70-200 f/2.8L IS USM vs. II

Rocketman1978 · Mar 15, 2013

Worth the $700-800 hike in price for the II? Just planning to shoot portraits, architecture, landscape, vacations, etc, nothing professional. Planning to sell my 70-200 f/4L non-IS.

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Overread · Mar 15, 2013

It depends.

The MII is better than the original lens, its significantly better at the f2.8 200mm end of the scale and also at the f2.8 70mm end. The quality is improved and for many the price difference is worth the improvement in optical quality.

That said the original lens is no slouch and has many years of being top of its game behind it, certainly used well it will deliver great shots and if you're not boosting the focal length with a teleconverter then the the original is still a very good quality 70-200mm f2.8 lens with IS.

The best thing is to see if a local shop or someone at the local camera club has a versions of both that you can have a try with - optical quality is very much a personal thing in some ways and some people won't find the difference worth the price cost and others will.