My Canon 50D + 18-200 kit lens arrived yesterday so I took some quick sample shots while going to/from work today. Obviously nothing spectacular, just some snapshots to check how the lens performs. Personally I think it's just kinda ok IQ wise but nothing a few moments of post-processing can't fix. Anyway, you can click on the EXIF info above each photo below to download the full-sized JPEG (warning: they're about 2-3MB each). All shots taken in RAW, converted to DNG via Adobe DNG Converter, opened up in Adobe PS3 via ACR with NO sharpening or any other modification whatsoever and saved as JPEG (quality setting of 10, baseline optimized). These little 640x427 thumbnails were saved for web so probably won't be able to tell much from them. Camera was set to auto ISO, P mode for the most part (except where indicated below), AI Focus, Neutral Picture Style, highlight tone priority disabled, auto lighting optimizer set to standard.
Following two were also taken from the exact same location and shows both ends of the zoom range but this time I set the aperture to the largest possible (f/3.5 at 18mm and f/5.6 at 200mm).
Anyway, the IS is dead silent and seems to work quite well. I think it's sufficient for a vacation lens where I'd pack just this and a prime. But it's kinda pricey for what you get compared to the Nikon version.
Actually these show that the 50D seems like a nice capable camera and that the 18-200 lens is decent - nost stellar but decent although it has to be said it is pricey! How did you find the AF on the lens? Noisy, slow?. Thanks for sharing.
Allan Bruce wrote:
Actually these show that the 50D seems like a nice capable camera and that the 18-200 lens is decent - nost stellar but decent although it has to be said it is pricey! How did you find the AF on the lens? Noisy, slow?. Thanks for sharing.
AF was obviously noisy (compared to USM) but nothing you'd really notice outdoors. And pretty quick. I don't think I was ever consciously waiting for it to get into focus.
Mike Hatam wrote:
Did you have a filter on the lens? I wonder if the filter ring is causing the vignetting at 18mm...
Mike
Yes, good catch. I had the Canon UV filter that came with the kit on and looking at it now it's not a "slim" design so that's probably what's causing the vignetting at 18mm. I'll take a couple of more shots with the filter off and post 'em later.
kenshin wrote:
AF was obviously noisy (compared to USM) but nothing you'd really notice outdoors. And pretty quick. I don't think I was ever consciously waiting for it to get into focus.
Photozone delayed presenting the test of this lens because of computer-troubles. But Klaus wrote in his forum that the center-sharpness was very good, borders are soft and stopping down doesnt help.
Is the lens just soft, or do you think it's a focusing issue? That last one almost seems like it's back-focused, although no matter what it is certainly not super-sharp.
Thanks for taking the filter off, but how can't you see the vignetting on the photos you just posted? There's a reason you can see the cloud in the upper right corner and can't see any in the upper left, also look at the lower corners, very vignetted.
Not that I'd ever want the 18-200 lens but the Tamron version I had didn't vignette like the images above w/o the UV filter.
Hmm... you're right. Well I went back to the drawing board and now I wonder if it's a software issue. All the above photos were processed via ACR 4.6 beta. I went back and converted this last photo with Canon's DPP 3.5 and this is the result:
Now I have no idea how to use DPP so I'm not sure if it does some default corrections but all I did was open it up and choose to convert it to JPEG at quality 10.
SKYWESTR wrote:
Thanks for taking the filter off, but how can't you see the vignetting on the photos you just posted? There's a reason you can see the cloud in the upper right corner and can't see any in the upper left, also look at the lower corners, very vignetted.
Not that I'd ever want the 18-200 lens but the Tamron version I had didn't vignette like the images above w/o the UV filter.
??