Initially when this telephoto zoom lens was announced I was a I admit a little dubious as to wether or not it would suit the aviation photography which I do.
The large focal length of any lens will always be blighted but atmospheric conditions like heat haze, the seemingly dark f/9 also comes across as a bit of a hindrance to many before they use or own it.
I took the plunge and ordered one of these lenses through Panamoz, which at the time was a considerable amount cheaper than UK online stores and came with a 3yr warranty, having seen friends use the warranty offered by Panamoz, I can happily say they’re customer service again eclipses some of the more main stream UK websites and high street shops.
After placing my order the lens arrived in 5 days, with shipping updates at each stage.
Below is a collection of my thoughts and sample images at varying focal lengths.
The Lens came well packaged, generic brown box with the customary Canon gloss black box inside. Again, as expected the packaging from Canon holds the lens well within the box and no worries about mishandling.
The lens as has been pointed out very publicly by others is not an L lens, no red band around the end of the lens etc, however it is a “white lens” and sits well in the collection.
Although it is not an L lens, it feels fairly robust, chances are I’m not going to be throwing it about but there have been several reports of the zoom “tube” cracking/failing resulting in a broken or snapped lens. From what I can gather these lenses were being used either extended and left on a seat in a safari van whilst on the move or in one case, was being used in extreme low temps. The zoom mechanism inside the lens is plastic so it’s worth keeping in mind that as robust as it feels, care should be taken when handling and transporting the lens.
The lens attaches to R mount cameras and I have tried it on the r7 crop sensor and r6Mk2 Full frame sensor. The r7 I found to be a real handful with this lens although others have succeeded I preferred the r6Mk2. My opinion is that the issues of the r7 plagued the use of the 200-800 and almost made it unusable, switching to the r6Mk2 the combo seems to work much better, and it is clear why many Youtube reviews call the 200/800 a full frame lens.
I have used the r6 and 200-800 primarily for aviation but have also tried it out on wildlife at the local nature reserve with happy success, I certainly do not class myself as a wildlife photographer.
The lens is snappy when it comes to focus, it uses a single USM focus motor whereas the 100-500 uses two. In no way have I felt this to be a drawback, at any time using the lens it has tracked and remained focused on the subject, again pairing it with the r6mk2 I feel has probably benefitted the combo.
Fast jets, static shots, props and warbirds have all been subjects and at no time has the lens struggled. The throw on the zoom ring is quite the workout initially but the lens can also be zoomed like the ver1 100-400 trombone style, although hearing the zoom mechanism internally is plastic this is something I refrain from trying to do.
The lens is quite a chonker, its by no means light, but its weight in comparison to the size of the lens is not beyond being handheld, the addition of a decent strap will help those aching arms and shoulders though.
Whilst I am talking of handheld shooting with this lens, the lens has 5 stops of Image stabilisation, and this comes in handy when zoomed out to 800mm. Shooting at this range I have found that I need to use much higher speeds to reduce noticeable movement, but the lens works very well in doing so, id almost favour shooting higher speeds than lower.
Overall I think the 200-800 lens offers superb value for the price tag. Build quality feels solid and with care im hopeful the lens will continue to give solid results.
If you have any questions please get in touch, but thanks for reading.