Canon EF 70-200f4L IS II

[phila]

A couple of interesting articles:

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2018/08/mtf-tests-for-the-canon-70-200mm-f4-is-ii/

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2018/08/nearly-complete-teardown-of-the-canon-70-200mm-f4l-is-ii/

[Rado]

A solid upgrade over the previous version. I'm curious to see what Roger's going to write about the new F2.8 mark III zoom.

[NancyP]

I doubt that Roger Cicala will do additional testing on the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS v. III, because the optical formula is unchanged (although there are some new coatings). He as much said so in a reply to a query on his blog. Because he has a scientific background (opthalmologist, I believe) and common sense understanding of manufacturing variability, he tries to sample at least 5 copies, if not 10 copies, versus the usual lens reviewer's n of 1.

[Rado]

Sure, but maybe they will do a teardown 'cause they love to do that kind of stuff. Which might or might not add weight to the suggestion that mark III is mostly a manufacturing motivated update.

[davidgp]

Sure, but maybe they will do a teardown 'cause they love to do that kind of stuff. Which might or might not add weight to the suggestion that mark III is mostly a manufacturing motivated update.

Following Roger work for a while now, I suspect they will do a teardown when they need to fix one. It is their usual procedure. This is what it happens with this 70-200 f4 II, it had a broken IS unit, so they started the tear down process instead of sending to Canon for repairs. You will need to wait until a Lens Rentals client comes back with a mark III broken.

[stever]

from my testing and limited use so far, it's as good as the reviews say - and worth up-grading if you have a FF camera

on my 5D4 it's noticeably sharper wide open at 70 mm across the image than the old lens.  at 200 its sharper from from f4-f8.  in general its nearly equally and symmetricaly sharp out to the corners from f4-f8 and 70 to 200.  the 7D doesn't show the same resolution improvement.

with the i.4xiii on the 5D4 there seems less than usual resolution reduction from the very high basic resolution - wouldn't hesitate to make 20x30 prints from all focal lengths

the 2xiii shows about the usual 25% reduction is resolution, but this still leaves enough for most 400mm use.  The new IS, reasonably effective 5D4 autofocus at f8 and high ISO performance make this a usable combination.