The Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM Lens is the highly-anticipated replacement for the long-discontinued but legendary Canon EF 200mm f/1.8 L USM Lens . This replacement lens was number 1 on my personal most-wanted Canon lens list - And I am in no way disappointed with it.

This lens is extremely sharp! And I am not easily impressed as I already got Canon's 300 mm f2.8 IS L as well as Canon's 500 mm F4 IS L and 9 other L-lenses. Expensive, yes, but the overall image quality (both on my 1ds MarkII & III) is simply stunning. Portraits, animals, sport, flowers, etc.

If you watched any broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics you probably saw photographers with Canon's large, ultra-fast telephoto prime lenses, which are purpose-designed to provide pin-sharp images in low light levels.

A professional-grade telephoto lens, which sports a fast maximum aperture of f/2, image stabilisation and silent focusing with full-time manual focus override. This is quite a specialised lens, costing around ￡4600, so we'll take a close look at how it performs in this review.

I bought this lens because Canon (CPS) stopped servicing my original 200L 1.8 lens. I reluctantly sold the original 1.8 version and bought the 200L IS 2.0 in 2009. I used this lens for well over 2 years till I sold it. The 200L IS 2.0 is sharp and makes lovely pictures but... Let me explain.

Fast subject acquisition; great IS and great IQ

The magic of the 200L 1.8 is not here

I had the joy of using this lens at a Canon training weekend that I went to through work and I really must say, I was impressed and taken aback by this lens. First of all, what would you use this lens for? Shooting fast moving objects would be the ideal.

Crisp clear lens; fast and accurate focusing

Heavy; the price

"This is the lens that came with my Nikon D7000 and the more I use it the better I like it. It's at its optical best in the 24mm-50mm range which suits my style. Actually this lens outperforms my 35mm f1.8 prime for centre sharpness.

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

Consistent Output; Fast / accurate auto-focus; Nice Bokeh; Rugged; Strong Construction

Heavy; Tough To Attach

My favorite lens. This lens is a true beauty that produces unreal and stunning images. The bokeh is creamy smooth, contrast and colors and beautiful and it's razor sharp wide open. It's light enough to handhold for complete two hour engagement sessions and similar events.

bokeh; sharpness; contrast; Image Stabilization

this glass can be hand held and it is just fun to use in so many settings. you can also add 1,4x and 2.0x and get lots of range and still can hand hold....a really big plus when you are on the move...highly recommend.