[SOLD] Canon Telephoto EF 200mm f/2L IS USM Autofocus Lens

[naskies (Dave)]

I'm also selling my very much beloved Canon 200 mm f/2L IS lens to raise funds for full-time study.

I bought it brand new from B&H Photo Video in the US in December less than a year ago (same time as the 50 f/1.2). The lens date code is UY0601, i.e. it was manufactured in June 2010 at the Canon Utsunomiya factory in Japan. It was legally imported into Australia with GST paid, etc.

This lens is arguably one of Canon's best lenses, period. This lens has a lot of associated hype and I'm happy to say that it's well-deserved. The optics are amazing (a pixel peeper's dream ) and it renders beautiful bokeh - see the samples in the post below. The autofocus speed is amazing, speaking as an owner of the 135L and 70-200 f/2.8 IS II lenses, and the image stabiliser is amazingly effective. Canon rates the IS on this lens as 4-5 stops equivalent - my experience matches this.

The 100 mm maximum aperture in a short focal length (i.e. f/2 in a telephoto lens), combined with IS, means that it's surprisingly handhold-able. The majority of my photos taken with this lens have been handheld.

The lens is in perfect optical and mechanical condition (no problems that I'm aware of). There may be a few superficial scratches on non-optical surfaces and a bit of dust from normal use, but nothing that affects the image quality or mechanical operation.

This lens includes everything from the original package:

* Canon EF 200 mm f/2L IS lens, removable tripod collar, lens manual
* Combined leather lens cap and pouch
* Rear dust cap, neck strap, lens hood
* Hard protective case with handle and lockable latch (keys included)
* Original shipping box (without packing foam)

*** Asking price is $5600 net to me, negotiable. Shipping is at buyer's expense (I'm happy to help organise), but I'll deliver to anywhere within one hour drive of Brisbane. ***

If you're interested, please contact me via PM or email at naskies@acm.org . This is a very reluctant sale... I already plan on re-acquiring another copy of this lens in the future.


A few links that may be of interest:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...ns-Review.aspx

http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/p...mm_f_2l_is_usm

[naskies (Dave)]

Sample photos taken with the 200 mm f/2L and my Canon 5DmkII:

* My niece dancing like a maniac - I think these were pretty much straight-out-of-camera.

* Tangle of thorny branches.

* Cockatoo stealing our macadamia nuts.

* Fixed tripod wide field shot of Orion's Belt and the Flame / Horsehead / Running Man / Orion Nebulae (unmodded dSLR, stack of ~40 frames).

* 100% centre crop of the moon (desaturated) compared to a substantially down-sized version taken with a 132 mm apo triplet refractor - the 200 f/2 is pixel perfect (as much as the Bayer matrix allows)!

* 100% crop of the sun and sunspots through a Thousand Oaks white light solar filter (cloudy day).

* 100% crop of a small bird - 1.78% of the full 21 megapixel image!