Description
I
t is most definitely an amateur
lens.
Plastic construction right down to its lens mount. This thing looks and feels
like the label should say Fisher Price and not Canon. However, looks can be
deceiving.
Just use it, quit looking at it already. If you need a metal mount, maybe you are a little
too rough with your camera. Plastics allow the manufacture of strongly
aspherical lens elements which are difficult or impossible to manufacture in glass, and which simplify or improve lens manufacture and performance.
Plastics are not used for the outermost elements of all but the cheapest lenses as they scratch easily. Molded plastic lenses have been used for the cheapest disposable cameras for many years, and have acquired a bad reputation: manufacturers of quality optics tend to use euphemisms such as "optical resin". However many modern, high performance (and high priced) lenses from popular manufacturers include molded or hybrid aspherical elements, so it is not true that all lenses with plastic elements are of low photographic quality.
If you need a
low light lens, this isn't it. If your primary objective is to take pictures in
available light situations such as
weddings and
concerts, then get the 80-200mm f/2.8 or the 70-200mm VR f/2.8 instead.
This is a review of a discontinued Canon lens that was replaced in favor of the 70-200/2.8L, which has an ultrasonic motor and
accepts teleconverters.
Canon 80-200/4.5 AF Zoom Lens AUTO FOCUS TELEPHOTO. Five zoom lens groups have been improved to obtain higher image quality.
Features
The lens has a removable tripod collar and comes with a lens hood and hard case. The front element (72mm filters) does not rotate during focusing. It's well balanced and solidly built (no plastic). It does not have a USM motor or full time manual focusing. I know Philip thinks these are essential (or at least very desirable), but the lens still focuses very quickly and quietly and I have never found it "too slow" or "noisy". AF is very positive and accurate. Full time manual focus is nice, but it's a feature I rarely if ever use on the lenses I own which do have it, so I really don't miss it on this lens. It's a "two touch" zoom with seperate rings for focus and zoom.
