[Music] Greetings everyone and today I'm very Excited to be checking out something Real special it's a lens that I've been Curious about testing for absolutely Years and now that Canon cameras are Coming out with in-body image Stabilization it's also a lens that's Becoming more relevant this is the Canon EF 200 millimeter F 1.8 lusm known by Some geekia photographers as the eye of Sauron although not by me I'm not really Into Lord of the Rings when Canon Launched their shiny new EF lens mount System back in the late 80s its large Size and autofocus capability was State-of-the-art eventually going on to Win a lot of the professional Market Over from Nikon and one of Canon's Killer lenses for sports photographers Was this monster the brightest 200 Millimeter lens ever made oh my goodness This was a fun lens for me to test out Just look at these images Canon Discontinued this lens a long time ago As the land used in the production of Its giant glass elements was not Environmentally friendly and it was Replaced by a slightly smaller 200 Millimeter F2 lens which is a little Sharper and has image stabilization but If your camera has its own in-body image Stabilization then this lens will have You primarilating in Joy with its
Gorgeous outer Focus backgrounds for Portrait pictures and excellent Capability for Indoor Sports Photography You can find these lenses in various States of repair for between three and Four thousand US Dollars over on eBay or About two and a half to three and a half Thousand pounds here in the UK Canon no Longer repair this lens so make sure to Get a decent copy otherwise you'll have To look around for someone else to fix Any problems it might develop which Could be expensive I'd like to say a Huge thank you to Joe Warner for Trusting me enough to lend me his copy Of this spectacular lens for a few weeks For evaluation his own photography skill Skills especially for wildlife work are Out of this world so definitely check Out his vemo page down in the Description below let's get down to Business as you can see the lens is Certainly big but not unmanageable less Encouraging is its heavy weight of three Kilos or over six and a half pounds the Lens is certainly hand holdable but After a while your arms will really Begin to ache which is probably why Cannon originally included a shoulder Strap for the lens the lens does not Appear to be weather sealed although There is room in there to use cannons at 1.4 times and two times extenders if you Want to despite its age it has a lot of
Features you'd see on a modern Canon Super telephoto L lens there's a rear Filter holder although it's difficult to Get replacement ones nowadays alongside The usual Focus limiter controls there Is a focus preset button which works in Conjunction with the white spring-loaded Preset control ring in this older copy Of the lens it's gotten a bit stiff Though the lenses rubberized Focus ring Is electronically connected to the Focus Motor which was a little unusual 35 Years ago but you'll be really Pleasantly surprised by how responsively It works when your camera is turned on Here you can see that the lens exhibits Considerable Focus breathing zooming in Noticeably as you focus more closely to Your subject A nice feature which I found useful in My testing was the manual focus speed Control switch here's some footage Manually focusing on the slowest speed Of one and now a Speed 2 and here is the Fastest speed 3 which is very responsive The lenses autofocus motor is pretty Fast although not up to the height of The newest Canon lenses I found it Focused quite accurately when adapted Onto my EOS R5 camera also when it comes To noise the motor is quiet when in Movement but a bit noisy when stopping And starting particularly when micro Adjusting so that's something to bear in
Mind I mentioned already that this lens does Not feature its own image stabilization But for anyone interested I'd like to Show you what your image looks like on a Camera with in-body image stabilization Like my EOS R5 here's some footage Without stabilization and now with it Turned on it's helping quite a lot but There's still quite some wobble in there In body stabilization doesn't tend to Work so well at telephoto focal lengths To be honest so this is one area where The newer 200 millimeter F2 version of The lens will have a tiny Advantage the Lenses metal tripod collar is very firm And easily adjustable no issues there The lens also comes with its own carry Trunk something that's highly protective And pretty useful although ultimately There isn't dream in there to also carry A camera which would have been helpful The Lens comes with a deep white Hood as Well as a leather lens cap which is hard At the front which does a good job of Protecting the land but is naturally a Bit fiddly to get on and off the front Of the lens has a rubber trim to reduce Damage from knocks and bumps Unsurprisingly that huge front element Does not have a thread for attaching Filters overall the lens's build quality Is solid as a rock hence there's very Little difference here from a modern
