Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

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Archive 2011 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper...

caringserv
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p.1 #1 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

Question - if I got a good copy of the Canon 17-40L lens or not?
Question - did i get a really good copy of the 50mm II 1.8 or not?

I decided to take pictures on my 60d on a tripod, no flash f8 on both lenses the 17-40L with a wireless remote trigger with mirror lockup and the $99 50mm II 1.8 lens. To my amazement the 50mm 1.8 seems to be a bit sharper.

Are my eyes playing tricks on me?
Perhaps my 17-40L lens is a bad copy or as that as good as it gets and I should be thankful it is that good?

Below is a picture, left side is 17-40L at 40mm 100% zoomed in (actual pixels) and right side is the 50mm II 1.8 at 50mm 80% zoomed.

Thanks!

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Dec 14, 2011 at 07:08 AM

Tom Dix
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p.1 #2 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

Do you have any real pictures to show; landdscapes, portraits, pics of things like cars etc. Color balance favors the 50; these images are not incredibly helpful.

Would love to see some real world images. thanks -Tom

Dec 14, 2011 at 11:47 AM

Alex Nail
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p.1 #3 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

At f4? f8?

I have both of these lenses. I find the 50mm to be sharper at all apertures from f4. The differences when stopped down to around f8 are pretty much 0.

Alex

Dec 14, 2011 at 12:21 PM

Bullseye5d2
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p.1 #4 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

In any case you shouldn't be surprised that a prime lens comes out sharper than a zoom lens, even if the latter is an L

Dec 14, 2011 at 03:06 PM

dunderwood
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p.1 #5 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

You pay for wide angle and USM on the 17-40. The build quality and AF aren't great on the 50 f/1.8, but I don't think anyone's ever complained about the optical quality.

Dec 14, 2011 at 03:08 PM

caringserv
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p.1 #6 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

Hi Alex, I am glad you have both lenses. Do you notice any other differences between these lenses? Yes both shots taken at f8.

Hi Tom, yes I will post a few other pics of landscapes later on today!

I guess the 50mm II 1.8 is a good lens to carry around. I am am a little surprised that such a cheap lens outshines an "L" zoom. I do agree the 17-40 has much quicker focus and the USM is a nice touch on this lens too.

Dec 14, 2011 at 05:38 PM

Specularist
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p.1 #7 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

The lenses have different focal lengths. Clearly the 50 mm will better resolve detail at the same distance as a 40 mm lens. It would have to be a terrible lens not to! And in fact, it's a very sharp lens, as nearly all double-Gauss lenses are.

Dec 14, 2011 at 05:52 PM

Jeff Nolten
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p.1 #8 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

Well, this is the difference you should expect to see. The comparison is full frame so for crop ignore the lower panel. That said, I have found the 17-40 to be best between 20-35 and better at 17 than 40. I used it as my main zoom on my 10D and those images still look good to me.

Dec 14, 2011 at 06:46 PM

Trevor Sowers
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p.1 #9 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

To compare you need to shoot at a different distance to give equal pixels per letter.

Also my 17-40 is weakest at 40! Mine is incredible from 24-35 and very good between 17-24.

The 50 1.8 is great when stopped down to 2.8 or smaller.

Dec 14, 2011 at 10:07 PM

caringserv
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p.1 #10 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

Tom: Here are two more pictures. These were taken at f8, 28mm (17-40L lens) on a 60d. These were from a CR2 file, then saved as a JPG. No image enchancement at all.

I am looking for the quality of the lens, sharpness, color etc. What does everyone think?

Trevor: you mention that your lens is great from 24-35, at what f-stop is it the greatest at? Do you have the 50 1.8 II lens or the original?

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Dec 14, 2011 at 11:56 PM

Trevor Sowers
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p.1 #11 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

From 17 to 24 f/11 seems to be the best compromise of good corners and good detail although f/8 looks great if you don't mind the softer corners and f/16 gives good corners but I can see diffraction starting to cause loss of detail on my 5D MKII. From 24 to 35mm f/8 and f/11 are quite close and the corners look very nice. Above 35mm it looks fine but it is definitely weaker than the shorter Focal lengths. I haven't had the lens too long yet but so far I think it is a fine lens.

