Best online site(s) for detailed, dependable Canon lens reviews?

AmbientMike
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p.3 #1 · p.3 #1 · Best online site(s) for detailed, dependable Canon lens reviews?

melcat wrote:
He does, and he sometimes comments on things other reviewers don’t, but at the same time he seems to be a focussed art type and if he isn’t personally interested in some aspect of a lens he might downplay or not mention that it is weak there. I got burned from believing his review of the EF 85mm f/1.8 – he apparently didn’t care about the purple fringing. Don’t use him as your only source.

Like TDP, he has affiliate links (links you click through to retailers where he gets a commission).

Knowing how to read an MTF chart is useful there....Show more →

I'm really not a fan of using MTF for resolution, MTF is contrast. But I think even opticallimits does that, so not much I can do these days. I prefer the old lp/mm and contrast that I think they got from the old 1951 USAF test chart, although that has limitations, too.

Opticallimits clearly mentions the purple fringing on the 85/1.8, not sure if it's better or worse than the 85/1.4 mf rokinon that used to be popular on here. I'm not sure how much I care about purple fringing. It is not my favorite for sure but it's a pretty easy fix on my 75-300 III. According to reviews that lens is bad, but whether Canon changed something or the reviews are just wrong, I do not know. Definitely worth the $30 extra in the bundle. It really seems pretty good optically if you shoot raw and click the purple fringing box in DPP, or maybe even just turn on CA corrections in body on jpegs.

Oct 19, 2023 at 10:20 AM

AmbientMike
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p.3 #2 · p.3 #2 · Best online site(s) for detailed, dependable Canon lens reviews?

MintMar wrote:
True, but those 8MPs were on cropper, so you basically get the image center of the lens when they're mounted to FF.

So for me the older tests don't lack the resolution, but the area of the image circle. It started to bother me a bit when I bought my first FF.

Definitely a limitation, but those are the lenses people don't seem to be interested in adapting to R, anyway, and then often make the somewhat ridiculous claim Canon doesn't have enough lenses

You can see the sheer volume of lenses tested on 8mp aps on the link

https://opticallimits.com/canon-eos

Oct 19, 2023 at 11:46 AM

IlyaSnopchenko
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p.3 #3 · p.3 #3 · Best online site(s) for detailed, dependable Canon lens reviews?

Aside from a few popular cheapskate options like the 100-400 mk1 or the EF 85/1.8, most of the lenses he's tested on 8MP (or the 10MP Nikon for that matter) are way outdated and can only rarely be found on the used market. Many were proven to be quite poor on FF anyway (like the 16-35 mk1) so they might not garner much interest anyway. He also tested a bunch of old third-party lenses that don't reflect the current state of these manufacturers. So the old reviews have mostly historical value now.

Btw in my experience the Canon 75-300 was awful, and I'm telling everyone who might ever ask to stay away from it because it will be impossible to get rid of.

I would recommend the Tamron 70-300 VC, a very cheap but surprisingly good lens, instead (and I had it, too; it was good even on 45MP FF).

Oct 20, 2023 at 12:44 AM

MintMar
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p.3 #4 · p.3 #4 · Best online site(s) for detailed, dependable Canon lens reviews?

Outdated, depends whether man is shopping-savvy according to his needs. For example I shoot very little macro, and then mostly just for documentational/illustrational purposes, no high art. Therefore picking up an old Sigma 50/2.8 EX Macro for cheap was a no brainer, especially as compared to EF 50 Macro it goes to 1:1. The lens is very sharp, especially for the price, and serves me well.

Recently I was pleasantly surprised that contrary to the "Sigmas EX work badly with RF" storm it worked flawlessly with my new R6/2.

Oct 20, 2023 at 05:06 AM

AmbientMike
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p.3 #5 · p.3 #5 · Best online site(s) for detailed, dependable Canon lens reviews?

MintMar wrote:
Outdated, depends whether man is shopping-savvy according to his needs. For example I shoot very little macro, and then mostly just for documentational/illustrational purposes, no high art. Therefore picking up an old Sigma 50/2.8 EX Macro for cheap was a no brainer, especially as compared to EF 50 Macro it goes to 1:1. The lens is very sharp, especially for the price, and serves me well.

Recently I was pleasantly surprised that contrary to the "Sigmas EX work badly with RF" storm it worked flawlessly with my new R6/2.

I almost picked up 100mm tokina last winter for next to nothing. If you need a fast uwa maybe you need the latest lens, but even 80's 50mm macros can be excellent. They don't even make 180mm anymore, so you have to buy older ones, mine is about 20 years old.

Oct 20, 2023 at 11:02 AM

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