DCannon's Full Review: Sigma EF f/4.0 L USM 70-200mm Lens
I've been a professional photographer for around 30 years and have bounced between Nikon and Canon systems over that time with Leica thrown in at one point. But overall I've been predominantly a Nikon user. I used to work for an optical company and did all the lens testing, which afforded the opportunity to form a first-hand opinion of various manufacturers' lens designs and overall optical quality. This is one of the reasons I've gone back to Nikon every time. However, this was many years ago and things change.
I stopped photographing professionally about 6 years ago and have had a few point & shoot digital cameras since then (all Nikon), but with the recent appearance of the Canon 300D (Digital Rebel) DSLR for under $1,000, I couldn't resist. I still have a complete Nikon SLR system with some incredible hand-picked older style non-autofocus lenses that's been gathering dust in my closet since going digital....which, by the way are for sale. Sure, I had considered getting a Nikon DSLR body but it wouldn't do much good with the older style Nikkor lenses. So, in going with the 300D, I was faced with purchasing a whole new system again. Once again, back to Canon.
From my optical testing and pro days, I've still been holding onto the belief that Nikon produced the best quality lenses....until I got the 70-200 f4 L. I hadn't been keeping up with things, so this Canon lens was a pleasant surprise. I'd had Canon L glass many years ago and the new ones in general appear to be every bit as good as the old ones. I've since done some research and found that nearly every lens test report has Canon L lenses at the top of every category. Hmmmm. From past experience with Canon L glass and knowing the optical quality of my current Nikkor ED lenses, if this lens is any indication of current Canon L glass quality, I can easily understand why they're at the top. This lens uses fluorite and super UD lens elements to correct aberrations, thus increasing image sharpness. It uses an ultrasonic motor (USM) for fast, quiet focusing. Manual focusing is available in AF mode. Unfortunately, it seems Canon may be experiencing a quality control problem and many who have purchased this lens recently have complained about rear and front focusing when using autofocus, including myself. This means when focusing is locked in on a particular area of a subject, the lens is actually focusing either slightly behind or in front of the plane of focus. The result is an out-of-focus subject, particularly at close distances using a shallow depth of field.
I purchased my 70-200 f4 L from 17th St. Photo in NYC for well under $600 with U.S. warranty. Great service.
IN THE BOX
Included with the lens is a soft padded lens case, the ET-74 hood ($40 if sold separately), user manual, warranty card, front/rear caps, and mine came with a $20 rebate card. The lens is protected in a foam wrapping then placed in a plastic bag. Top and bottom foam inserts keep it stabilized within the box. Pretty well packaged.
APPEARANCE & DIMENSIONS/SPECIFICATIONS
The nicely manufactured metal casing is off-white (somewhat eggshell) with black textured rubber focus/zoom rings, and naturally has the telltale red ring near the front of the lens designating that there's special glass at work inside. The rear metal area of the zoom ring has 75, 100, 135 and 200 designations for reference to these often-used focal lengths. In tests, I found that when this lens is set to 200mm, it's just a hair short of 200mm compared to my 200mm prime and my 75-300 Canon set to 200mm. But the difference is negligible so not of any real concern. This lens is so sharp, you can easily enlarge the images to the equivalent of a 250mm or even many high end 300mm lenses, except maybe the Canon 300 2.8L (which is another incredible lens) with comparable or better detail.
Image Size: 24x36mm
Lens Construction: 13 groups, 16 elements
Minimum Aperture: f32
Min Focusing Distance: 1.2m/3.9 ft.
Filter Diameter: 67mm
Included Lens Hood: ET-74
Max Diam & Length: 76x172mm
Weight: 705g/24 oz
Looking inside through the front element, there are two exposed silver screw ends just below the zoom threads that are not blackened. From what I can see of the internal machining, linkage tracks, etc, it's not the most polished and clean machining I've seen. Maybe this is the result of keeping the cost down.
FEATURES
This lens has a distance scale beneath a plastic viewing cover located between the zoom & focus rings. When attached to the camera, it's located directly on top for easy viewing when necessary. To compensate for shifting of the infinity focus point that results from changes in temperature, you can rotate the distance scale slightly past the normal infinity focus mark. The distance scale includes an infrared index. Also located between the zoom/focus rings is the focus mode switch, which toggles between AF and manual focus, and the focusing distance range selector switch that selects between either 1.2m/3.9ft to Infinity, or 3m/9.8ft to Infinity. I've yet to find a practical use for using the latter setting. The rear of the lens barrel has a nicely machined raised knurled ring to facilitate removal and attachment of the lens to the camera body. A red raised dot is provided for alignment reference during mounting. This lens employs internal focusing, which means the lens doesn't physically extend and the front element doesn't rotate. This is great for using a polarizing filter.
