Trooping with the 200

I wrote about the 200mmF2 back in 2018 concluding..

At the moment I don’t have the capital nor the justification to purchase my own, if I could, I would not hesitate. However you will see me using this lens again, when the task at hand suits it, as soon as it’s available for hire… It’s a brilliant lens and I would not hesitate to recommend it.

It’s taken a long time but, this week, I was offered a used lens at a price I could almost justify by a photographer I trust looks after his kit. 2 days before Trooping the Colour, I added the lens to my arsenal.

Covering Trooping from the Queen Victoria Memorial (QVM) really has 2 stages. First there is the build up leading on to the parade during which we roam the memorial island. Then we settle down with long lens for “The Balcony Shot” .

This year I decided to cover the roaming and build up with the 200…

In no specific order the above were all taken using the 200F2 on a X-H2 with no multiplier. (Remember it comes with a specific 1.4x).

For the balcony I used my XF150-600 with a X-H2S on a monopod for the tighter images. The 200F2 was placed on a tripod with the X-H2. This setup was used for the “wider” full family shots. It was triggered with a pocket wizard.

The lens has a built in Arca-Swiss mount. However, it turned out to be a little loose on my 3 legged thing head. I need to look how to tighten that.

The gallery below shows the wider 200F2 images along with some from the tighter set.

Since Trooping I have used the lens on 2 film world premieres (I’ll post these next week). My conclusion from 2018 is spot on and I’ll stick with it.

It is a heavy lens, by far the heaviest I own but, it is super smooth to use, snappy to focus and so so crisp with creamy bokeh.

I do so hate the “B” word, is that the first time I have used that word on this blog??
I hope so

Have you used this lens?
Did you buy it?
Keep it?
What are your thoughts?
Please let me know 👇👇👇👇👇👇

Until next time..