Super telephoto lens boy is it a bit Heavy to carry around with you though All right image quality this lens may be A 35 year veteran but that's not going To stop me starting by challenging it With a demanding 45 megapixel full-frame Sensor of a Canon EOS R5 camera in Camera Corrections unfortunately are not Available with this lens at F 1.8 Straight away we see very high contrast And great sharpness in the middle of the Image although it's not razor sharp here The good news though is that corner Image quality is just as good there's no Degradation although without the Availability of in-camera Corrections Some color fringing is noticeable on Contrasting edges let's stop The Lens Down to F 2.8 in the corners we see just A little more brightness and razor sharp Image quality now and back in the middle Unsurprisingly we see razor sharpness Again the lens stays there sharp down to F11 although it's top down as far as F-16 and things look softer due to Diffraction ultimately though for Groundbreaking 35 year old lens on such A high resolution camera this is an Awesome performance it's still not quite As sharp as its successor though the 200 Millimeter F2 anyway let's challenge the Lens even further by mounting it onto my Canon EOS R7 with its 32.5 megapixel Smaller aps-c sized sensor at F 1.8
Things aren't quite so Rosy anymore Contrast remains quite good but Resolution is just acceptable thankfully The corner image sharpness is still just As good although that color finishing is A bit more pronounced by the denser Image sensor the good news though is That if you stop down to F 2.8 you'll See fantastic sharpness both inner Corners and back in the middle the lens Tased this sharp down to f11 where Diffraction is notably affecting Sharpness on the denser aps-c image Sensor so it's only on one of the most Demanding sensors currently available That the 200 100 millimeter F 1.8 Finally begins to shirt age a little bit But then again only really at F 1.8 this Is still a good performance overall All Things Considered okay let's go back to Full frame now and take a look at Distortion and vignetting as I mentioned Before in camera Corrections are not Available with this lens unfortunately Even with my fully updated EOS R5 camera But In fairness vignetting and Distortion are not much of a problem the Only thing really notable is some Corner Shading here but it falls so very gently Across the image frame that you barely Ever notice it in real world shooting it Is reduced at F 2.8 and at F4 it's Pretty much gone Now let's see about close-up image
Quality a serious weakness of the tested Lens unfortunately as this thing can Only focus down to 2.5 meters making it A very poor choice for shooting smaller Subjects at F 1.8 close-up image quality Is just a little softer than at normal Distances however stop down to F 2.8 and That great sharpness is back again Now let's hear about its performance Against bright light considering its Gigantic glass elements and the age of Its design I was expecting serious Problems here but actually the lenses Contrast remains formidably strong However bright light in the picture do Produce some pointed flaring this lens Can give you some of the most strongly Diffused backgrounds in your images Available today but what do those Backgrounds actually look like well I'm Really pleased to tell you that this Lenses Booker is beautifully soft in Almost all situations specular Highlights don't have any notable Substructure problems although there is Unsurposingly a cat's eye shape to Highlight in your image Corners when DP Review tested this lens on our own YouTube channel they had some problems With the quality of their lenses bokeh When the aperture was topped down but as You can see here I was unable to Replicate them on my own copy of the Lens and finally related to toboga comes
Longitudinal chromatic duration more Good news here it's noticeable at F 1.8 But really quite low and stop down to F 2.8 and it's pretty much gone nice Overall well good old Canon clearly over Engineered to this thing because its Optics are way better than the 35 Millimeter film cameras at the time Would really have needed and it performs Formidably well even on a modern 45 Megapixel digital camera and just look At those images it can produce even in 2023 the lenses look as as fresh and Vibrant as it is unique I loved testing This lens but if you were to ask me Which lens to pursue this or its Successor the slightly darker 200 Millimeter F2 lens that came out 20 Years later in 2008 then I'd have to say The newer lens to be honest it's a Little smaller and lighter it's Noticeably sharper it has image Stabilization and it has a closer Minimum Focus distance not to mention The fact that as a man newer lens it's Less likely to break down and will be a Little easier to have fixed probably but Still there's just something about Shooting at 200 millimeter and F 1.8 There really is the lenses images are Simply mind-blowing it optically Performed better than I thought it would And so if you can find a good copy this Lens still has to come highly
Recommended The sake monster the magic drain pipe The eye of Sauron all these crazy names We make up for hideously expensive Camera lenses honestly we should just Call them the overdraft pressure or the Wife and rager or the chiropractor's Nightmare anyway I hope you enjoyed this Review if you find these videos helpful Then check out my patreon page where Supporters get all kinds of exclusive Bonus content and help to keep these Reviews tracking on ciao for now Everyone
