EF 70-200mm F2.8 or EF 28-300mm F3.5-5.6L IS USM

[Marjana]

Hello. I am a new member, very interested in taking photos and have a good camera and good lens but no knowledge! Any advise would help me a lot. I intend to buy new lens but I can't decide. I wonder if selling my old Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8L ULTRASONIC and buying a new Canon EF 28-300mm F3.5-5.6L IS USM would be a good decision or I would regret later. Or would it be better to buy a new EF 28-200mm F2.8 IS II USM?! I like my old EF 70-200 very much but it's already very old. I would like to know if there is much difference between just "Ultrasonic" and "IS II USM". Thank you in advance.

[Colin Southern]

Hello. I am a new member, very interested in taking photos and have a good camera and good lens but no knowledge! Any advise would help me a lot. I intend to buy new lens but I can't decide. I wonder if selling my old Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8L ULTRASONIC and buying a new Canon EF 28-300mm F3.5-5.6L IS USM would be a good decision or I would regret later. Or would it be better to buy a new EF 28-200mm F2.8 IS II USM?! I like my old EF 70-200 very much but it's already very old. I would like to know if there is much difference between just "Ultrasonic" and "IS II USM". Thank you in advance.

Hi Marjana,

I upgraded from an EF70-200mm F2.8L IS USM to the EF70-200mm F2.8L IS USM II, and would do so again in a heartbeat. The original was already legendary, but the new version is much sharper - especially when using teleconverters (thus giving you reach from 70 to 400mm by using various combinations of converter in and out).

In terms of what you're suggesting though, it's going to depend on what focal lengths you need - for me, the 70-200mm is perfect in this zoom range because I have other lenses covering 14mm, 16-35, and 24-70 - all at F2.8, but no idea how this equates to your needs.

Generally though, the wider the zoom ratio, the harder it is to keep things sharp and distortion free throughout the entire range, so image quality may also be a factor.

Hope this helps in some small way.

[Marjana]

Hi Marjana,

I upgraded from an EF70-200mm F2.8L IS USM to the EF70-200mm F2.8L IS USM II, and would do so again in a heartbeat. The original was already legendary, but the new version is much sharper - especially when using teleconverters (thus giving you reach from 70 to 400mm by using various combinations of converter in and out).

In terms of what you're suggesting though, it's going to depend on what focal lengths you need - for me, the 70-200mm is perfect in this zoom range because I have other lenses covering 14mm, 16-35, and 24-70 - all at F2.8, but no idea how this equates to your needs.

Generally though, the wider the zoom ratio, the harder it is to keep things sharp and distortion free throughout the entire range, so image quality may also be a factor.

Hope this helps in some small way.

Thank you a lot. Your answer helped me much. I am going for a month long trip and I wanted to buy new lens before my departure. Since I leave Japan next Wednesday I might not have time to buy it before my departure. Another thing that I can't decide is the disaster that hurt Japan. I feel unfair buying expensive lens now when so many people suffer and cry. Since I have EF 16-35mm F2.8 I suppose it's better to buy 70-200mm than 28-300, right? Thank you once again. Regards, Marjana