Sell or keep Canon 70-700 is USM?

[Mille829]

I currently own:
Canon 60d (will eventually buy canon 6d in the next year)
70-200 2.8L mm is USM
24-70 2.8L mm
50 mm 1.8 prime

The reason I'm unsure is because the lens is very heavy and obnoxious but I was shocked at how sharp the pictures are. (I bought this lens in December after using the ef-s 18-135 for a few years) I bought the 24-70mm in the past month and compared to the telephoto I'm disappointed with the sharpness of the photos I'm taking and lack of IS but still love the lens. I want to sell the telephoto because I want to break my way into travel/landscape and I need a used car and selling that lens would give me a large chunk of the money I need otherwise I'd keep it to see how I like it for at least some span of time. I like the telephoto but because I want to travel I'm assuming I'll want to pack lighter but because I could not afford the 24-70 is II I feel it's a second grade lens :/.. im looking for insight and I'm also looking for travel camera bag recommendations for ultra wide angle lens recommendations for the next few years after I get used to what I have.

 

[beagle100]

I currently own:
Canon 60d (will eventually buy canon 6d in the next year)
70-200 2.8L mm is USM
24-70 2.8L mm
50 mm 1.8 prime

The reason I'm unsure is because the lens is very heavy and obnoxious but I was shocked at how sharp the pictures are. (I bought this lens in December after using the ef-s 18-135 for a few years) I bought the 24-70mm in the past month and compared to the telephoto I'm disappointed with the sharpness of the photos I'm taking and lack of IS but still love the lens. I want to sell the telephoto because I want to break my way into travel/landscape and I need a used car and selling that lens would give me a large chunk of the money I need otherwise I'd keep it to see how I like it for at least some span of time. I like the telephoto but because I want to travel I'm assuming I'll want to pack lighter but because I could not afford the 24-70 is II I feel it's a second grade lens :/.. im looking for insight and I'm also looking for travel camera bag recommendations for ultra wide angle lens recommendations for the next few years after I get used to what I have.

"heavy and obnoxious" but sharp and nice "IQ"
'ultra wide' on a crop model (like your 60D) look at the Canon 10-18

 

[Derrel]

Know what you mean...it's a big, ungainly, white zoom...draws a HUGE amount of attention. I sold off my Canon stuff, and the 70-200 f/2.8 L IS-USM was one of the first things I unloaded. If I had to do over now, I would buy the newer (10-15 years newer?) 70-200mm f/4 L IS-USM from Canon. Still gaudy and white, but smaller, lighter, and easier to carry and much better-balanced on the lighter consumer bodies, such as the 60D,70-D, 6 D, and other half-height, non-intergral-grip models.

My opinion is that the4se older 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses really were optimally balanced on the BIZg, heavy pro-lvel bodies of the later 1990's era and the Canon 1-series cameras, whihc had BIG, and VERY heavy (pre-Lithium-Ion era tech) batteries

If you've ever picked up the 6D with the 70-200mm f/4 L IS-USM, you KNOW that it balances GREAT on that camera! If you want a newer, sharper lens (not by much, but a little bit) then the f/4 model might be worth looking into, instead of the f/2.8 model.

 

[table1349]

Sell or keep Canon 70-700 is USM?

If I had a 70-700 I would definitely keep it personally. One of a kind lenses generally hold their value quite well.

I'm stuck, and admittedly in love, with, my lowly 70-200 f2.8 MkII L. Tack Sharp and extremely versatile.

 

[TCampbell]

The Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II (and even the original was no slouch) is one of the best lenses in the industry. Most people either own that lens... or want it.

There's an f/4 version which is smaller & lighter and performs well. A lot of people buy that usually as a matter of affordability (it costs a LOT less).

Canon make the 70-200 lenses in both f/2.8 and f/4 and each are made in a version either with or without IS. So the 70-200 f/4L non-IS is the least expensive and the f/2.8L with-IS is the most expensive (and that version is now on it's generation II).

One thing that also makes it a bit unique in the industry is that it has very little breathing (probably around 5%) and that makes it a good portrait lens. There are a number of Canon shooters who will zoom that lens to 200mm to shoot a portrait with subject at close focus and a low-ish focal ratio and this creates tremendous separation between foreground subject and background blur.