Some months ago, a devilish idea sprung forth from my brain and lept onto this blog. It was, of course, “Another Bloody Project“. The idea was, if you haven’t already read it, to use money I got from selling photos to fund the purchase of a lens I’d been lusting after; a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS.
So time rolled on and money kept coming in somewhat steadily but fingers got itchy (as they do). I decided to throw a couple of hundred quid into the kitty, then a few more hundred and then a couple of euro more. So, as you may have guessed, I now have this monster of a lens sitting next to me…
So first the good. It’s big, it’s built like a warship and its fast. It looks the business and has more switches on it than in some nuclear power plants. It’s my first image stabilized lens and also my first ‘L’ lens. I love it. Problem being that one L breeds a desire for further L’s. As many photographers say, once you get the first it’s all downhill from there. Downhill for your bank balance that is.
Now the bad and more of the same unfortunately. Although it got from Hong Kong to Cork in two days, it took almost as long to get from the Cork depot into my hands. What annoys me the most is that when I now check the tracking information on the FedEx website, it tells me the address I supplied was incorrect. Translate that roughly as the driver didn’t know where he was and couldn’t be bothered looking for the house or ringing for directions. Sadly this seems to be par for the course with the FedEx agent in Ireland. Or at least Cork.
More bad news; now that I actually have this thing in my hands, proceeding to ‘phase 2′ of my project is painful. I’ll retain my willpower for now and confirm that I will carry on with the project. No, I’m not going to release any details of it yet, you’ll just have to stay tuned to see how I get on.
More bad news! This was my Christmas present to myself. It’s feckin’ November!?! Ah balls, it’s going to be a lean Christmas. I’ll be back with further updates!
Ryan, you’ll never regret owning that… L glass is awesome… and the IS is certainly worth the few euro…. just bought the L series 50mm here and then found out I wont have it in my hands until mid november…..
looking forward to seeing your pix with it….
Oh wow! How much does that monster weigh? I guess you’ll be able to save a bit by not having to go to the gym eh?
Also looking forward to seeing what you get out of that lens!
Congratulations. That’s a fab lens. (It’s the one I use most now). One recommendation - to get the very most out of it consider getting a 1.4x extender for it (possibly a Christmas present?). I’m also looking forward to seeing what you get out of it!
IS, L, fast, and a long focal length… what more could you want?
Oh, and the pro looking white body.
Well wear Ryan! Can’t wait to see what you can do with this thing!
I HATE YOU!!! Not because you have one and I don’t….I do! I just know you are going to produce absolutely stunning shots with this, my favourite lens that are going to make me sick with envy!
Enjoy dude, this lens is a pleasure to use, and the one I have on my camera the most. It will absolutely reward you and pay for itself in no time at all.
And now that you have one L lens, you’ll want more. so many more…
Have fun with it.
Dude, I want that lens! I am hoping to get my hands on my first L soon, the 17-40. I am highly expecting to want more L’s soon after. Like you say, its all downhill from here
Well as Daragh above said I hate you too not because I have one but because I dont!!!
Congrats on getting the lens so far the images look great from it, as said previously looking forward to seeing plenty more.