longer reach allows me to isolate subjects from the urban clutter. The large aperture helps keep my images tack sharp and imparts a beautiful background blur. This is the longest lens I can handhold with consistent results, at least without without IS. Lily at Ala Moana • Canon EOS A2, EF 200 2.8L USM, Fujichrome Sensia Construction Quality It's relatively small and light for a fast telephoto, especially when compared to the EF 70-200 2.8L USM. Although not a macro lens, it focuses close enough for nice head shots (1.5 m). Because it employs rear element focus, the front element does not rotate nor does the lens change in length. The 72 mm filter size makes filters expensive, but at least I can share filters with my EF 28-135 IS USM. The ring-type USM focuses extremely fast. Like all ring-type USM lenses, it has FTM and a distance window. Plus, the manual focusing ring is wide and turns almost as smooth and precise as a manual lens. Build quality is solid but sports more plastics than larger L telephotos. The black finish is more stealthy than the attention grabbing white of larger L series telephotos. Finally, the slide out hood is handy but too small. However, it's always there so it gets used. The new EF 200 2.8 L USM II has the same optical design and exterior appearance, but has a larger detachable hood. EF 200 2.8L USM • EOS 10D, EF 50 2.5 Compact Macro, White Reflector • The EF 200 2.8L USM is my fav kick around town glass (hood fully extended). Optical Performance I've found this lens to be extremely sharp (Photodo 4.0 MTF), contrasty, distortion free and flare resistant. I'll use pixel level views from the church image below to illustrate my points. The church is a city block away and thus the lens was focused at infinity. I locked the center AF point on he roof and recomposed. Images taken with an EF 70-200 4L USM are included for comparison. These images were converted from RAW files in EVU and cropped in Photoshop. No sharpening or other adjustments were performed. Test Image • EOS 10D & EF 200 2.8L USM EF 200 2.8L USM • Lower Center of frame (100% magnification) • F5.6   EF 200 2.8L USM • Left side of frame (100% magnification) • F5.6 Extenders I often use this lens with the Extender EF 1.4x, resulting in a sharp, close focusing and compact 280 mm F4 lens. With this extender, it's smaller and nearly as good optically as the EF 300 4 L USM, except for a little flare under extreme conditions such as Hawaiian sunsets (it still has less flare than most zooms). You may add an optional tripod mount, but it is only necessary if you use both an extender and extension ring. However, a tripod mount is more convenient to switch from horizontal to vertical framing than a tripod head. The tripod mount for the EF 300 4 L USM and the EF 80-200 2.8L fit it. Conculsion The EF 200 2.8L USM is small, light, tough, discreet, fast and delivers optical quality in spades. For discriminating hikers, travelers and amateurs this lens deliverers quality without breaking their shoulder (and bank) and can take the knocks they dish out. Plus, it works equally well with both film and digital bodies. This wonderful lens goes for $650 new making it an "L" of a bargain. If you find yourself mainly using the long end of a 70-200 telezoom, the EF 200 2.8L USM may be the ideal lens. Highly recommended. Specs Focal Length: 200 mm Aperture: F2.8 Lens Construction: 9 elements in 7 groups with 2 UD elements Min. Focusing Distance: 1.5 m/4.9 ft Filter Size: 72 mm Diameter & Length: 83 x 136 mm Weight: 790 g/27.7 oz Included Accessories: Hard Case Optional Accessories: Tripod Ring A (black) Cost: $650 More Images taken with the EF 200 2.8L USM (click to enlarge) 6/21/2001 • Revised 6/22/2006 ©Copyright 2001-2006 by Peter Kun Frary • All Rights Reserved	.
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