Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

This lens is Canon's biggest bargain and a rather well kept secret. The 200 f2.8 L lens is an amazing value and has the "red ring", Canon's professional rating. One shoot will convince you of it's value.
Photos taken with this lens are extremely sharp, with colors rich and deep; it takes the 1.4x teleconverter well, adding range. The lens takes sharpening extremely well. I find it easy to handhold, and rarely use my tripod. In comparison, the Canon 70-200 f2.8 was simply impossible for me to use without a tripod; it's size and weight defeated me regardless of the IS. A direct comparison of shots between the smaller 200 f2.8 and the large 70-200 showed the prime in my case to always be superior.
Although the zoom lens are a convenience I personally find I am always at the long end of the telephoto within the 70-200 range. I own 9 Canon lens, owned the 70-200 f2.8 IS L and sold it, keeping this lens in its place. The advantages are many - I find it much sharper, easier to handhold than the white lens at 200, it is possible to take it to affairs where they will not allow the big white lens, and much, much, MUCH less conspicuous. My husband uses the camera on autofocus only, and his shots are outstanding with this lens. He is an artist and has a great eye; matched with this lens he gets what he wants.
The price is outstanding for such high quality;this amazing lens is a genuine bargain in today's camera world. Let's hope that Canon doesn't wise up and price this according to it's quality. Have owned it for several years, definitely a keeper. Buy it - you will not regret it.

amazing lens.. great sharpness, great contrast rich color.. and fast, the USM performs quickly, silently and quite accurate.. considering the alternative this one is a nice package

sharpness is great at f/2.8 and outstanding at f/4 and above. i would like to point out that even at f/2.8 applying unsharp-mask easily increase the sharpness a great deal..this lenses handle post processing better than my other lenses.. i rarely stop down to get sharper results, but rather aim for shutter speed and depth of field which is very shallow at f/2.8 (thats a good thing)..

comparing it with the 70-200mm zooms the decision is not easy.
here are some points that might help you make your decision..

1) this lens is as sharp if not sharper than the 70-200 zooms which are notorious for their excellant performance

2) are you planning on using teleconverters ( 2x, 1.4x ).. primes generally suffer less with teleconverters.. and losing a stop will not slow down the f/2.8 much

3) this lens is perfect for street photography and moderate wildlife, while lacks the versitality of a zoom, it certainly is more compact and less obvious

4) if you need f/2.8 at almost half the price of a zoom..
f/2.8 is fast and the depth of field at 200mm f/2.8 is very nice and very shallow. missing the focus plane by a few millimeters can throw your subjuct out of focus. background blur is smooth and beatifull at this focal length

The grand appeal of this prime is that it costs a lot less than the 70-200/2.8 zoom equivalent, and it's much smaller. Unlike that zoom and any of the slower f/5.6 consumer zooms, it also takes well to a 1.4X teleconverter. The USM autofocus system is fast, silent, and sure in almost any lighting, and because it's essentially a longer version of Canon's legendary 135/2, this 200/2.8 is plenty sharp all the way from f/2.8. Finally, because it's black, the security at sporting venues is far more likely to let you take it inside.

It's not all roses though. 200mm on a 1.6X crop body is a 320mm equivalent. That's a lot of lens to handhold without stabilization. Pure sharpness doesn't stand for much when the whole frame is blurred by handshake. Despite the fast f/2.8 aperture, it takes a lot of light to keep the shutter speeds up, and this lens isn't all that forgiving below 1/400. 200mm is really the maximum non-stabilized focal length for handholding; with the crop factor, good technique and proper bracing are essential.

If you want versatility, there are also better choices than the 200/2.8. Framing options are limited, and you'll rarely find the composition afforded by 200mm exactly matches what you intended. While the 70-200/2.8 series are no stronger optically than this lens, they'll get the shot every time purely by the ability to track an object at 70mm, and rapidly zoom to 200mm to take the picture. If your livelihood depends on your results, that's worth the price of admission.

But if you're not molting fifties, and you just want a sharp and fast telephoto that'll manage better shutter speeds and superior contrast than a consumer zoom, this 200/2.8L is a great choice.

I have been totally amazed at the quality of the pictures I have taken with this lens and my Canon XT/350D during the last two weeks that I have owned this lens. Lightning fast autofocus. Bright, crystal clear images with incredible detail, beautiful colors and silky smooth out of focus backgrounds,(bokeh). Works great in low light even with my Kenko 1.4X teleconverter. Heavier than expected, but not a problem. I am able to take hand-held pictures without a tripod as I can easily use a fast shutter speed. One good surprise for me was that I was afraid that giving up 100mm over my Tamron 70-300mm fully zoomed out would limit my ability to take pictures of birds - but not so. There is very little difference between the 200mm Canon and the 300mm of the Tamron. No more non "L" lenses for me!

I bought this lens specifically for astrophotography to replace the 50mm, f/1.8 lens that shipped with my Rebel XT (EOS 350D) camera. The 50mm lens had to be stopped to f/2.8 to get decent star images, and then the edges were badly distorted (coma). The 200 mm lens is sharp to the edges at f/2.8. It easily captures stars to 14th magnitude at my sea level location with 30 second exposures. I have little experience with camera lens prices, and was surprised at the cost (a fairly good, small telescope can be had for that price), but I didn't have room for even a small telescope, and am very satisfied with this lens.