My 50 1.8 is the newer version and although I find it usable at 1.8 it isn't as good as my 28 1.8 or my 85 1.8 and it looks much better at 2.8

Dec 15, 2011 at 01:29 AM

caringserv
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p.1 #12 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

Hi Trevor, thanks for the info! Did the pictures I uploaded look decent to you?
Since the 60d is a crop camera, I wouldn't expect to see any soft corners at any fstop I would think. I do agree that f16 is something to stay away from even on a crop camera.

the 28mm is a great lens, but on a 60d that translates to 45mm and it just isn't wide enough. It is hard to find a great wide angle lens I have found that is a good price and amazing optics. Any suggestions?

Dec 15, 2011 at 01:37 AM

Trevor Sowers
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p.1 #13 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

On a crop body I think the 17-40 is very good from 17-35! On FF it is the softer corners at the wide end that make it necessary to stop down more but the centre of the image looks very nice at f/5.6.

BTW the 28mm f/1.8 on my 40D is probably my most used lens on that body because it makes such an awesome normal lens. As for wide angle for crop I don't have much experience as I use the FF for my wide shooting but I think your 17-40 will do very nicely unless you want wider.

As best as I can tell on the web your photos look fine.

Dec 15, 2011 at 03:55 AM

caringserv
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p.1 #14 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

Trevor, how does the 28mm f1.8 compare to L series glass of the same type? Is it worth the extra money for L glass?

Also how is the 28mm f2.8? It seems to be less money too.

Thanks for the info. Glad to hear lens is good on crop from 17-35. I will remember that.

Dec 15, 2011 at 05:08 AM

caringserv
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p.1 #15 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

So everyone, on all L series zoom lenses, will a standard non L prime beat them all out in sharpness and over all picture quality and color?

I am kind of thinking eventually to get like a 20mm prime (non L) and maybe a 28mm prime (non L), already have the 50mm prime (non L) and maybe pickup an 100mm prime (non L)... Instead of spending tons of money for another zoom L series lens.

Perhaps sell the 17-40 lens in favor of picking up the 20, 28, and 100mm prime (non L) lenses. What does everyone think?

Dec 15, 2011 at 05:18 AM

surf monkey
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p.1 #16 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

caringserv wrote:
So everyone, on all L series zoom lenses, will a standard non L prime beat them all out in sharpness and over all picture quality and color?

I am kind of thinking eventually to get like a 20mm prime (non L) and maybe a 28mm prime (non L), already have the 50mm prime (non L) and maybe pickup an 100mm prime (non L)... Instead of spending tons of money for another zoom L series lens.

Perhaps sell the 17-40 lens in favor of picking up the 20, 28, and 100mm prime (non L) lenses. What does everyone think?

The 17-40 costs less than the 20f2.8 and 28f2.8 combined.
The zoom also outperforms the 20 at the same apertures.
The 28f2.8 may be a bit better, but it's not really worth the switch.

A good performing 50mm prime is much easier to design and manufacture than an equivalent wide angle lens. So in regards to this discussion between primes vs zooms, the L zooms are probably better than the cheap non-L primes on the wide end. Also the new 70-200f2.8 IS mk2 is a match for any of the primes in it's FL and at the same aperture. Primes used to always outperform their zoom equivalents, but technology has really changed this generalization.

Dec 15, 2011 at 08:26 AM

J.D.
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p.1 #17 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

I think you have more important things to be concerned about. Chances are, there's nothing wrong with either.

However, there are a couple of things which always need to be explained when we see these "Is my lens sharp?" type of threads.

Read this first:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/12/this-lens-is-soft-and-other-myths

Then read this:

http://www.lensrentals.com/news/2010.03.06/this-lens-is-soft-and-other-facts

Dec 15, 2011 at 08:33 AM

Napalm
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p.1 #18 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

caringserv wrote:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Is your left leg shorter than your right?

Dec 15, 2011 at 09:57 AM

KiboOst
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p.1 #19 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

My 17-40L is amazingly sharp in large center at f/4 from 17mm and up. But, it is a bit soft (really a bit, I would say not as sharp, but not soft) at 40mm. My 24-70L does the same, 24mm 2.8 is really sharp (nearly like 135L) but 70mm is soft (more than 17-40L at 40mm).
That's why I test lenses, to know them and use them at there best ;-)

Dec 15, 2011 at 10:28 AM

pingflood
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p.1 #20 · Canon 17-40L VS Canon 50mm II 1.8, the 50mm seems sharper, is that right?

You're amazed that a 50mm prime is sharper than a zoom?

Dec 15, 2011 at 10:47 AM

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