Condition:- purchased used, in excellent condition.

Build Quality

excellent - the focus moves smoothly and accurately. The lens feels solid and fairly heavy (not a bad thing). The aperture ring felt a little loose but maybe that is the design. Overall it is very solid and feels like it could outlast me.

Sharpness - perfect. Wide open (at 2.5 this lens is sharp in focus), and stopping down increases DOF. Works fine wide open.

Focus - using an adaptall-2 mount with focus confirmation or Live view one can perfectly focus images on my Canon EOS camera.

Here’s a sample image -this is most likely wide open at f2.5

More info:

http://www.adaptall-2.org/lenses/02B.html

More sample images - please view full size! mostly at f2.5

I only tested it on an APS-C camera - it is a full frame L lens so it would give much better results on a full frame camera.

When I first fixed the lens and tried it, I could only set it to 10mm - I thought it was stuck! Turns out the lens has a range limiter to limit it to 10mm (optional) on a full frame camera - apparently if you use it at 8mm on a full frame the image is smaller than the sensor area and ends up in a circle, so this can be used to prevent that:

Build quality - perfect, smooth, etc. It’s an L
Size: seems small’ish
Weight - quite light. But not too light, it has L quality build.

So, I guess there isn’t much to say about it - its pretty much perfect.
OK, worst review ever, I know.

A few notes:
=========
- If you own an APS-C Camera, it may be cheaper to purchase an APS-C zoom such as canon’s 10-22 or sigma’s 10-20?
- 8 MM is pretty wide even on APS-C - I had a hard time keeping my feet out of the image. I’m told that the view is 180 degrees on a full frame.
- The lens hood should probably be removed for maximum wideness - especially on a full frame (can it be removed? not sure, didn’t try!)
- The front element bulges out - and is delicate - as with all fisheyes it should not be touched
- the cap is decent - almost an inch tall and fits over the lens hood neatly.
- Overall it felt pretty small in hand.

Here’s a sample image:

Note black corners on this photo - does that mean it is almost 180 degrees on APS-C even??

Also see dpreview’s article on the 8-15mm f4l:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10082616canon8mm15mm.asp

400mm at f9 (click and view original size):

Note: both images have been saved as jpeg, so there is some quality loss.

Summary

When used correctly, the Canon EF 2x II  Extender / tele-converter with the 70-200 f2.8l, yields extraordinary results - however this requires a good tripod + cable / remote shutter release - this lens combination is not recommended for candid / hand-held photography.

Close up images work at f5.6 (within a distance of 2-3 meters max - good results require stopping down from f6.3 to f9.0 Shooting distant images with the Canon EF 2x II Extender requires stopping down from f8.0 to f11.0

Construction quality

The Canon EF 2x II teleconverter / Extender is built to L standards - it seems to be environmentally sealed, and includes a nice carry pouch. It is small, light, fits well with metal mounts on both sides, and doesn’t creak. It would probably be at home on the finest lenses and bodies.

Color/contrast

Professional reviewers state Canon EF 2x II Extender has visible contrast loss - however my tests suggested that it isn’t too bad. To my untrained mind, the colors and contrast seemed OK after 6.3, similar to original L colors. It is recommended you shoot in RAW and adjust the contrast / curves a bit, also sharpen +1 (shoot with sharpness set to absolute zero).

Auto / Manual focus

The non IS 70-200 is a very good lens - better than the IS version - however even the best lens struggles to function when zoomed 2x - which is what the Canon EF 2x II Extender achieves.

Auto focus is hit and miss on my camera (EOS Rebel XS), but you may get better results with a 40d/50d or better.

Manual focus is recommended, and a tripod is needed for anything less than midday sunlight - even then it is a good idea.

You should also use a cable shutter release or remote shutter release and self timer / mirror lockup to reduce vibration.

DOF

Shallow DOF seems to exist, no matter how much the lens is stopped down - this is due to various flaws, and the fact that any aperture setting is actually two stops wider - i.e. when you stop down to F8 you are actually at f4 with two stops of light loss. Getting f8 on your original lens = f16 with the Canon EF 2x II teleconverter / Extender.

Taking into account the focal length, it is normal to have various areas out of focus - the best you can do is focus on a prominent feature (e.g. the eye of an animal) and hope everything else isn’t too badly out.

have you heard of that lens before?

me either!

anyway, it looks like a good consumer lens - apparently it was released with the 7D

some quick thoughts:

Performance:
no major complaint - lens was sharp, worked as it should have.

pros
good build quality, solid, IS, USM for focus (FTM I think)
15mm is nice
15-85 translates to 24-135? or something like that, I think - which is (IMO) a good range… so someone buying a camera can buy this lens and be OK with it, probably wouldn’t need anything else initially..
distance scale (I think that is what it is called, at least!)

cons
high price ($799 + vat, etc)

a cheaper option would be (18-55 + 55-250)

Verdict

a bit expensive, but a convenient for someone who wants a single lens. if this drops to about $350 or $400 it would be well worth it

for the moment, for someone with $800 to blow, I recommend a 50mm 1.4 (or 85 1.8) and a 55-250

Alternatively, even better - a 50mm 1.8, 85mm 1.8 and 55-250
all should be possible under $800

Quick sample image at 15mm

I will post more samples later, but I can generally summarize by saying that, to my untrained eye, this lens seems OK - it functions well, is solidly built, has cool ‘pro’ features like ring USM and full time manual focus / distance scale - in short, it is an excellent lens, only a bit expensive

distortion
distortion at 15mm was neither good, nor bad, somewhere in the middle. Obviously a bit more than the 18mm but still in the OK range.

if you wanted to, you could fix distortion using software (DXO Labs, photoshop or something?)

Here are two sample photos:

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5337/img5481jm.jpg

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/605/img5480b.jpg

I’m definitely impressed by this camera. I will write a detailed review soon

So, go ahead, call dialog and request this channel be added on to your subscription, as it is excellent - and at the cost of just $1 approx, a steal

They have a temp home and they are OK but if anyone out there wants to adopt them both, please post a comment here.

Speaking of birds, here are two more photos:

Thanks to Preveen of Autolanka who identified the bird as a Koha

Sample photo taken with the 50mm 1.8 - at f4 I think..

The 50mm 1.8 is an excellent lens. Its small, light, and quite sharp. At around $80 (10k here via agent) it’s also quite a bargain.

For:

• Sharp,accurate color, focuses OK in low light (at least compared to the 18-55 IS)
• Comparatively cheap - this may be the cheapest lens Canon makes.
• Fast (1.8 max aperture) so good for freezing motion, especially in low light
• Small/Light weight - means its easy to carry and does not add much size/weight to the camera
• Useful length - 50mm (or 80mm approx equiv in a 1.6x camera) is a reasonably usesful focal length.

Against:

• Autofocus is a bit slow and buzzy (somewhat louder)
• OOF (out of focus areas)/bokeh is not that good - however in carefully controlled circumstances it can take decent photos.