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ayem
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Registered: Jun 25, 2016
Location: Finland
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Nov 27, 2021
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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+ Good sharpness
+ Good contrast
+ Very good CA control
+ Very good bokeh
+ Exceptionally good front/rear transition from focus area
+ Rather compact size
+ Internal focusing
+ Very nice dedicated hood
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Cons:
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- Average resistance to bright light
- AF accuracy is not reliable
- Manual focusing feels flimsier than with the cheaper 1st gen USM lenses
- The hood needs to be bought separately
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One of my favourite lenses. It's just so fun to slap it on camera and start shooting.
About the cons: yes, the AF accuracy not being reliable can be a camera body problem too. I've used my copy with Canon 5D, and adapted with Sony A7S + Viltrox EF-NEX IV.
I've also used it adapted and "speed boosted" with Olympus E-M5 and Panasonic Lumix G80, with Viltrox EF-M2. I can't recommend this combo though, as by introducing a focal length reducing element will make CA level rise with this lens.
Notice: Canon doesn't service lenses this old, so in case of malfunction this lens needs a 3rd party repair.
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 Nov 27, 2021
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tsangc
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Registered: Nov 22, 2005
Location: Canada
Posts: 1067
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Review Date: Dec 29, 2016
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $300.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Reasonably sharp, large aperture, great colour, quick focusing, small and light
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Cons:
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No stabilization
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I bought this lens used off a local seller for about $300 CAD.
I wanted a medium length lens with a larger aperture for shooting indoors. The idea was to use it with a small camera body like an SL1 as part of a two lens package for family events. A Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 or Canon 17-40mm for the wide to medium end and something else for candids from afar or portraits with background blur.
The lens is small and fairly light and fits well in a small bag with those two zoom lenses. The finish of those early generation EF USM primes is relatively smooth and always makes me pause to carefully grasp them lest they drop out of my hand.
The 100mm focal length is great for candids from about 10-15 feet away. Works well with family photos where a larger lens like a 70-200mm would be embarrassing. It's a little long for portraits.
The lens is pretty sharp. In the current era of 18-20MP crop sensors, it's not as sharp as the latest professional L models, but still quite crisp. It's more than adequate for personal family needs and I'm sure many professional and wedding shooters might even use the 100mm f2.0.
One of the challenges was getting acceptable images due to hand shake. I've become so used to stabilization on my 70-200mm over the years, it took a few weeks to not cheating the shutter speed on the 100mm. Fortunately a large aperture at f2.0 helps.
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Dec 29, 2016
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peterstrong
Offline
[ X ]
Registered: Dec 21, 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Dec 21, 2016
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Very sharp, great color, beautiful bokeh, fast focus
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Cons:
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Features/Build:
This lens doesn't have IS, but that would cost more and would mean there's more to go wrong. It does have proper USM focus, so it's fast silent and should last with no little plastic cogs to break on you. Neither front nor rear element move at all, so dust ingress is going to be a slow process and filters don't spin round as you focus. The materials are a mix of metal and high quality plastic, with metal filter thread and metal mount.
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Dec 21, 2016
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zvaldez1
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Registered: Sep 26, 2009
Location: N/A
Posts: 13
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Jun 28, 2016
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rfdesigner
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Registered: May 6, 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 0
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Review Date: May 7, 2014
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp at f2.0, generally well built, proper ring-USM AF. affordable.
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Cons:
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No IS..
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Price paid is £299 sterling, not dollars, but site won't accept £
I've had this lens for about 6 months now.
Sharpness/Aberrations:
It's superbly sharp at any aperture, peaking somewhere around f2.8~f4 but still excellent at f2.0. Currently I'm using it on a crop camera so I can't comment on FF corner sharpness. On a crop in astro-photos, the stars in the corners are good at f2.0 and excellent at f2.8 (very rare performance), in my experience DPP lens corrections are only noticeable at 200% view.. and then only if you look closely.
Most people would compare this with the 85f1.8. In my opinion this wins by a small but significant margin. Check out the DxOmark data for the 85 vs 100 and you'll notice just how soft the 85 is wide open compared to the 100, the 100 at f2.0 is probably equal to the 85 at f2.2 or 2.5.
Features/Build:
This lens doesn't have IS, but that would cost more and would mean there's more to go wrong. It does have proper USM focus, so it's fast silent and should last with no little plastic cogs to break on you. Neither front nor rear element move at all, so dust ingress is going to be a slow process and filters don't spin round as you focus. The materials are a mix of metal and high quality plastic, with metal filter thread and metal mount.
