LensRentals Teardown: Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II (& III) USM Lens

From the LensRentals Blog:

Canon ‘refreshed’ the ever-so-popular 70-200mm f/2.8 lens from a ‘II’ to a ‘III’ with new optical coatings and paint, but no major changes. While the price is higher than the current II, it actually is the same price as the II was sold at for most of its life. A meh moment for almost everyone except those who scooped up the ‘II’ at reduced prices.

I did wonder if perhaps there might be a bit more under the hood than what Canon had announced. These are arguably the most popular lenses Lensrentals.com stocks; hundreds of copies with constant turnover. Since we do in-house repairs, over the years we’ve noticed some minor upgrades that have taken place; an internal ring and some gears have changed, etc. Internally, the 70-200mm f/2.8 is also one of the ugliest bits of engineering in the Canon fleet. We can understand why it had to be that way; it’s an incredibly complex lens. But we figure this bothered Canon’s optomechanical engineers as much as it did us, so maybe they snuck some changes in.

LensRentals has the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM Lens for rent or you can pick up the lens at B&H with free expedited shipping. You can also snag the very similar Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens with a nice instant rebate right now.