C200: canon CN-E 70-200 vs 2.8 canon L 70-200

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echo44

Member
Was wondering if anyone has experience with these two lenses on the C200
I already own the CN-E 18-80. I need a more powerful zoom and trying to decide between the two.

The CN-E is $5000 vs $1900 for 2.8 70-200

do you guys have any opinions if it is really worth the extra $3000
from what i can learn the CN-E is sharper at the corners and slightly sharper in the center doesn't seem it is worth $3000 more for the subtle differences?
 
Hi Echo44 I believe it boils down to the usage, what do you need it for, for an ENG setup of course the CN-E would be great due to the zoom control it offers. If you are doing a quick run and gun style the regular 70-200 non cine would also work fine. (Of course you would be needing the controller - sold separately)

It all boils down to application and usage end of the day - if the 70-200 2.8 works for you save the bucks.

:)
 
I have the 70-200 2.8 IS II. I have tested the CN-E 18-80 T4.4 and the CN-E 70-200 T4.4 extensively. Personally, I plan on buying the 18-80 T4.4 as it is in the workhorse, mid-range handheld lens range, I would use that a lot of times for servo zooms and it is far better built than my current workhorse in that range, the 17-55 2.8 IS.

The 70-200 2.8 IS II OTOH, to me, looks 98% as good as the CN-E version and is considerably faster. At those longer focal lengths, servo zoom moves are not needed nearly as often that in the 18-80 range. Plsu I own the 70-200 2.8 IS II so I would be paying a ton more for a lens that is slower and doesn't really look any better or different since the 70-200 2.8 IS II is one of the most beautiful lenses Canon makes. YMMV. If you need servo moves in that focal range and the slower lens speed doesn't bother you, go for it. For me, not worth it at all.
 
The t/4.4 70-200 is parfocal and the f/2.8 is not. That is really the lenses only benefit. The CN-E lens is great if you do events and doc b-roll, the f/2.8 is better for interviews.
 
cpreston said:
The t/4.4 70-200 is parfocal and the f/2.8 is not. That is really the lenses only benefit. The CN-E lens is great if you do events and doc b-roll, the f/2.8 is better for interviews.
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90% of the time I'm using DPAF with or without face detection so for me, doesn't matter but if you like to pull manually, big difference.
 
I'm a huge fan of the 18-80 t4.4, very glad I bought it for my C300ii, but lately the 70-200 t4.4 had been on my mind despite owning the 2.8 IS II variant, mainly for its parfocal performance and servo option. A week ago, I shot a musical with my 70-200 2.8 IS II at f6.3, riding aperture with the lighting state and I really missed the clickless aperture, servo and parfocal nature of my 18-80 CN-E. Sure I changed aperture as subtly as I could and hand racked the zoom decently enough but it wasn't a perfect solution, especially if the shoot was for anything other than internal distribution. Plus the 2.8 IS II falls out of focus pretty quickly when you zoom so you have to stay on top of toggling different DPAF functions to keep things sharp during a zoom in/out - not a major issue but can distract you if you're tracking action.

As cpreston said, parfocal and servo zoom are pretty much the only real selling points of the 70-200 CN-E, but they're pretty valuable assets for live situations and a few other scenarios. But at 2.5-3 times the cost, it's very hard to justify unless you shoot that kind of thing weekly...which I dont at the moment. No where rents this lens in my city yet either :(. Let's see if its price continues to dip.
 
NMSK said:
I'm a huge fan of the 18-80 t4.4, very glad I bought it for my C300ii, but lately the 70-200 t4.4 had been on my mind despite owning the 2.8 IS II variant, mainly for its parfocal performance and servo option. A week ago, I shot a musical with my 70-200 2.8 IS II at f6.3, riding aperture with the lighting state and I really missed the clickless aperture, servo and parfocal nature of my 18-80 CN-E. Sure I changed aperture as subtly as I could and hand racked the zoom decently enough but it wasn't a perfect solution, especially if the shoot was for anything other than internal distribution. Plus the 2.8 IS II falls out of focus pretty quickly when you zoom so you have to stay on top of toggling different DPAF functions to keep things sharp during a zoom in/out - not a major issue but can distract you if you're tracking action.

As cpreston said, parfocal and servo zoom are pretty much the only real selling points of the 70-200 CN-E, but they're pretty valuable assets for live situations and a few other scenarios. But at 2.5-3 times the cost, it's very hard to justify unless you shoot that kind of thing weekly...which I dont at the moment. No where rents this lens in my city yet either :(. Let's see if its price continues to dip.
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Sounds like for your work, you should buy it. Sell your 2.8 IS II and buy the CN-E, it will cushion the blow of the large check you'll have to write!
 
