200 1.8 - Am I dreaming??

[lookpro]

I know it's a discontinued lens but does a 200/1.8 come up for sale every now and then?

Apart from B&H Used/Andorama/KEH are there any other places I could try looking for one?

Thanks,

Paul

[rs]

The 200 mm f/1.8 USM lens, introduced in November 1988, is the fastest 200mm ever produced.[1] It is a large off-white lens with rear drop-in filter tray. Production was discontinued in 2004. Its total production run was 8,000 with serial numbers from 11,000 to 17,999 inclusive

There were plenty made, so there should be some coming up for sale from time to time. But if you do buy one, make sure the date code shows its one of the later ones to come off the production line - the electronics in the earlier samples will be very likely to fail soon, with a very expensive repair bill to match.

I know these two lenses are tested on different bodies, but its quite clear that the 200/1.8 stopped down to f2.0 doesn't offer anywhere near the same level of per-pixel detail as the IS equipped 200/2 does wide open:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=432&Camera=9&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=1&LensComp=458&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0

If you can stretch to it, the 200/2 IS is a much better lens.

[Canon Rumors]

They pop up a lot on the Fred Miranda buy and sell. That's where I bought one.

[crasher8]

I've seen them on keh.com, ebay and B&H used in the past 2 weeks.

[CarlTN]

You can rent one from borrowlenses.com

[bseitz234]

there's one for sale on photography-on-the.net right now...

[jsexton]

Fred Miranda has one now.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1183731/0?keyword=canon,200,1.8#11286257

[lookpro]

cheers, thanks for your help.

rs, you're right, the f2 is so much sharper. probably better to invest a little more.

[wtlloyd]

Canon stopped servicing them some years ago, and now various parts are unavailable, the main reason I sold mine a few years back.
Awesome lens, though. Hugely front-heavy.

[CarlTN]

private....excellent advice.  That's a shame.  That should affect the resale value of those lenses.

[RMC33]

I know it's a discontinued lens but does a 200/1.8 come up for sale every now and then?

Apart from B&H Used/Andorama/KEH are there any other places I could try looking for one?

Thanks,

Paul

Save a bit of money and get the 200 f/2. I got a deal on mine for $4100 in perfect condition.

[bdunbar79]

I would recommend against buying a 200 f/1.8 lens.  It's too old and in my opinion, on average across all the apertures, the 200 f/2L is better.