Purchase advice required please - Canon 70-200 2.8L ii

[JAGS]

Hi all

Have made the decision to get the 70-200 'beast' mk ii.

My question is where from?

A UK source (amazon/John Lewis etc) - Mucho £££

Or import (Panamoz/HDEW) - Still a lot of money, but a bit of a saving over UK prices.

Cheapest I can find is this:

https://www.e-infin.com/uk/item/304/canon_ef_70-20...


Anyone have any experience of buying from this site?

Also, do these lenses come with an international warranty and would Canon honour it if the lens fell apart/required work within the period?

It's a lot of money to spend and I want to make the right decision on this purchase.

Have considered 2nd hand/eBay, but the prices are so close to new (grey import) that it doesn't make any sense to buy used.

Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks all.

Edited by JAGS on Thursday 2nd February 21:41

[RobDickinson]

cant answer but there is a high likelyhood a mk3 coming in the next 6 months.

[JAGS]

A mk3?

That changes the game altogether.

But I'm guessing it'll be closer to £3k for one when it is released...

[mikef]

Got mine from HDew (grey import as far as I can tell). Unlike with DSLR bodies I take the view that if a Canon lens works out of the box then it's not likely to go wrong.

[RobDickinson]

Yeah its only a rumor but nikon have a new one out and canon tend to keep up, its one of their top showcase lenses.

the mk2 is pretty awesome so no idea what they will do to it.

a mk3 will be expensive new, but should affect mk2 prices.

[LongQ]

RobDickinson said:

the mk2 is pretty awesome so no idea what they will do to it.

Well quite.

Unless they can find something that might make a difference on a very high resolution sensor or maybe have some teaks for the focus mechanism it's difficult to see how they can improve enough to make a case for an upgrade. Better IS maybe ....? But it would have to be pretty special.

Unless they can cut manufacturing costs but sell at a higher price.

An new lens, however, is not always the result of design advances. It may just be that some of the glass they use in the current lens is no longer to be made and so a new model is required because of new materials, etc.

[RobDickinson]

New elements could help, canon recently launched the 35L mk2 with the blue spectrum refractive optics ( https://petapixel.com/2016/03/10/canons-new-blue-s... ) , I'd expect them to roll this out in 24/50/85 and 70-200 24-70 lenses asap

[LongQ]

RobDickinson said:

New elements could help, canon recently launched the 35L mk2 with the blue spectrum refractive optics ( https://petapixel.com/2016/03/10/canons-new-blue-s... ) , I'd expect them to roll this out in 24/50/85 and 70-200 24-70 lenses asap

The thing is though Rob, I don't recall ever seeing any fringing with mine even though most of the time I'm working it with a 2x Mk2 Extender fitted.

Of course that may not be the case with newer sensors than I have in my bodies but then that suggests that the real benefit on an ROI basis only comes if you splash out on a body too.

I note at the end of the article a mention of the 600mm DO based lens.

I own a 70-300 DO although obviously that is somewhat older tech! It's well used (before I bought it) and despite the attentions of Canon Service it is very unsharp at the long end most of the time. I mean soft. Very soft.

However at lesser distances the DO 'look' has some attraction and it can be extremely sharp once one realises that it will take a LOT of sharpening. No diffraction that I have noticed but I'll take another look. I think the DO "look" might hide minor issues of fringing.

And of course these days a lot of stuff can be "fixed in software".

[The Moose]

It's an awesome lens. I 'accidentally' bought one when upgrading my 5D. Love it!

Bought it from Jessops.

They seem to have just updated the 100-400 so I wouldn't be surprised if a new one was on the way.

Edited by The Moose on Friday 3rd February 02:24

[RobDickinson]

LongQ said:

And of course these days a lot of stuff can be "fixed in software".

Longitudinal CA cant easily be fixed in software.

And the 70-300DO was pretty much a faliure, the 400 DO mk2 is seriously impressive. BSDO isnt anywhere near the same kind of technology as Diffractive optics so I dont see the issues.

But you are right the current 70-200mk2 doesnt really have a CA issue, still I expect a new one out soonish as its one of the holy trinity of zooms.

History of 70-200/2.8 version:
March 1995
September 2001
April 2010


16-35/2.8 - though the mk2 certainly wasnt as good as it needed to be...
September 2001
April 2007
August 2016

So 6-9 years between versions whilst the mk2 is good its also a 7 year old product this year. Considering its a gravy train lens for sales...

Edited by RobDickinson on Friday 3rd February 02:42

[mikef]

LongQ said:

I don't recall ever seeing any fringing with mine even though most of the time I'm working it with a 2x Mk2 Extender fitted.

Do you get vignetting though? I do see that with a 2x extender (same lens on a 5D). Not sure if it will show up on this reduced size pic:

[Berz]

Have you considered something like MPB? It is used kit but comes with their own warranty for cheaper than UK new, similar price to import new, but more expensive than eBay used.

This suggests current prices went up around October. Dunno why, probably Brexit or Trump or something! http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Canon/Canon-EF-...

[Craikeybaby]

Berz said:

Have you considered something like MPB? It is used kit but comes with their own warranty for cheaper than UK new, similar price to import new, but more expensive than eBay used.

This suggests current prices went up around October. Dunno why, probably Brexit or Trump or something! http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Canon/Canon-EF-...

