It seems that Canon is looking to refresh their 70-200mm lenses of both f/2.8 and f/4 flavours. Canon Rumors says they can “100% confirm” that one of the new lenses will be the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II. And they’re 95% sure that a second lens will also be on the way, the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III. They say that the clues all point to this being the lens, but that they’ve not seen the name in writing.
The current model Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II has been around since 2010, and its predecessor was released in 2001. So, it’s about due for an update given the timeframe. The 70-200mm f/4L IS, though, is practically ancient by comparison, having been released in 2006, with its non-IS f/4 sibling came out in 1999. For completeness, the 70-200mm f/2.8L non-IS version was released in 1995, and still proves to be a popular lens.
With the developments in the last few years from third party lens manufacturers, it seems time that Canon do some updating and refining of their own. So, an update doesn’t seem out of the question. Nikon did it a couple of years ago when they replaced the 2009 70-200mm f/2.8VR II with the newer 2016 Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR. There’s no word on prices or when they’ll ship, obviously, but Canon Rumors say we should expect to hear an announcement sometime early next month. But, do note that the 70-200mm f/4L IS II announcement was expected in April and it didn’t happen. And even when we do know in advance that a company is going to announce something, they can still change their minds about the date. But it is about time. [via Canon Rumors]
