Digital Camera World - UK (2021-03)

K i t Z o n e

anon has stuck firmly

with its popular formula

in updating its top-flight

70-200mm zoom. The

barrel is a slightly different shade of

grey, but the only notable upgrades

boil down to coatings. An ASC (Air

Sphere Coating) has been added to

the 19th element in the optical path,

to further reduce ghosting and flare,

and fluorine coatings are applied

to the front and rear elements,

to repel moisture and grease.

Performance

Compared with the previous edition

of the lens, Canon has downrated the

claimed effectiveness of the image

stabilisation system from four to 3.5

stops. That puts it more in line with

the results of our own lab testing.

The new lens is equally impressive

as its predecessor for sharpness

and contrast, along with offering

super-fast autofocus.

niquely for a 70-200mm

f/2.8 zoom, the Canon RF

lens has a similar

telescoping design to

relatively low-budget 70-300mm

telephoto zooms, with an inner barrel

that extends at longer zoom settings.

It’s remarkably short at the 70mm

zoom setting, making it easy to stow

away, and it’s fairly light, but the design

makes the lens incompatible with

Canon’s 1.4x or 2.0x teleconverters.

Performance

There are certainly no minus points

in terms of performance. The floating

autofocus system, based on dual Nano

USM motors, is amazingly fast and

virtually silent. The five-stop image

stabiliser works brilliantly well, helping

to make the most of the lens’s inherent

sharpness. And sharpness itself

really is excellent, even when

shooting wide-open and throughout

the entire zoom range.

CU

Canon

EF 70-200mm

f/2.8L IS III USM

£2,149/$2,099

The more things change...

Lens mount Canon EF

Canon

RF 70-200mm

f/2.8L IS USM

£2,659/$2,699

It’s compact, but with a catch

Lens mount Canon RF

Sharpness

The Canon EF closely matches

the Tamron G2, but lags

behind the Sigma Sports.

Sharpness

It’s much sharper than the

Canon EF, boosted by a more

effective image stabiliser.

Fringing

Short 1.38 Long 1.12

Minimal fringing drops away in

the middle of the zoom range.

Fringing

Short 1.32 Long 0.5

There’s little fringing at 70mm,

and it gets even better.

Distortion

Short -1 .02 Long 1.38

Slight barrel moves to slight

pincushion distortion.

Distortion

Short 1.44 Long 1.32

Pincushion is slight at most

at mid to long focal lengths.

Digital Camera verdict Digital Camera verdict

4.0 Excellent 4.5 Outstanding

4.0 4.5

Features Features

4.0 5.0

Performance Performance

3.5 4.0

Value Value

4.5 4.5

Build &

handling

Build &

handling

Canon’s new lens

is very good but it

doesn’t outperform the

equivalent Sigma and

Tamron f/2.8 zooms.

At nearly twice the

price, it’s relatively

poor value for money.

Its build is up to Canon

L-se rie s s t an dard s , an d

it’s compact and light.

Performance is

excellent, but the

incompatibility with

teleconverters can

be an issue.

128 DIGITAL CAMERA^ MARCH 2021 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

Group Test 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22

70mm 100mm

135mm 200mm

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22

70mm 100mm

135mm 200mm

BEST FOR

CANON RF