As MPB have been mentioned - they will not buy a lens from you if it was not supplied from a UK dealer.

With regards to where to buy it - I usually use http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk, and if WEX aren't the cheapest - phone them up and ask them to pricematch.

[singlecoil]

Wherever you get it from, make sure you get it. It's a lovely lens and you will never regret it. Heavy though.

[LongQ]

mikef said:

LongQ said:

I don't recall ever seeing any fringing with mine even though most of the time I'm working it with a 2x Mk2 Extender fitted.

Do you get vignetting though? I do see that with a 2x extender (same lens on a 5D). Not sure if it will show up on this reduced size pic:

Not that I have noticed but then for most of my stuff I would be very likely to crop anyway and I'm not working with Full Frame - usually APS-H with that combination.

Even so correcting any vignette should be easy enough these days with RAW processing applications offering 2 or 3 approaches to the problem. (And several more ways of Adding vignettes for those who miss them! Photography is a strange game of differences ...)

[LongQ]

RobDickinson said:

LongQ said:

And of course these days a lot of stuff can be "fixed in software".

Longitudinal CA cant easily be fixed in software.

Well there's fixed and "fixed" I agree but I have seen some pretty impressive results on all the regular types of aberration from recent software development so maybe not perfect but pretty usable for the majority.

RobDickinson said:

And the 70-300DO was pretty much a faliure, the 400 DO mk2 is seriously impressive. BSDO isnt anywhere near the same kind of technology as Diffractive optics so I dont see the issues.

Likely so. For a while on eBay in the UK there were quite a few on offer that seemed likely to have hardly ever been fitted to a camera. That said one got the impression that the cameras they had hardly ever been fitted to had themselves hardly ever been used!

I appreciate that the 70-300DO was not exactly a mainstream choice. My example in particular was compromised in part because it had been well used by a photo journalist before I bought it; in part because its max aperture and focus speed, in combination, was a compromise on most bodies if used for anything other than fairly static shots; and in part because the zoom has the lens elements moving in and out of the barrel and it did not like getting wet I discovered.

However, in the right situation and acknowledging its apparent limitations on focus (reli)ability over about 250mm, it can produce some great results and head towards excellent once one finds an appropriate post processing approach. Huge potential for the occasional portrait and any static shot if you give it half a chance with some interesting light can produce some lovely luminous yet very sharp results.

However, as it is really not much more than a 70-250 due to the sharpness problems (of my example, though not always) and I own the 70-200 and extender, I don't use it as much as I should.

Where it did come in handy was for long distance travelling. It's a compact lens and though not in any way light it is much smaller and lighter (and optically slower as a consequence) than the 70-200. So I took it for a trip to Aus back in 2011 along with a 400D body and left the 1D3 at home. I missed the 70-200/1D3 combination but travelling with it would have been a pain on that trip and the 400D/DO came up with some great quality.

This thread prompted me to go back and have a look and run a few tweaks with newer software (and better knowledge of it) and I found more could be extracted from what I have.

When at its best it's probably as good as the 70-200 II IS. But the 70-200 will be at ITS best more often than the DO will manage for it own class results. By some way.

RobDickinson said:

But you are right the current 70-200mk2 doesnt really have a CA issue, still I expect a new one out soonish as its one of the holy trinity of zooms.

I expect you are right Rob. However I would guess it will carry a hefty price premium on List price. If so the Mk2 IS prices, used, may not move much?

As far as the original question is concerned ...

I hummer and hawed over the cost for some months but in the end decided I want to try one (actually I just wanted to own one despite the price) for an extended period and I figured I could buy, use and sell on after that period ended at no loss compared with renting.

Of course, once I had the thing there was no way I could let it go ...

I should probably observe that I have the IS version and I'm not sure of the OP is referring to that one of the non-IS version. Both have excellent reputations. The IS version is a little larger and heavier and they have different optics.

[JAGS]

I am referring to the 70-200 2.8L is ii

Many thanks for all of your input everyone, very much appreciated and educational.

I have no doubt that the mk3 will be better than the current mk2 product however I know that I won't be able to stretch my budget to buy it.

It'll be the mk 2. But where to buy from?

Panamoz has it for £1411.
E infinity has it for £1299.

Do I go with the cheaper unknown grey seller or the known grey seller?

Have read a couple of reviews about E infinity sending out products in unbranded non-retail boxes/packaging.

Not sure where to order from out of the two...

Not that I would want to use it, but E infinity gives a 12 month warranty. Panamoz gives 3 years.

What to do?

Edited by JAGS on Saturday 4th February 00:21

[singlecoil]

JAGS said:

Not that I would want to use it, but E infinity gives a 12 month warranty. Panamoz gives 3 years.

What to do?

I would, and did, get it from Panamoz.

[JAGS]

Order placed this morning.

From Panamoz.




Now I'm as excited as a Kid at Christmas. Cant wait!
(I do suffer quite badly from big kid syndrome)


Many thanks for everyone for their help and input.
Your feedback and comments have been appreciated very much.

[Matt London]

Please let us know how you get on.

I was looking at getting the same lens plus an 80d from e-infini. Then I saw the recommendation for panamoz which has the three year warranty. I have also been looking at Cotswold Cameras who also,offrvthe three year warranty.

I think I will get the 80d very shortly but will probably wait to see what happens with the 70-200 IS iii.

Edited by Matt London on Wednesday 8th February 21:15