ahsanford said:
Someone please help me understand how Canon just phoned in the redesign of one of their legendary and most heavily used instruments. It is the same damn lens with (presumably) better flare control and a new coat of paint. That's it.
I get the Mk II is a tough act to follow. So why not wait until you can follow it with something clearly better?
- A
You are also upset that the price is so low that "they are leaving money on the table."
When was the last time you ran a large corporation? Have you ever run a business at all? When was the last time you thought a company could be fair and profitable if not controlled by a bureaucracy? Do you have any concept of how difficult business is in our era of constant change? Not only does the market change radically, sometimes from quarter to quarter, but regulations and taxing also drastically change. And now any PR misstep by an employee, once broadcast by social media, can result in millions of dollars of "shame penalties." Yet even in these uniquely difficult times Canon and others, followng their own strategies which apparently exasperate you, manage to keep steering their corporate ships along profitable courses.
Stacking posts loaded with bizarrely detailed yet meaningless conjecture does not make for interesting, helpful, or informative reading.
Optically, and within the price range of Canon's overall market, there really wasn't much room for the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II to improve. It is one of the finest portrait lenses ever produced, and it's great for action too.
If Canon's upgrade history led to unrealistic expectations at this point in a product line, maybe they need to tweak their marketing.
In addition to changes to control production costs, the new 2.8 might also be slightly easier to service and even more reliable. Surely such a popular lens shows up often in Canon service centers, and hopefully Canon listens to reports from the frontline service techs.
Now, if we find a degradation of actual performance, say analogous to the now infamous 24-105 II, Canon sales will likely take a significant hit in the high-end body and lens lineup. But as of this morning, and certainly during the last couple of weeks filled with breathless nonsense speculation, there is no evidence that the new lenses will not be up to the standards of their predecessors.