If you buy the cinema 70-200, be aware the servo connection is on the bottom which could get damaged over time. Zacuto sells an "L" cable to address this, but its expensive.
 
To add to the confusion. It looks like Canon will be releasing two new versions of the 70-200mm, f/4 ver ii and f/2.8 ver iii in the next little while. Wondering if these lenses are going to benefit from the optical quality of the CN-E version, which is truly outstanding.

Wish the CN-E version was a touch more compact. Tend to use the 16-35mm iii f/2.8 for run and gun doc work. And grabbing the 85mm 1.4 for long lens work, which benefits from not only the IS but being lighter than the 70-200mm.
 
The CN-E zooms pretty much require the zacuto lens support and servo extension. I am not sure how Canon screwed that one up so badly. But once you have them, the 70-200 CN-E feels more stable than the f/2.8L. It also allow for any easier should mount setup with the hand grip attached.
 
cpreston said:
The CN-E zooms pretty much require the zacuto lens support and servo extension. I am not sure how Canon screwed that one up so badly. But once you have them, the 70-200 CN-E feels more stable than the f/2.8L. It also allow for any easier should mount setup with the hand grip attached.
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Agreed on all counts. I only have the 70-200 2.8 IS II as I use it for stills shooting and video.
 
puredrifting said:
Sounds like for your work, you should buy it. Sell your 2.8 IS II and buy the CN-E, it will cushion the blow of the large check you'll have to write!
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Argh, I'd love to but I really need to keep a fullframe telephoto zoom in my collection for my 1DXii/A7iii. Plus, I don't really shoot enough live environment stuff to fully justify the cost of the CN-E. Maybe that will change in the next year, but in the meantime I'm thinking of trying to add a single Tilta Nucleus-M motor to the zoom ring of my 70-200 2.8 and ideally just the left handgrip controller that comes with the Nucleus-M kit+WLC-T03TR zoom controller (checking with tilta at the moment to see if its available seperately).
Nucleus-M_FrontV2_motorlegacy.jpgNucleus-M-RightHandGripBack_legacy (1).jpg


That or buy this Lanpart ZC-01 zoom stick thingy, but it costs the same as the Tilta motor on its own :\
1418754009000_1100182.jpg
 
echo44 said:
I wonder if the new 70-200 2.8 will have improved optical stabilization? I am leaning toward the 2.8
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I have both the 70-200mm f/2.8 and the 70-200mm f/4. I find myself using the f/4 lens a lot more. You can shoot it handheld. You can mount camera on a tripod without extra rigging. It fits better in my waist pack. DOF is plenty shallow at f/4 especially at the long end. Contrast is not as good, but that's pretty easy to fix in post. Of course I do run and gun documentary shooting. If you do more setup shooting then it may not be as much of an advantage.
 
Quite a bit of my work is two camera interview shoots. My preference is to shoot with the 18-80 t/4.4 and 70-200 t/4.4 wide open. In general an f/4 on a close-up is safe for keeping an interview in focus, especially at 4K on a large screen. For any type of doc or run and gun shooting, trying to shoot anything between 70-200 at less than f/4 fries my nerves pretty quickly. Sometimes, though, the client wants a shallow DOF so I get out the f/2.8 zooms or primes, but then I have to spend time chasing focus on the close up.
 
I own the 70-200 CNE and have previously used the 70-200 f2.8 and f4...and the CNE's image stabilizer really sealed the deal for me. Using it with a zoom controller for lecture style videos coupled with the zoom controller has been great.
 
The CN-E 18-80 and CN-E 70-200 are lovely lenses. However, I want Canon to give us full frame options as most of the cameras are going to be full frame in future. I use a 1DXII along with C300. So for me fullframe coverage of the lens is a must and I want to swap lenses across bodies.

If I were only doing corporate work with S35 bodies, then the CN-E 18-80 and 70-200 are awesome. If I were doing a low budget independent movie then also these two CN-E zooms with IS would be useful.
 
indiawilds said:
The CN-E 18-80 and CN-E 70-200 are lovely lenses. However, I want Canon to give us full frame options as most of the cameras are going to be full frame in future. I use a 1DXII along with C300. So for me fullframe coverage of the lens is a must and I want to swap lenses across bodies.

If I were only doing corporate work with S35 bodies, then the CN-E 18-80 and 70-200 are awesome. If I were doing a low budget independent movie then also these two CN-E zooms with IS would be useful.
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I console myself about the ownership of these lenses with the knowledge that any of the upcoming full frame cameras are probably going to maintain a 2K option for crop frame recording. Also, I find that they are most useful for event coverage which will probably never be captured at 4K in my lifetime and for which I always need a longer reach for which crop frame helps. Or course, I probably should have just bought a couple of small sensor cameras for that work.
 
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