OPERATION
The zoom/focus rings operate smoothly and precisely. I haven't used mine in extremely hot or bitterly cold conditions yet but it works flawlessly in 0 degree temps. Mounting/removal from the camera body is quick and easy (I have a 300D…Digital Rebel). Both the focus and distance selection switches work smoothly with a definite firm lock-in click when toggled. Both are located in an area of the lens that makes it difficult to accidentally switch either from the desired position. I've experienced absolutely no focus or zoom creep when the lens is pointed straight up or down.
OPTIONS
Aside from the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters, an optional tripod collar is available for mounting the lens to a tripod, allowing easier rotation for vertical shots while maintaining the tripod head’s position. This is not an inexpensive option! I do a lot of what I like to consider creative photography that requires a mix of horizontal & vertical shots, and I haven't needed it yet. Also available are Canon's extension tubes EF-12 & EF 25, which fit between the camera body and lens, and provide significantly closer focusing distances and macro capability.
OPTICAL QUALITY
This is what the 70-200 f4L is all about. Optical quality. It's superb at all focal lengths but is optimized for the tele range. Colors are vibrant and accurate with exceptional contrast. The element design and use of special glass virtually eliminates chromatic aberration which is the bane of brightly-lit subjects in natural sunlight, and brightly back-lit subjects. CA appears as a color fringing along the edges of these subjects, especially white objects and can be severely degrading to the overall image quality. I have a Canon 75-300 III USM that exhibits horrible CA as purple and/or green color fringing from 220mm to 300mm. Even at f4, the 70-200 f4L is very sharp with good edge sharpness. And no CA. Stop it down and it only gets better. Optimum is f8-f16. This lens can capture some amazing detail. Naturally, optimum sharpness and image quality depends on proper and optimum exposure for a given subject.
PROBLEMS
As mentioned earlier, I'm discovering that many of these lenses experience rear or front focusing. I'm on my third lens at this point. The first one had an internal rattle or clunking noise that sounded like a loose element or something. Hearing it for the first time when I shook the lens was alarming. The lens was extremely sharp and focused fairly well but I returned it for an exchange because of the rattling. The second lens also rattled and was rear focusing badly to boot. It too, was sharp at all focal lengths when in focus but often I had to resort to manual focus to get good shots and that's not what I was paying for, and downright inconvenient in certain situations. So I returned it and recently received the third lens. I haven't had it long, but I can tell this one focuses slightly better (although still not as consistently as the first lens), is overall very sharp but doesn't appear quite as sharp/contrasty as the other two at 200mm. And 200mm is where this lens is supposed to shine, as the other two certainly did. It may just be a matter of shooting conditions. We've had nothing but rain or overcast skies here. I've since learned the rattling is typical of this lens...the internal zoom/focus mechanism fit in the tracks not being tight to allow for expansion/contraction. They all do it. Now I long for the first lens I had and sure wish I had it back even though it didn't consistently focus accurately!! I'm tired of returning lenses and spending money on shipping back to 17th St Photo so I'm just going to use it in my everyday routine and see how it goes. If there is in fact a slight falloff in sharpness at 200mm, I'll send it to the Canon repair facility in Irvine, CA. Hopefully it's just me and/or the conditions in which I've been shooting. If not, I'm hoping Canon will either correct it or send me a new lens direct from the factory.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I know the 70-200 f4L is exceedingly sharp with superb color & contrast by nature but as mentioned, from my personal contact with other photographers, online forums, etc, it seems to have some autofocusing issues currently. If you get a good one that accurately focuses, it's an exciting experience to view the images it produces. But as with everything else that's mass-produced, there will be variations in quality along the way. There are lemons and problems with production runs in most industries. It may just be that Canon is going through a brief period of questionable quality control that will be addressed soon. But there seems to be an awful lot of these lenses out there with focusing issues. A colleague of mine in Dallas is currently going through the same thing. His first 70-200 f4L wasn't auto focusing correctly and is on his second lens, which so far seems to be ok. I attribute a lot of this to the fact that autofocus isn't an exact science. Would I recommend the 70-200 f4L? Sure. It's worth taking the chance to get a good one because of the superb optics for the price. I'm sure with all the 70-200s sold throughout the world, the problem lenses are the exception, not the rule. Had I not experienced the focusing problems with three of these lenses, it would have easily rated 5 stars.
Update 3/26/04: Yes, there definitely is a back focusing problem with my current lens. It doesn't do it all the time, but all too often, it'll obviously not be focusing on the intended subject, and I have to keep refocusing or use manual focus. By the way, I have my camera's focus point defaulted to the center only, so should be getting better results than this. I've since purchased a Sigma 70-200 2.8 APO EX HSM that's consistently deadly accurate, and just as sharp as the 70-200 f4L. So I'll probably be sending the 70-200 f4L to Canon to see what they can do with it, then sell it.
Update 6/12/04: I sent the lens to the Canon-Irvine facility for evaluation and just got it back. They performed a complete service, including focus adjustment, resolution test, check mechanical operation, clean all elements, and lube. They made sure everything was set to factory specs. Excellent service from Canon. Bottom line: it no longer backfocuses and focuses correctly. It's now for sale. If anyone is interested, please contact me at drcannon@hiwaay.net.
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