Hello John,
I have only just returned from an overseas trip to China. I brought along my EOS30 (aka Elan7E), an EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM wide angle, and the heavy white body EF 70-200mm f/2.8L Tonight I pick up my 24 rolls of 36 exp colour prints from the local photoshop, and I'll be able to tell you whether or not it was worth it. :) I have to say that the 70-200mm lens is a heavy piece of glass indeed, as my Lowepro Mini Trekker bag weighed around 8.3 kgs fully loaded with a flash unit, spare batteries, and a small bottle of water. I didn't mind the weight so much as the perspiration. China was relatively hot in places like Guangzhou and so lugging around a bag in the middle of the day caused the back of my shirt to get totally drenched. Like Bob Sull, who visited a zoo, I too managed to see a zoo, in the city of Chungching. There were a few Panda bears there and I'll know soon enough whether the 200mm end of the white body makes good shots or not. I'll collect my colour prints after work tonight. Hope you go for the L lens - through the viewfinder, the subjects seem to leap out with amazing clarity, and there's nice "bokeh" or blurriness of the background. This lens seems to work much much better than my consumer grade 20-35mm lens - the subjects just seem to be so much sharper. I suppose it is a case of "you get what you pay for". And the weight - well, I didn't think it was much of a problem. I do find putting the flare hood on and taking it off a bit of a bother, as the lugs sometimes don't match up and so I'm sure that flare hood won't last as long as the lens itself. Incidentally, I saw the 70-200mm f/4L in a large camera store in Beijing. After conversion from Chinese Yen back to Aussie dollars, it was pretty much the same price. I've never seen the f/4L before so I was surprised to see that it looked much less bulkier, and probably would be quite a bit lighter too. I guess I'd still get the 2.8L since it is that much faster. I doubt the f/4L would have been any good for the shooting the actors in the various stage shows that I saw while in China using the stage lighting (no flash). My biggest hassle with the camera during the entire trip was swapping between lenses. This no doubt increases the amount of dust entering the camera and lenses themselves. If I were to travel again, perhaps I'll leave both Canon lenses behind and find a single lens like a Tokina that does 28-200mm. Maybe. Still toying with that idea. Best regards, Lawrance Lee Melboune, Australia p.s. Hope this email does not get replicated a million times. ----Original Message Follows---- Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 10:22:49 -0400 From: "John M. Lovda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: EOS EF 70-200/2.8L I'm sure this has been discussed in the past. I want a 70-200L and have the alternative of buying a new f4 at about $600 or a nice used F2.8 for $850. Two questions: 1. Is the image quality comparable? 2. Even with the bright 2.8 aperture, will the heavy weight of the big one make me sorry every time I go on a trip? How many of you out there with 2.8's secretly hate to lug the thing around but your ego keeps you from publically acting disappointed? Thanks, John Lovda _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
