As far as extreme lenses go, Canon’s 200mm f/2L IS USM is near the top, with one of the most extreme focal length and aperture combinations out there. Though it was generally designed as a sports and wildlife lens, it has found a second home as a portrait lens, and this fun video discusses what it is like shooting with it, both the pros and the cons.
Coming to you from Manny Ortiz, this neat video takes a look at using the Canon 200mm f/2L IS USM lens for portraiture work. At $6,000, the 200mm f/2L is mightily expensive for a portrait lens (or any lens, really), but a fair number of photographers swear by it, as its unique combination of a very long focal length, extremely wide maximum aperture, and jaw-dropping image quality create photos in which the subject instantly pops out against the background. The downsides to the lens besides its price are its huge size and working distance. It takes a lot of glass to create such good image quality at 200mm and f/2, and as such, the lens is very heavy and not really easy to handhold for very long. And at 200mm, it can be a bit difficult to work with subjects due to the long working distance. Still, it can create some truly unique and stunning images. Check out the video above for Ortiz’ full thoughts.
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