Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM Lens

Last year I bought the camera and a 24-70mm 2.8L USM lens, the logical next step for me was this lens as it links up just nicely.
The lens is pretty heavy but much shorten than I expected, but this is not a liability.
I find myself using this lens more and more over my 24-70. Probably because I'm not a huge fan of wide lenses. Anyway, the lens works perfectly, very silent and fast. When using the lens for longer periods of time, I take my tripod because body and lens begin to weight pretty much.
Now, a lot of people asked me why not buying the same lens with image stabilisation (IS)...well, as long as you're shooting with shutter speeds above 1/200s you don't need IS (check the stats in any photoguide).
So instead of spending 500 euro more for IS, I used the money I saved on a very good tripod (a carbon tripod, lighter when travelling).
So yes, this was a very good investment for me but everyone has to decide for him/herself what to buy. The only advise I want to give you and the one given to me a few years back: think about how/why you are going to use the product you're buying (For me low light level photography without flash is a must).

As a photographer who swears by prime lenses, I've never really adopted zooms as part of my essential kit. This lens, however, has changed my mind. It's very fast, autofuses superbly and produces the most uniform bokeh (back- foreground blur) I have seen in my work. I have the stunning 85mm 1.4, and the 70-200 competes - in terms of bokeh - with this.

Lens weight never worries me - being a youngish, fit male - but be aware that this lens is large (because it's well made) and unless you're very strong, you wont be hand-holding this for long stretches of time. When this lens is mated with my 1DS, with flash attached, it's impractical over long periods of time (like weddings) without monopod support.

But in terms of what you get for that extra weight: it's a stunning piece of glass and the results speak for themselves: superb contrast and colour; pin sharp, even wide open; silent, rugged and above all, it replaces several lenses in one go. I use this for portraits, landscapes and all manner of people related photography.

This competes with my 85mm in terms of usage times.

If you're unsure about whether you should buy this - don't be. From the minute you review your first series of images you'll love it.

I brought this lens over the Image Stabilised(IS) version as I needed it for events and weddings, where a lot of my images are indoors. In these situations IS is (generally) of no value as your subjects tend to be moving. Plus, with the money you save, you can purchase a pro level flash gun for those really tricky situations (disco lights etc).Canon 580EX II Speedlite Flash Unit

The sharpness capability of this lens is quite stunning, coupled with a maximum aperture of f/2.8, you can really throw the background out which emphasises the subject even more. With an 8 blade iris any highlights in the background have a pleasing rounded bokeh, helping again to make the subject the dominant aspect of the image.

The focal length range gives you the ability to capture nice portraits or quick candid shots without having to change your lens.
If you want a 70-200 for wildlife, you may want the IS as it does help when panning (I use the 100-400 IS lens for this type of workCanon - Telephoto zoom lens - 100 mm - 400 mm - f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM - Canon EF).

If you are looking to do events / weddings / photojournalism this is the lens for you.