Lens of the Month : EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Many critical photographers have asked for a lighter version of Canon’s popular EF 70-200mm f/2.8 design – with all its virtues of superb optics and durable professional build quality but in a lighter and easier-to-handle package. Here it is: the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS, with up to four stops of stabilization correction, and nearly two pounds lighter than the f/2.8 version.
The 70-200mm f/4L IS lens offers spectacular image quality, and combines that with the real-world advantages of image stabilization, for sharper pictures in hand-held situations at slower shutter speeds. Along with that, it focuses nearly 1 foot closer than the f/2.8 lens, and is far easier to transport, handle and hand-hold. Like the f/2.8 version, it’s compatible with both Canon’s 1.4x II and 2x II tele extenders, for added versatility. It’s impossible to overstate the benefits of this lens to the location shooter who needs portability: it’s a supremely sharp answer for telephoto shooting in the medium telephoto range.
A key to its outstanding sharpness is a large-diameter Fluorite lens element, rare even among L-series zoom lenses and an optical technology unique to Canon among SLR makers. Combined with two UD-glass elements, the result is outstanding contrast and sharpness, even at wide apertures. The lens close-focuses to under four feet – extremely impressive for a lens of this type, and of course it has Canon’s powerful ring-type Ultrasonic Motor for fast, silent AF performance. Finally, nothing has been sacrificed in terms of strength and build quality to keep size and weight down: this is a durable lens with all-metal external construction as well as for key internal components such as focus helicoids, and it offers weather- and dust-resistant gaskets and seals for maximum durability even in harsh environments.
Source: Canon U.S.A.