Canon do not provide a free hood, but a quick check on ebay and you can get one very cheaply, I paid £3 for mine.
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May 7, 2014
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noncho
Offline
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Registered: Dec 23, 2012
Location: Bulgaria
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Dec 12, 2013
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $350.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Good overall image and build quality
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Cons:
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Purple fringing
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I like this lens, but on crop camera you can see why this lens is not L. Good for the money, but it's time for upgrade for Canon - I need better quality IS prime between 85 and 120mm.
P.S. I'm using it for portraits and concert photos, here are some samples:
concert(with EOS-M and adapter): http://www.nonchoiliev.com/blog/647
portrait: http://www.nonchoiliev.com/blog/759
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Dec 12, 2013
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rtallent
Offline
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Registered: Jan 2, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 722
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Review Date: Oct 5, 2012
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $450.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Very sharp, great color, beautiful bokeh, fast focus
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Cons:
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Hood extra, high contrast fringeing
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Very similar optically to the 85mm f/1.8 with a little longer reach and a heftier, more solid feel. I think the high contrast fringeing is less with the 100mm and is very easily corrected in Lightroom 4.x. Very pleased with this lens.
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Oct 5, 2012
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AbramG
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Jan 30, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 3534
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Review Date: Oct 8, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $300.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Sharp wide-open, fantastic bokeh, responsive AF, physically a small and compact lens for the focal length.
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Cons:
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build could be more durable..
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I no longer have this lens, but I really enjoyed it while I did. The quality it produces is really excellent. AF is very quick and responsive and it works great in low light.
My only complaint is that the build quality could have been better. When I sold the lens, it must have been dropped or something during shipping because upon arrival the focus ring was jammed (though my shipping box and materials were still perfectly intact)
Could have been a fluke scenario, I don't know, thankfully Canon fixed it up just fine and the new owner was happy.
Regardless of that issue, I would still recommend this lens to anyone, especially if they are interested in the 135L but can't quite afford it.
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Oct 8, 2011
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XAOC
Offline
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Registered: May 29, 2007
Location: N/A
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Feb 21, 2011
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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value, speed, size, sharp
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Cons:
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no hood
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I like this lens a lot. For the money it is very sharp compact and it has fast AF.
I use it on my 5D mark II mainly for portraits and it has great bokeh.
http://antoski.com/tips.html
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Feb 21, 2011
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beeber00
Offline
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Registered: Jul 21, 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 741
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Review Date: Dec 30, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $330.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Build quality, F 2.0, focusing speed.
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Cons:
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Not a con - but getting used to 100mm.
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Bought this lens for 330. You could find some on the BUY AND SELL board on this website. If you are not a registered user, please sign up. I registered two years ago and everything I've owned photo-related was bought either on this website or from a recommendation from this website.
First off, this lens' f-stop goes down to 2.0. If you havent used a lens that can do this, you need to see it. It can take sharp pictures at that f-stop easily. If you change it to 2.8 or 4, the pictures look even better.
Works portraits so-fine. Some prefer the focal length (# of mm's) of 85 while some use 100, 135 or even 200. If you have a zoom lens and find yourself using 100mm the most, get this one, no doubt about it.
If you're new to photography, 330$ might seem like a lot for a lens that doesnt zoom. Wrong. Once you start to use this lens you'll like it. If you have an 85 1.8, you may not need this since its almost the same thing. I've owned both lenses - they're practically the same.
I COULD compare it to the 135L f 2.0. Its almost the same mechanically - a telephoto with f 2.0. Of course, the 135 has better color and sharpness, but its also more expensive.
Be aware that if you use this lens on a camera like a 40d, its actually 160mm which might make it harder to use.
If you're in the market for a well-built lens that takes nice pictures and focuses fast, this lens will work well for you. The first place to look is on this website.
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Dec 30, 2010
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Paulius
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Oct 4, 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 17
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Review Date: Sep 13, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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good colors, contrast, price
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Cons:
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hmmm well i don't get as much CA as i thought i will, but they are there though, the focus ring feels very very cheap. No hood or pouch...but that is canon being greedy.
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Well, this is a special lens first of all.
Used right it can produce some very interesting and very beautiful images. Due to the very silky rendering this lens is perfect for portraiture, it doesn't make the object "pop" but it helps keep the harmony in the image. That is what i like about it.
I use it for street photography, although my 30mm siggy gets used the most, but there are some pictures that wouldn't have gotten without having this little guy.
