A selection of photos taken with my Canon EF 70-200mm F4 L lens in Thailand and Singapore. The lens was sold and replaced with the IS version.

Clicking on the thumbnail images will open a larger image in a pop-up window.

Beach cleaners, Phuket, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F4.5
Shutter speed: 1/250
Focal length: 200mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Phuket, Thailand
File Size: 135 KB
Various styles of boat, Phuket, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F13
Shutter speed: 1/250
Focal length: 113mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Phuket, Thailand
File Size: 133 KB
Chinatown, Singapore - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F8.0
Shutter speed: 1/320
Focal length: 109mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Singapore
File Size: 271 KB
Blue Note Jazz, Singapore - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F5.6
Shutter speed: 1/25
Focal length: 122mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: Tripod
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Singapore
File Size: 148 KB
Muslim fishing boats, Songkhla, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 800
Aperture: F5.0
Shutter speed: 1/250
Focal length: 70mm
EC +/-: -0.66
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Songkhla, Thailand
File Size: 191 KB
Tiger love, Songkhla, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 400
Aperture: F5.0
Shutter speed: 1/200
Focal length: 87mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Songkhla, Thailand
File Size: 182 KB
Here kitty kitty, Songkhla, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 400
Aperture: F5.0
Shutter speed: 1/400
Focal length: 75mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Songkhla, Thailand
File Size: 223 KB
Waiting for the train, Bangkok, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 400
Aperture: F5.0
Shutter speed: 1/250
Focal length: 159mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
File Size: 242 KB
Family portrait, Bangkok, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F5.6
Shutter speed: 1/200
Focal length: 70mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
File Size: 203 KB
Jetski, Patong beach, Phuket, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F8.0
Shutter speed: 1/500
Focal length: 200mm
EC +/-: -0.5
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Phuket, Thailand
File Size: 168 KB
Swimming tiger, Songkhla, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F6.3
Shutter speed: 1/500
Focal length: 200mm
EC +/-: -0.33
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Songkhla, Thailand
File Size: 190 KB
Singapore river cruise - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F4.0
Shutter speed: 1/180
Focal length: 126mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Singapore
File Size: 199 KB
Cassowary, Hat Yai, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F6.7
Shutter speed: 1/90
Focal length: 87mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Hat Yai, Thailand
File Size: 188 KB
Mon boy, Sangkhlaburi, Thailand - Click for larger image Camera: 10D
ISO: 200
Aperture: F4.0
Shutter speed: 1/90
Focal length: 200mm
EC +/-: 0
Monopod/Tripod: No
Flash: No
Extender: No
Location: Sangkhlaburi, Thailand
File Size: 124 KB

Lens Impressions

I bought a 17-40mm F4L lens with my first digital SLR as a general walkaround lens but I had always used manual focus telephoto zooms with my film SLRs so was desperate for an EF digital equivalent.

My FD 70-210mm F4 had served me very well for many years so this lens, the EF equivalent, was an obvious choice. It's a fantastic lens. It's small, light, and the image quality is incredible. It's one of the cheapest 'L' lenses available and, as such, it is something of a bargain.

I sold it. The only reason for this was that my next purchase was the 300mm F4L IS and I got bitten by the Image Stabilisation bug. When Canon announced an IS version of the 70-200 F4L I couldn't resist it.

On my film camera 70-210mm was 70-210mm, but with the crop body 10D 70-200mm of course became 1.6x that focal length. All of a sudden I found myself trying to hand hold a 320mm lens and the lens shake was quite noticeable.

By the time of the 70-200mm F4L IS announcement, Canon had improved the Image Stabilisation significantly over my 300mm F4L IS and for me there was no choice.

The only negative thing I can say about the non-IS version is that it doesn't have IS but that is rather obvious. It's still available new and there are lots of good used ones on the market. It's an absolute bargain and regardless of your camera body, this lens will give great results.

The lack of IS means you will need to use a bit more care when shooting in low light but high ISO performance keeps improving, as does noise filtering software.

I really didn't want to sell this lens but as I had already bought the IS version it just wasn't worth keeping.

Post-Processing

I owned this lens when I was mostly shooting JPG images. Some original images were shot in the RAW format and converted with Adobe Camera Raw. Noise was reduced using Imagenomic Noiseware Professional. Small amounts of image enhancement were applied using Adobe Photoshop CS2 (curves, levels, saturation) before sharpening using the Smart Sharpen filter (Amount: 30% - 120%, Radius: 0.2px - 0.3px, Remove: Lens Blur).

The large JPG images that open if you click on a thumbnail were saved with a 'High' quality setting of '8' on a scale of 0-12.

Caveat

This isn't a review. If you want MTF charts and comparisons with other lenses, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. However, there are plenty of excellent sites around that offer this kind of information.

Just as with audio equipment, a list of specifications doesn't mean very much. My old original Quad Electrostatics never looked very good on paper but once fired up they had the ability to make hairs stand up all over your body.

With photography I prefer to look at photos of real things and real people that evoke emotion, rather than look at MTF charts or other meaningless images.