Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS Lens
The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS Lens, with four-stop Image Stabilizer (IS), ideal lens for handheld work. The IS can allow you to use shutter speeds up to four stops slower than would otherwise be possible with a similar non-stabilised lens, with no increase in image blur. When panning horizontally, the IS system can be set, using a switch on the barrel, to correct only for unwanted vertical shake.
Buy your Canon EF 70-200mm F/4.0 L IS USM Lens from Amazon.
The build quality of this lens is nothing short of what you would expect from a Canon L lens – smooth controls and feels like a quality product.
All moving parts for focus and zoom are contained inside of the lens barrel, hence it does not change size or shape when zooming and focusing. This type of design, weather sealing and care from you, keep the internal workings of lens dry and dust free, (DO NOT TEST TO EXTREEMES).
The wide zoom ring is situated towards the rear of the lens. The zoom ring moves with little effort, though it is well damped and does not creep when pointed towards the ground.
The focus ring is also made of rubber, with a finer texture to its ribbing than the zoom ring, which helps to differentiate the two controls by feel.
The side of the lens barrel has the switches for A/F Range, AF/MF, stabiliser On/Off and Stabiliser Mode.
The USM auto focus is quick, and very quiet. An option of full-time manual override is always available, making it possible to adjust focus without switching from auto to manual. The barrel of the lens also has focus distance scale at the top.
A constant f4 maximum aperture across the full focal range, meaning exposure settings will not change as the lens is zoomed from 70mm through to 200mm.
A circular aperture diaphragm gives the out of focus areas a smoother look. While the sharp objects stand out against a smooth blurred background.
The 67mm filter thread size at the front element of the lens does not rotate during focusing, very important if you use a polarising filter when shooting.
A black plastic lens hood, ET 74 is supplied with the lens. It is of the type that turns on and clicks lightly into place. The inside of the lens hood is covered in non-reflective felt, which helps prevent any light from being reflected onto the front lens element.
The lens is supplied with two lens caps one for the front of the lens that clips into the filter thread and the other that fits onto the EF mount.
At a length of just 172mm, and weight of only 760g, the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM is an ideal lens for many genres of photography when you need to travel light and maintaining image quality.
As standard this lens is not supplied with a tripod collar, as is the 70-200mm f2.8 lens. My preference is to have the tripod collar as I shoot using my Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod for landscape photos. though the tripod collar can be purchased separately
The 70-200mm f4 IS lens is a very popular focal length range for many types of photography.
Here are a few that spring to mind
- Landscape photos
- Portraits (with flash)
- Outside family shoots i.e. at the park or beach.
- Non-professional sports (outside)
- Wedding (inside with high ISO)
- Some wildlife
As a landscape photographer this lens is always attached to the camera body when in my Lowepro Flipside 300, and is usually my first choice.
Maybe you would have thought it would have been a wide angle lens. Let me explain why the 70-200 is my favourite. Have you ever taken a landscape photo that you thought was the best photo that you had ever taken, only to find that when you got back to the computer it did not look just as you remembered it? Then when you crop the image in Lightroom you reveal what it was that caught your eye when you were out shooting. Yes.
Unfortunately our brain does not always understand what our eyes see. My workflow in camera is to start in tight and zoom out until I see what I seen with the naked eye.
When selling prints I want all the pixels the sensor captured to be in the image, allowing it to be printed as large as possible.
The Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L IS lens is 55g heavier than the non-stabilised canon 70-200mm lens it is still a light lens that is always packed in my camera bag when travelling.
Canon EF 1.4x and EF 2x Extenders
Using an extender will –
- Reduce the effective aperture of the lens by 1 stop (f5.6) for the 1.4x and 2 stops (f8) for the 2x converter.
- On consumer grade Canon DSLRs will disable auto focus at f8. The A/F on the Canon 1series bodies should continue to operate as normal.
- Not have the same quality/sharpness as the equivalent focal length lens.
Extenders some photographers love them some hate them. See the post on extenders that will follow later. (The link will be active when extender post has been published)
To sum up
The Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L IS lens, has great image quality, great auto focus, light weight, weather sealing, 4 stop image stabilisation.
- If I had to replace my current Canon 70-200mm f4 L IS lens would I buy the same again?
- YES. This lens has paid for its self over the years.
I am not subsidised in any way or form by Canon.
Buy your Canon EF 70-200mm F/4.0 L IS USM Lens from Amazon.
It won’t cost you any extra, but anything you buy will contribute towards the running costs of this site.
Thanks Alex
IF YOU WOULD PREFER THE NON-STABILISED VERSION Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM Lens (NOT THE STABILISIED VERSION) This sells at about 50% of the IS version
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