If you have FF this is THE LENS for the money. IF you have a crop like me, try it, you won't like it for the first time, but it will grow on you very fast.
Kind regards,
Paulius
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Sep 13, 2010
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trigrad
Offline
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Registered: Jan 26, 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 30
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Review Date: Sep 13, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Value, AF, Contrast, bokeh, size
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Cons:
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Hood
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For the money this is a great lens. Very compact, quite sharp wide open, nice bokeh, good contrast and fast AF. There's not much to dislike for the money.
I really like this as a travel prime on FF.
One complaint is the hood. As others have said the hood attachment is not nice. It rattles a bit when attached, and doesn't fit as securely as a bayonet hood.
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Sep 13, 2010
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transoptic1
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Apr 1, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 930
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Review Date: Jun 20, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $345.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Sharp, contrasty, EXCELLENT bokeh, fast focus, light yet sturdy
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Cons:
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high-contrast CA
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This is one of the best lenses I've ever owned.
It feels just right on my 50D, and comes with some tack-sharp
images, even opened all the way up. Just have to be careful about focusing when wide open -- f2 at 100mm makes a rather thin DOF -- but it's still pretty forgiving compared to some lenses, unlike the 50 1.4.
Speaking of focus, it's fast and silent.
The only thing negative about this lens is outdoor high-contrast situations get some severe fringing, like shooting at high noon in the park. But I use this mostly for studio portraits, and live concerts, so I'm rarely in a situation where this becomes a problem.
Here's a sample using this lens at an outdoor music festival:
http://www.justingillphoto.com/DoDivision2010/content/images/large/Do_Division_86.jpg
Totally worth every penny.
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Jun 20, 2010
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Daan B
Offline
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Registered: Aug 15, 2007
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 8004
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Review Date: Apr 24, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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IQ wide open, small, light, inconspicuous, cheap, AF
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Cons:
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fringing, no hood supplied
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A small, light and inconspicuous lens with very good optics.
It is already sharp and contrasty at f/2. Only negative is the rather heavy fringing at high contrast situations.
Focus is fast (a little bit faster than the 100L) and accurate. MF ring feels great. Built quality is compact and sufficient.
Great (portrait) FL on FF cameras. Cheap. Love it 
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Apr 24, 2010
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Olius
Offline
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Registered: Jan 20, 2010
Location: Sweden
Posts: 5
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Review Date: Mar 22, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharpness, no distortion, lightweight, fast focusing
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Cons:
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Build quality not top notch, focusing ring feels a bit plasticky at times, hood rattles a bit
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This is one of those lenses which allow you to select aperture solely based on dof requirements. I find it to be equally sharp at all apertures. Perhaps there is some improvement at F8 compared to F2 but I think it just seems that way because of the dof increase. The sharpness remains all the way out in the full frame corners.
I wrote lightweight in the positive aspects section because it makes the lens easy to take with you. It is however, so light that I find myself wishing for it to be heavier sometimes in order to get more stability but that's being picky.
The focusing is very fast and very quiet. It was also accurate without calibration.
The focusing ring on my sample has a bit of play in it. The operation however, is nice and smooth. My other complaint would be the hood which is very loose fitting. If force is applied, it can emit a loud clicking noise. Still one cannot disregard the fact that for the money, this is a stellar lens.
This lens and my 5D mark II are best friends. Here is a picture taken with the combo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harstrom/4387810570
This set contains pictures taken only with this lens:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harstrom/sets/72157623196337854/
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Mar 22, 2010
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Gert Arijs
Offline
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Registered: Mar 17, 2007
Location: Belgium
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Jan 15, 2010
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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I read about it, and found out that it would be very sharp. I expected a lot, but was still very astonished about the sharpness.
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Cons:
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None, really. Even the filter tread is perfect.
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I expected this to be a normal lens. One wich would be VERY sharp at f/2,8 and a bit softer more open. I got it wrong: it is very sharp, even at f/2,0.
It was even sharper than I expected it could be at f/2,0.
I mainly shoot nature, although since I have this lens, I'd love to do portraits more often. That's just because this lens is a pleasure to use, expecially wide open.
Search for a cheap one secondhand, it is wonderful.
Gert Arijs,
Belgium
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Jan 15, 2010
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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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86
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248360
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Nov 27, 2021
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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97% of reviewers
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$354.31
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Build Quality Rating
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Price Rating
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Overall Rating
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8.78
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9.19
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9.1
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