Lenses

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 - Canon's only Ultra-Wide-Angle lens choice for crop body cameras but an excellent performer

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L - Thoughts and impressions of Canon's budget L walkaround lens plus sample images

Canon EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS II - Canon's basic kit lens for lower price APS-C DSLR models

Canon EF 40mm STM f/2.8 pancake - the first of its kind in the EF range and a good performer

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L - a fantastic walkaround lens that is possibly the best L bargain in the Canon lens range

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 - a stunning performer for a modest price

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro - the budget macro lens with a reputation for superb image quality

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro - Canon's updated 100mm macro lens incorporating IS and an L designation

Canon EF 300mm f/4.0L IS - the EF 300mm L lens for sports and wildlife if your budget doesn't stretch to the f/2.8 version

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L - the longest Canon lens before the big, expensive ones

Canon EF 1.4x II Extender - a small, light and high quality teleconverter to give you some extra magnification when required

Canon Extension Tubes - a cheap way to increase magnification for macro work

Lighting

Canon ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter - Canon's IR device for triggering flash units mounted off-camera

Canon 430EX II Speedlite Flash - Canon's mid-range flash unit

Canon 550EX Speedlite Flash - previously Canon's top-of-the-range flash unit

Electra Studio Lighting - a budget studio lighting kit that can deliver surprisingly good results

Support

Giottos MM 9550 Monopod - a budget monopod for those occasions when a tripod isn't suitable

Markins Q3 Ball head - small, light, high-quality ball head capable of supporting big loads

Gitzo GT2541EX Tripod - highly adaptable, high quality, carbon tripod ideal for travelling

Cameras

Canon PowerShot S90 - Canon's compact P&S for those times when you don't want to haul SLR gear around

Accessories

Electra Colour Balance Panel - a cheap version of the popular ExpoDisc for setting custom WB

Sekonic L-308S Flashmate - a convenient light meter that can be used for ambient light or strobe lighting

Lens Impressions

I used a Canon FD 70-210 f/4.0 lens between 1982 and 2003 with my A1 and T90 bodies. It was a lens I was very fond of and with which I took many good photos. After I made the move to digital in 2004, I was keen to invest in the EF version of this lens so bought the non-IS f/4.0 version (an IS version being unavailable at the time).

I was pleased with my purchase but the third EF lens I bought - a 300mm f/4.0L IS - made me realise just what an amazing feature Image Stabilisation is. The 1.6x crop factor, although very welcome for telephoto, made hand-holding the non-IS lens even more difficult.

When the IS version of the EF 70-200mm f/4.0Llens was announced I upgraded almost immediately. Apart from the obvious advantage of IS, it is a far better lens than the non-IS version. I can only imagine this is because of newer lens coatings, etc.

It focuses particularly well on the 10D and produces the best images of any lens I have ever owned. For its size and weight, it is truly remarkable.

The f/2.8L version is undoubtedly a fine lens with superb optics (the Mark II version is even better) but for me it is just too big, bulky and heavy. When I carry my 300mm lens around all day, weighing 1190g, I invariably come home with backache and the EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS - at 1470g - is even heavier. It's a beast of a lens, especially up against the f/4.0L IS which, at 760g, feels as light as a feather in comparison.

After using Image Stabilisation, it is very difficult to go back to lenses that don't have the feature. Pressing the shutter button half-way has the same effect as a giant pair of hands coming out of nowhere to help steady the lens.

The latest generation of IS is claimed to give a four-stop advantage and this is quite believable. Although not the best photos I have taken, some of the photos above were taken hand-held at 1/15s and they are quite useable without any real visible camera shake. The IS mechanism in this lens is significantly better than that used in the 300mm f/4.0L IS.

The lens works particularly well with the Canon EF 1.4x II extender showing little, if any, degradation in image quality. Focusing is also very good with the extender - even with a 10D - whereas I haven't found this to be the case with the 300mm f/4.0L IS.

The maximum reach with the extender is 280mm, therefore close to 300mm but with a very useful zoom range that extends from 98mm. At the bullfighting event shown in the photos above, the EF 300mm f/4.0L IS was too long for many shots but the EF 70-200mm f/4.0L IS plus 1.4x extender proved to be very versatile.

The image quality of the EF 70-200mm f/4.0L IS used with the EF 1.4x II extender was better than the EF 300mm f/4.0L IS prime without the extender and the focusing was much better resulting in a lot more keepers. It is no longer the case that prime lenses give better image quality than zooms.

This particular zoom lens will leave most prime lenses dead in the water in terms of image quality and the focusing is spot on almost every time. After acquiring this lens I gre so dissatisfied with my EF 300mm f/4.0L that I sold it and bought the EF 400mm f/5.6L.

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With the Canon EF 1.4x II extender

For more image samples of this lens when used with the 1.4 extender, see: Canon EF 1.4x II Extender/Teleconverter

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Post-Processing

Images were shot in 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.

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Lens Details

Weight: 26.8 oz; 760 g
Filter Diameter: 67mm
Closest Focusing Distance: 3.9ft; 1.2m
Minimum Aperture: f/32
Serial Number: 201788
Lens Code: UU1000
Date Manufactured: October 2006
Date Purchased: December 2006
Supplier: Cathay Photo, Singapore
Price: 1,863.75 Singapore dollars
Lens Hood: ET-74 (included)
Soft Case: LP1224 (included)

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