The Workhorse

First of all, I’d like to wish everybody a happy new year and I hope that you all had an awesome holiday break.  Now that most of you are back at work, I’m here once again to give you guys something to think about.

Perhaps a new lens to work towards?

The 70-200mm lens has been a professional standard for as long as I know.  Why that particular focal length?  Who knows.  But what I do know, is that every brand has a professional grade telephoto zoom in the 70-200 range.  There must be a reason right? 

Canon has:

EF 70-200 f4L
EF 70-200 f4L IS

EF 70-200 f2.8L

EF 70-200 f2.8L IS

EF 70-200 f2.8L IS II (Just announced)

Nikon has:

Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VR
Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII

Olympus has:
Olympus 35-100 f2 (becomes a 70-200 equivalent due to 2x crop sensor)

And so on, you get the idea.  For some reason this tends to be the focal length that all manufacturers focus on (no pun intended).  As far as I’m concerned, it’s a winning formula.  If you look in any professional’s camera bag, you’ll find a 70-200mm lens of some sort.  It is such a versatile lens that it is known as the professional workhorse. 

You can get anything from …

 

Sports photography, 200mm will get you the reach, f2.8 will get you the fast shutter speed you need to freeze fast moving objects.  On top of that, superior optical quality will make sure you get a nice and sharp photo in any condition.








To … 

Wildlife photography, reasonable minimum focussing distances are good enough to magnify even small subjects like butterflies.









And one more …

 



Yep, even sunsets.  Not the most common use for a 70-200, but every now and then you can get a great image. 











The point is, a 70-200 is so versatile that if you happen to have it in your camera bag on a day out, you’ll find a use for it.  Portrait, wedding, event, fashion, editorial, sports, wildlife, landscape … you name it, this lens will do it. 

If you don’t already have one, get one.  If you already have one, think about upgrading?

In perfect timing as always, canon have just announced the new EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM II. 
Main improvements:

- Improved stabilizer, now 4 stops of stabilization
- Reduced minimum focussing distance
- Revamped optics, plus the insertion of a fluorite element for sharper images
- Wider focussing ring and flushed in buttons for IS and AF/MF switch for better ergonomics. 

But that’s just what they tell us, if this new version does prove to be a significant improvement optically, I may have to think about upgrading ;p