Canon 200mm f/1.8L Video Review and Sample Images

The Canon 200mm f/1.8L is one of the fastest telephoto lens ever made.  As I understand, this lens was discontinued by Canon in 2004 due to the glass grinding process that required lots of lead and/or created an excess of lead waste.  New environmental laws made it inconceivable for Canon to continue production of this lens.  The fantastic 200 f/2L IS soon replaced the 200 f/1.8L and offered stabilization, lighter weight, and a closer focusing minimum focusing distance.  So why am I bothering to review this lens if a newer and better model exists? Additionally It isn't common that we will review a discontinued product, but when we come across a rare piece through our trade-in program, it only makes sense to take it for a test spin.  I decided to make a short video and review as a tribute to the achievement in technology that Canon had at the time and of course the general rarity and obscurity of this lens makes for a small cult following.  Here is the video, some sample images and my additional thoughts are after the break.

Additional Thoughts

Shooting with the 200 f/1.8L during the day was a piece of cake.  Although I have used the new Nikon and Canon variants in the past, I am not used to shooting with such a long fixed lens.  As I am a recent Canon convert, it was a little tricky learning to use the 5D's AF system to get precise focus, but I nailed it in most of the shots after some practice.  The 7' Parabolic umbrella worked perfectly despite some of the technical difficulties we had at first due to wind.  I found sharpness to be more than acceptable wide open at f/1.8, especially for portraiture.  At f/2, you start to see that ultimate razor sharpness that is expected with all L lenses.  In some ways this lens reminded me very much of the 85mm f/1.2 when shot wide open.  I don't see the point in stopping down any further and I didn't, but I would safely assume that sharpness increases even further.  The minimum focusing distance is an inconvenient 8' away compared to about 6' with the new 20mm f/2L IS, but still within a reasonable working distance.  I am interested in seeing how an extension tube would impact this as I wouldn't mind losing infinity focus.  At night using this lens became more problematic due to the struggle to get precise focus in low light combined with using a slow shutter speed such as 1/30s.  In the future I would bring a speedlite or just a normal flashlight to help with the AF issue.  I didn't think it was necessary to compare directly to the 200mm f/2L IS as the replacement is obviously a better, more modern lens.  However the 200mm f/1.8L is almost a historical piece and I thought some of you out there may be interested in how it performed.  Be sure to watch the video above and check out some of the samples.  I will be most more to my personal flickr gallery in the near future.  I may also test out the lens for video in the future.  There is an interesting function that lets you adjust the throw/resistance of the manual focus ring, which seems quirky, but perhaps useful. -MZ

[caption id="attachment_8506" align="aligncenter" width="546" caption="That's compression holmes."][/caption]       [caption id="attachment_8509" align="aligncenter" width="546" caption="Again compression, compression, compression. I just love shooting full body portraits with this lens at f/2"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_8510" align="aligncenter" width="546" caption="The 200 f/1.8L is naturally a great choice for headshots as well."][/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8511" align="aligncenter" width="546" caption="Normally distracting background elements vanish into creamy out of focus areas"][/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8512" align="aligncenter" width="546" caption="BOKEH! Some will argue that the 70-200 f/2.8L ISII is a better option than a fast fixed telephoto lens, but getting in that extra 1+ stop of light is really an advantage in these extreme situations."][/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8515" align="aligncenter" width="546" caption="One of my favorite shots from the day. A little lens flare, but not bad considering I was shooting into several bright light sources."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_8516" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="More bokeh!"][/caption]