70-200 2.8 L IS USM version?

[emilyray]

<p>I live in a country in the Middle East and, whilst trying to upgrade my kit, looked into getting the 70-200 2.8 L IS USM the other day; the 'general electronics' type store said they would have to order it in and they then rang me and said it would take 2 weeks. Fair enough.<br>

I thought I would ring a Canon shop to enquire about their lens availability and they said they only have the Version II available and have not had Version I for over 3 months. The difference in price here is quite considerable.<br>

Does anyone know of any reason why the version I may not be available?<br>

Can anyone tell me whether Version II is really that great?! and worth the rather hefty price tag</p>

<p>Many thanks in advance.<br>

Em.</p>

[divo]

<p>Generally, when a new version is introduced the old version is discontinued. The Canon store near you has probably sold their old stock and restocked with the new version. Obviously, Canon still wants to sell remaining stock of the old version if they can, so they will still fill orders from 3rd party vendors as long as they have stock in their warehouse. However, there will be less and less available in the next few months because Canon isn't making any new version I lenses anymore.</p>

[mbkissel]

<blockquote>

<p>Can anyone tell me whether Version II is really that great?! and worth the rather hefty price tag</p>

</blockquote>

<p>As good as version I is, version II is much better. Is it worth it? Only you can make that decision. </p>

[steven_crist]

<p>In the US Canon still shows 70-200 L IS version one on their web site.</p>

[jaydesi]

<p>I have the version I lens, and it's a fine lens. I couldn't justify the extra money for the II lens, and I'm not disappointed that I didn't. I've heard the IS is better and gives you an extra stop, and that it improves on the already spectacular IQ of the I lens, but odds are good that you'll be fully satisfied with the I lens if you decide not to spend the extra for the II version.</p>

[steve_dunn2]

<p>Canon's U.S. Web site has been a source of inaccurate information on the product lineup for many years. Things disappear from it even though they're still current products, and I think there have been cases of discontinued products remaining on the site. So I wouldn't bet anything I couldn't afford to lose on the accuracy of that site.</p>

 

<p>But I don't think there's been a case yet where Canon has released a II version of a lens and kept the I version in the lineup other than perhaps a brief overlap to ensure that there isn't a gap in availability between the two versions. (They've kept IS and non-IS versions in the lineup, but those are pairs of lenses in which one has a significant feature that's lacking in the other.) Logically, at least, the II version is a direct replacement for the I, and so one should expect that the I would be discontinued.</p>