That's quite a mouthful, that lens name... So what does it all mean? L - L series is the more professional end of the glassy goodness from Canon (who make more than just photo copiers!) Sometimes they are a grey'ish white'ish color, sometimes they are black with a little red strip around them... not to be confused with a can of chilled Jamaican beer, namely Redstripe...
70-200mm - Well, that's the focal length isn't it.. from what once would have been where the film sits out to your focal point.... so, 70 is good for wider portrait type shots from the front of a stage whilst 200 gets you right into the artist nostril for a good poke around... everyone loves "up the nose" shots, right?
f/2.8 - This is called aperture... You might hear someone say "Shoot wide open" what you're talking about is opening your aperture (the smaller f number) right up as far as it will go. With a lot of lenses, you will see something like f/3.5-5.6 or so, if it's a zoomy type lens, if it's a "prime" lens (one that needs leg powered zoom) you most always get an single aperture value like f/1.4 f/1.8 and so on... The lens here has a single aperture value of f/2.8 which means that it's a "pretty fast lens" all the way from 70mm to 200mm - which makes it perfect for concert photography and stuff where light is a factor*.
IS - contrary to popular belief, this isn't "IS" ..as in "The Canon 70-200L f/2.8 "is" MKII ....is a mkii... it's IS as in Image Stabilization... There's two types to choose from.. this way and that way, but, again, contrary to popular belief will not make your photos sharper than a cheap legal secretary if your arms are made of orange jelly (jello, America, jello) --It will help you when the light is less than perfect and your shutter speed has to pop down low and go, go..go
MKII - That means that there was a MKI.... it had a couple of differences, most notably a different IS system...two types, not just one... and it's more expensive, but it is lovely.
So - First Impression? I've not been able to take any serious photos (where I'm pulling a serious face as I discharge the electrons) but a couple of quick snaps in less than favourable light, of my little baby boy, Sebatian, and I was really very happy, excited and wanting to point it at the nearest musician... that will come!
Build quality is pretty typical of an expensive L series lens... tank like... it's heavy, it's going to hurt after three songs, but it's going to be worth it... Sharp, Fast and white enough to make me stand out to a crowd of would be lens thieves...
It just feels right.
Images to come - stay tuned.
*when is light not a factor?