Even though I'm working digitally with Sony cameras, my heart still beats for Canon.
My photographic journey started with a Porst camera, better known as a Fuji, but my first own camera was a Canon A1.
I bought this camera in 1984 at the age of 13.
I didn't receive the camera as a gift.
I saved my pocket money, asked for money for my birthday and Christmas, and also worked a few student jobs to top up my savings.
Many more Canon models followed. But then came the temptation of a mirrorless camera system.
Canon didn't have any at the time, so I went with the Sony A7II.
I still have a lot of Canon FD and nFD cameras and lenses in my closet, as well as a whole bunch of EF cameras and lenses.
And today I'm going to show you one of them in detail:
The Canon EF 2.8 80-200mm L with AFD drive.
This lens is nicknamed "The Magic Drainpipe".
At the time, most people associated the best Canon L lenses with the white color and were upset that the thing looked like a chunk of 3" cast iron drain pipe.
The amazing image quality quickly won over the people who didn't like the black color.
The "magic drainpipe" became a term much like the 50mm f1.8, with the cheap plastic mount became the "plastic fantastic".
The Canon EF 80-200mm L was introduced in September 1989.
It was the third Canon L-zoom after the Canon EF 5.6 100-300mm L, and the EF 3.5-4.5 50-200mm L.
Due to its high aperture of 2.8, it was aimed at professional photographers, in contrast to the other two L-zooms mentioned.
At that time, Canon used a 6-digit code indicating the place of manufacture and the month and year of manufacture.
The last two digits are for internal purposes unknown to me.
You can find a table with instructions on how to read these codes on my website.
My lens has the code U - F - 06 - 04.
U stands for the place of manufacture, in this case the Japanese city of Utsunomiya.
F indicates the year of manufacture, 1991, and the numbers 06 indicate the month of manufacture, June.
At the time of the test shots in 2024, the lens I used was already 33 years old!
Here you can download a document to determine the lens age of your Canon lenses:
How to determine the age of a Canon lens with a date code
and before the 10-digit serial number
The mechanical quality of the lens is impressive.
However, there are two known weaknesses.
One is that the manual AF shutter often breaks, and the other is that the rubber coating on the zoom ring tends to wear out.
In this case, the rubber coating can be easily removed, shortened and glued back to the lens.
If the slide switch breaks, only the set function can be used.
My slide switch is only in AF mode for safety reasons.
If the built-in AF drive fails, it is almost impossible to repair it, because there are no spare parts available.
Theoretically, a working motor from another 80-200 L lens could replace the motor.
Back then, autofocus lenses were not yet as cluttered with buttons and switches as they often are today.
This lens has only one slide switch, which has three setting positions.
Firstly, a focus limiter from 1.8 Meter to infinity, or in a further position from 3.5 Meter to infinity, and, last but not least, the position for manual focusing.
Some early Canon EF lenses, such as the 80-200mm L presented here, use an arc form drive (AFD-Drive) for focusing.
This is a conventional small motor unit, shaped to fit inside the curved barrel of a lens.
This motor drive does not allow intervention during the autofocus function.
Also, the manual focusing mode must be set on the lens if manual focusing is required.
The other technical data correspond to the professional standard:
Weight in grams 1330
Maximum diameter and length in millimeters 84 and 185.7
Lens construction in 13 groups with 16 elements
Number of aperture blades 8
Closest focusing distance in meters 1.8
Maximum Magnification 0.13
Filter Diameter 72 millimeters
The technical specifications of this camera lens meet the highest professional standards.
Weighing in at 1330 grams, it is a robust and reliable lens made predominantly from glass and metal.
The lens has a maximum diameter of 84 millimeters and a length of 185.7 millimeters.
It consists of 13 groups with a total of 16 elements.
It also has 8 aperture blades, which create breathtaking bokeh effects in your photos.
The close focusing distance of this lens is 1.8 meters, there is no separate macro position.
The maximum magnification factor of this lens is 0.13.
It also has a filter diameter of 72 millimeters, so you can attach a range of filters to the lens to achieve different effects.
Overall, this camera lens is an extremely versatile and reliable piece of equipment that is perfect for professional photographers.
With its high-quality construction and exceptional performance, it is sure to take your photography to the next level.
For use on my Sony A7rIV, I adapt the lens with the Sigma MC 11 adapter.
This adapter has never let me down with a wide variety of Canon EF lenses.
And indeed, all the functions of the camera, especially the autofocus, work perfectly.
I put the entire combination, lens with MC 11 adapter, both lens caps, tripod clamp and my tripod quick coupling, on my kitchen scales.
Oops, I forgot the E S 79 lens hood...
In total, your photo bag will weigh about 1606 grams more.
Stopping down to f32 is possible, the aperture remains circular up to f4, from f5,6 to f32 it becomes octagonal.
The focus ring rotates from infinity to 1.8 meters focus distance in about 105°.
An infrared mark for use with analog film material with a sensitivity of 800 nanometers is available at a focal length of 80mm. Focus correction is not required for other focal lengths.
The Canon 80-200mm L lens became famous for its beautiful bokeh, which was paired with excellent sharpness and resolution.
Here are a few examples of the buttery soft bokeh.
At f2.8, the open aperture, the bokeh is naturally the most even and beautiful.
But even when stopped down slightly to f4, the blurred areas have nothing to hide.
The Canon 80-200mm L has very little distortion.
It has a slight barrel distortion at 80mm and a slight pincushion distortion at 200mm, but that's hardly anything you'll ever see except at 80mm.
I was completely convinced by the optical performance.
Sharpness and contrast performance is excellent in the center of the image from f2.8.
This performance is weaker in the outer corners of the image, but stopping down slightly to f4 or f5.6 provides a significant increase!
Fantastic!
And if you want to isolate a subject from the background and it is in the center of the image or only a little away from the outer edge, you can use the open aperture without hesitation.
At apertures of 5.6 and 8, you will already achieve excellent sharpness across the entire image field.
Aperture 11 no longer increases the performance of the lens, smaller apertures reduce the sharpness performance due to diffraction errors.
I was also impressed by the fact that there are no lateral color fringes at 135mm and 200mm.
At 100mm there is an almost no green or magenta color fringing and
at 80mm there is a very little bit of green or magenta color fringing.
Like most high speed tele zooms, there is visible falloff wide-open at 200mm.
It goes away at shorter focal lengths or smaller apertures, like f4 or f5.6In terms of optical performance, it is a first-class lens.
If you need this focal length range and are prepared to carry the weight, then buy it!
I am happy to show you this lens in detail in my YouTube video, where I also show you the Autofocus and optical performance with two Kenko teleconverters. Have fun watching!
