The Canon 200mm f/1.8L USM - A.K.A. "The Eye of Sauron"

Yes. You read that correctly. A 200mm f/1.8 lens. This lens is my most recent acquisition, and one that I never thought I would actually own. I've had it for a couple of days now, so this is very much a first impressions review and "unboxing".

First, there's the box. And not just any box. It's a massive locking trunk. I feel like I could throw this off a building and it would survive. Unlike the movie Seven, we know what's in this box. Canon put a huge label right on top. I guess if you had more than one of these monster lenses, then a label would be important.

Here's what we've all been waiting for. The lens! Oh, and it's heavy. Like, really heavy. 3000g/6.6lbs.

The build quality is phenomenal. The lens features an all metal construction on the lens body. I've always loved the metal nameplates on these monster telephoto lenses. My old Tamron 300mm f/2.8 has a brass one. That's something Sigma needs to do. I love my Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8, but where's my metal name plate!? How will I know what lens I'm using unless there's a massive metal nameplate?

Lots of switches and controls! I actually had to check the manual about some of them. There's the standard AF/MF and focus limiter switches, and things get interesting. The focus preset switch is fairly self explanatory. Once you set it, you slightly turn the white ring just in front of the switches to instantly return to the preset focus.  The one below it turns a beep on or off. If set to on, the lens will beep when you recall the preset focus distance (like the AF confirm beep on a camera). Finally, the manual focus speed. I'll touch more on that when I discuss AF performance below.

Ok. I know you want to see what this lens can do. Man this lens is stunning. Just 3 more photos of the lens, then samples.

130mm across the front! That's huge. The Sigma 120-300 is only 105mm

2 holy grail lenses! The 50mm f/1.0 & the 200mm f/1.8!

Okay okay okay. Moving on to some sample photos. Also, I have to thank my wife for putting up with my insanity and running around to crazy places so I can take photos of her.

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/5000, f/1.8, ISO 100

Wow. Isn't that beautiful? Yes. I know the girl, but also, that bokeh! I have never seen any other lens with depth of field fall of like this. Also, notice something interesting. This lens is SHARP. Like really sharp, and across the entire frame. You can see the line of focus perfectly sharp across the entire frame. From the tree on the left to the blades of grass on the right. Click here to see the full resolution photo.

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/500, f/1.8, ISO 800

Things get really impressive when you move in for a headshot/upper body portrait. Such creamy bokeh and the background is completely obliterated. But what about moving in even closer? The closer the focus, the smaller the depth of field, which means MORE BOKEH! The minimum focus distance is 2.5m, which while that won't win any awards, that's more than usable on a 200mm prime.

So in search of things to get 2.5 meters away from, we move to the backyard to find what look like simple and mundane weeds and flowers. The bokeh and telephoto compression is just ridiculous. Such extreme subject isolation, and it is wicked sharp.

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/1000, f/1.8, ISO 50

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/640, f/1.8, ISO 50

Well, what about auto-focus performance? The Canon white telephoto lenses are known for having superb AF, but the first generation are very different from the rest. These use a focus by wire system for the manual focus which supposedly can to lead to AF problems. So far, I have no issues. The AF is fast and accurate. The focus by wire for the manual focusing is actually really nice. It is responsive and consistent. There is a switch to change the manual focusing speed (1, 2, or 3) with 1 being the slowest, and 3 being the fastest. I've left mine on 2. I'm not sure how Canon managed to perfect the focus by wire system on the early EF lenses and the completely mess it up on the new ones.

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/1250, f/1.8, ISO 800

Auto-focus tracking some birds in flight with no problems.

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/1600, f/1.8, ISO 800

Splash!!

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/1250, f/1.8, ISO 100

Anyway, that's enough birds. I'll leave you with two final images

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/6400, f/1.8, ISO 100

Canon 1DC, EF 200mm f/1.8L USM, 200mm, 1/5000, f/1.8, ISO 100

To view other photos from this lens and view photos in high resolution, head over to my Flickr page where I have the photos posted in full resolution, and check out the results for your self!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottscheetz/albums/72157718551440273 

Oh, and I just realized I never wrote a review for the legendary Canon 50mm f/1.0L USM. I guess I should do that since I've had it for a year. Oops.
Here's a spoiler. There's a reason it's legendary.