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First off… I am not a telephoto shooter. Previously, I brought only a 70-200 f/2.8 IS on trips (monster to travel with). In fact, that’s the only telephoto lens I own (next down is the 100mm macro). I pained trying to decide about picking up a 135L or 200L or 70-200 f/4 IS or even a cheap 70-200 f/4. I wanted a black lens and something that wouldn’t duplicate the 70-200 I already had that I do use for shoots and wouldn’t think about getting rid of. I got an early great deal on the new 100mm macro L so I snagged it and brought that. What a great lens!!! Lighter than my 24L. Small, compact. It makes some weird noises but I feel it is faster at focusing than my old 100 USM Macro. This is definitely my new travel telephoto. Beautiful bokeh. I am not sure if it is better than the old lens but the IS is well worth it and makes it a useful all purpose telephoto. My old 100 USM will be on the market soon.

I also brought the 50L & 24L for night shooting. And my trusty 16-35L mkI as an all purpose 80% of time lens. I brought my 5DII as a lightweight traveller (we probably walked 6-10 miles per day). And 1DIII as a backup… which never left my luggage.

The 5DII was great EXCEPT… did have some low-light outer focusing points struggles. No surprise there. Nothing detrimental. And as the Classic 5D, dust was a mess inside the viewfinder. Not TOO bad on the sensor but after day 2 on the Great Wall… there were several dust bunnies INSIDE the prism box… not accessible with a simple blower. Just annoying than anything. But the pictures were gorgeous and a pleasure to carry all day compared to all my previous trips with the 1DIII (this was the first outing with the 5DII. Definitely more inconspicuous too.

Usage was probably 80% 16-35L, 8% 50L, 8% 100L, 4% 24L. Did I regret bringing the fast primes? No… they got some great night shots I know I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to get. But I didn’t use my 24L as much as I thought I’d would since the high-ISO on the 5DII was just that good. I think my 1DIII is really good in the ISO realm too but I was shooting at ISO2500 with confidence which I never had the confidence to do with the 1DIII.

I did not bring a tripod. Night shots were all handheld or camera set on railings, trash cans etc.

Here are some picts (I am a vignetting freak so most of the vignetting here is added in post):

100L Vignetting added in post, ISO800

24L ISO2500

50L ISO200 @ f/1.2 (I took variations at different ISO and apertures… this, probably by chance, turned out the best)

16-35L

16-35L

100L Slight T&S effected added in post

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What did I learn? Don’t rent a car

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Canon doesn’t have many ultra-wide choices: 14L, 16-35L and 17-40L. I have owned the two latter. The 16-35L used to be one of my favorite travel lenses. Especially on the 1.3 crop body. It has since been replaced by the 24L but I still love the dramatic wides the 16mm can produce. There is the usual slight distortion at wides but I found the colors up to par for L lenses and above average sharpness. It has a nice weight and a very solid feel.

Canon recently came out with a II version of this lens that is supposed to be sharper and control flair better. I am sure this is true but the huge lens filter and my satisfaction with the current version has kept me from upgrading. If you have the money, get the 2.8 version. If not, the 17-40L performs just as well… just not as fast.

This is probably Canon’s most versatile lens in their lineup. It takes 1:1 macros, great focal length for portraits and nice compact short tele. It prrobably one of if not the sharpest lenses. Beautiful color and nice bokeh… not as nice as teh 85L but pretty nice. It’s also a fraction of the price. The USM version really makes it usable for portraits and even some action shots. There is a delimiter switch that really speeds things up if you don’t need to go to 1:1.

One big surprise is how much I like this lens for portraits. It lets me get really close and play with some creative framing. When “The Shot” reality TV show was on, I noticed a lot of the fashion photographers choose the 100 macro as opposed to the 85L, 100 f/2 or 85 f/1.8. Interesting but I guess not that big of a surprise.