Don't Buy Canon Lens Before You Read This !
What lenses for my digital SLR (Canon) ?
Not sure which Canon Professional Telephoto Zoom Lens to buy?
We hope that this guide will help you to make the right choice for your needs.
If you are looking to buy a Canon L-series Telephoto Zoom Lens, this may very well be you first professional lens and if you are anything like me, you are probably reading and researching as much as you can about all the lens options you have,before you make that final purchase decision. And rightly so, the L-series lenses don’t come cheap and nobody wants to buy the wrong lens at this kind of price level.
Canon offers five different L-series Telephoto Zoom Lenses, all with a superb level of performance, but with different features, aperture and price tags. This guide will assist you in making the right lens choice that will meet your requirements and budget limitations.
The Canon L-series Telephoto Zoom Lenses in the 70 to 200mm range are:
First things first. When it comes to build quality, all the L-series lenses are superb. At the next TV sports event, have a look at the lenses that the professional photographers use. You will most likely see the distinctive red line of the L-series on many of the cameras of people who make a living out of pictures. The image sharpness, contrast, bokeh, color, flare, chromatic aberration and focus times of these lenses are absolutely superb and once you’ve purchased an L-series lens, you will probably never go back to an amateur lens again.
In order to make the right lens purchase, one has to consider a few options and make the relevant choices.
1. Cost
All of the lenses in this range are above the $1000 mark, except for the 70-200mm F4L USM which falls in the $500 to $600 category. If your budget cannot accommodate a beyond $1000 purchase right now, your choice is relatively easy - the 70-200mm F4L USM is your lens.
2. Aperture
The lenses in this category range from a maximum aperture of F2.8 to F4.5. The wider the aperture or smaller the f-stop value, the easier it is to get a shallow depth of field in an image and therefore the subject in the image is much more isolated from the background. This improves the quality of the image exponentially and is something that any photographer yearns after, because it can make most images much more pleasing to the eye. Landscape photography is, of course, a completely different subject that requires the entire image to be in focus and benefits from a small aperture or increased depth of field.
The other advantage of a wide aperture is the ability to take photographs at lower light conditions. The wider aperture allows more light in and allows for images to be taken in low light conditions without the use of a flash, as usually found in indoor situations like weddings and indoor sports events.
How much aperture do I need? As much as you can afford. Aperture comes at a price, and the wider aperture you can get, the better. I’ve never heard anyone complaining that the aperture of a lens is too wide.
3. Image stabilization
Canon’s Image Stabilization technology is very good and makes it possible to take sharp pictures in relatively low light (slower shutter speed) conditions without a tripod or in conditions where the lens may be moving slightly, i.e. from a vehicle with a running engine. If you intend to take photographs in these conditions without a tripod, Image Stabilization is for you!
But, I hear you say, I cannot afford both a wide aperture and Image Stabilization – which one should I go for? If you regularly take pictures in an environment where Image Stabilization is needed, it’s better to choose IS above aperture. It is better to at lease have a sharp image than have a blurred imaged with shallow depth of field. See the decision tree at the end of the page to assist you in making the choice that’s right for you.
4. Zoom Length
Some photographers put too much emphasis on the zoom length and not enough on the actual lens quality or aperture. This is similar to the Megapixel race that’s going on in the point-and-shoot consumer camera market. It is important to remember that an image taken at 200mm with a good lens and wide aperture can compare very easily with an image taken with a 400mm lens. The Canon EF 1.4 II extender is widely praised for its lens zoom length improvement ability with very little loss in quality. So, unless you are a real professional (in which case you will prefer a fixed Telephoto lens anyway), you will probably be more than pleased with the results of a cropped image or the Canon 1.4x Extender. However, if you are purchasing this lens for the exclusive use of long distance shots, i.e. bird and sports photography, it’s better to buy a lens designed for that purpose, i.e. the Canon EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM.
If you will be using this lens for various purposes, i.e. studio, portraits, wildlife, sport, etc. the versatility of the 70-200mm lens is what you are looking for.
So, with all the information discussed so far, which is the right lens for you? Let’s look at the lenses and their pros and cons.
- 70-200mm F4L USM
This lens is cheap and sharp. If you always shoot in good light conditions or with a tripod AND you are not phased about isolating the subject of the image, this lens will meet all your requirements. - 70-200mm F2.8L USM
stop that this lens offers, isolates the subjects of your images far better and leaves the eye with no option of wandering around in the background. This creates the difference between a good image and a great image! - 70-200mm F4L IS USM & 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM
If you are lazy like me and shoot without a tripod most of the time, you really need Image Stabilization and, depending on your budget, one of these lenses are for you. Does the extra stop between F4 and F2.8 make a difference? YES it definitely does! - 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS USM
If you shoot strictly long distance (bird & sports) and already have a good mid-range lens, this lens is what you are looking for.
Below is a summary table showing the typical uses for these lenses and their approximate costs.
| Lens | Wildlife | Sports | Bird | Studio | Wedding | Low light | Price |
| EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM | √ | √* | √* | √ | √ | √ | $1673.95 |
| EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM | √ | √* | √* | √ | √ | $1155.00 | |
| EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM | √ | √* | √* | √ | √ | $1055.94 | |
| EF 70-200mm f/4L USM | √ | √* | √* | √ | $606.95 | ||
| EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM | √ | √ | √ | $1419.95 |
If you’re still not sure about which lens is right for you, try the decision tree below which simplifies the decisions to be taken to get to the lens type that will meet your requirements.
If all the discussions on forums and blogs are anything to go by, many hours have been spent on reading about and researching lenses in this range. As you must have realised by now, finding the right lens is a balance between requirements, features and budget. I hope that this document has helped you find that balance.
Where to Buy Canon Lens ?
I've done my buying from a variety of stores such as Amazon in New York.Amazon, as you know, is probably the best-run pure-web store, with nice things like free shipping. Amazon.com is an Authorized Canon Reseller, they offer the lowest prices on Canon lenses with free shipping and they are one of the most trusted online retailers today.
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