200mm 1.8 "IS " USM?

Another rumored lens, <a href="http://www.caborian.com/content/view/848/1/"

>LINK</a> <p>

 

But do pros or rich hobbyist really need this lens , The discontinued non IS

version has very high rating on <a

href="http://www.lensplay.com/lenses/lens_top_ten.php" >www.LENSPLAY.com</a>.

In fact is is perfect 10. since it is very good, why would canon discontinue

it in the first place?

<p>

 

Is there a big enough market( considering the price of the 200mm 1.8) for it

if canon ressurect it with IS this time?

The reason I read at the time of the discontinuation was lack of market for such an exotic piece of glass. I'm not sure that's true though. Perhaps they just didn't want to make another production run of a low seller when they had an IS version in the hopper.

 

Nikon seems to think there is enough room in the market for them to do it.

I bought a used one from ebay. IT's amazing how the pictures turn out to be. Absolutely the best canon EF lens ever. If canon has a new 200 1.8 IS version, I will sell the old one and get the new one. I think if they can get the price down to $4000, more ppl can afford.

With the popularity of digital photography and the crop factor. That 200mm 1.8 becomes a 640 3.5 on a Digi Rebel with a 2x tele converter. Cheaper than the 400mm 4.0 and also slightly faster too.

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-post-new?topic_id=1545">Speculative posts (...when will canon...why don't canon...) will not be archived and will be given a short life.</a>

 

 

<p> Happy shooting, <br>

Yakim. </p>

<p>Those who have it love it and I don't doubt it's a specatular lens. But based on the relatively few people who post here to say they have it or have Web pages saying they have it, I don't think Canon sold a lot of 'em. Of course I have no access to Canon's sales figures for this or any other lens so this is purely a guess.</p>

 

<p>I don't believe we'll see a 200/1.8L IS USM. If they were going to make one, they'd have done it at the same time they replaced the other big guns with IS versions.</p>

 

<p>On the rumour mill, I saw another page in a language I don't understand listing a bunch of new items, which I'm led to understand are rumours of what Canon might introduce for PMA. One of the things on that list was a 200/2.8L IS USM. To me, if Canon is going to introduce a 200mm prime with IS, the 2.8 is more likely.</p>

I seem to rember hearing the demise of the 200/1.8 was to do with a toxic material used somewhere. A bit like all the old electronic products going out of production due to the new laws on lead.

Some of us are really hoping it's the 200/1.8 gets updated (IS and 52mm filters, same as the other "big white" lenses). The older version was one of the finest lenses ever made by anyone. It would be even more of an asset with today's 1.6X and 1.3X Canon D-SLRs, along with full frame of course. A 200/2.8 IS makes lots of sense, too.

I thought I remember reading that it was discontinued because it used lead in the glass, and Canon at some point decided to phase out all lead from their products in order to be more environmentally friendly.

I have one as well, and it is a very nice lens. Here are a couple of shots from it:

<br><br>

f/1.8...<br>

<img src="http://www.potts-family.net/lisa/lisa%20pulling%20hair%20back%208-21-04%20(ha3j1416)_std.jpg"></img>

<br><br>

f/1.8...<br>

<img src="http://www.potts-family.net/kristen/ha3j7258_std.jpg"></img>

<br><br>

f/2.2...<br>

<img src="http://www.potts-family.net/lisa/lisa%20and%20princess%2009-18-2006%20(ha3j1198)_std.jpg"></img>

<br><br>

It does a nice job of isolating your subject, and is fantastic for low light action shots like gymnastics or dance. It is both sharp, and it has nice bokeh.<br><br>

Regarding why was it discontinued, most of the speculation has been listed above. I tend to not believe the lead issue, since Canon has updated many lenses, and they didn't update the 200 f/1.8L. The 200 f/1.8L should have been updated with the 300 f/2.8L IS, 400 f/2.8L IS, 500 f/4L IS and 600 f/4L IS if they were going to do it. They brought all of these lenses out at once, and left the 200 f/1.8L behind. Within a couple of years, they discontinued the 200. I believe it was such a low seller that this only made sense from a financial perspective. If you look at the serial numbers, they go from 12,xxx to 17,xxx. It was introduced in 1988 as an EF lens, and it was discontinued in 2003 if I remember correctly. You can see they didn't sell that many.

I was about to ask for sample pix of that lens from members who own it,

 

And WOW,

 

Your pix are very nice, the composition, the lighting and the subjects looked very good.

 

That lens is very sharp, even when you resized it, I could see the crystal clarity of the lens from my monitor.

 

Thank you very much for the pictures. I'm enlightened.