I fought the temptation for months, but Canon’s instate rebate program sucked me in just two days before it expired. I bought the Canon 2.8L 70-200mm IS lens and am battling with buyers remorse. Okay, maybe not. This is pretty much the powerhouse of Canon’s L series, with the ability to take some of the sharpest photos I’ve ever seen. It weighs a ton, and my hands are not going to love me for this, but I’m really excited to take this out into the field and put it through its paces.

For the last year, I’ve been switching between my Canon 24-70mm 2.8L and Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 to capture wide angles and some zoom shots, but the only long lens I have is an ultra-slow Tamron super zoom. For financial reasons, I was torn between this lens and the new Tamron 70-200mm, but the IS put this one over the top. I’ve been doing a lot more photography of people at podiums from a distance and I need the extra few stops of protection to avoid camera shake.

I’m taking the new lens out to Centralia this weekend to see what it can do. Barring rain or accidental death, I’ll post photos on Monday.

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