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Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
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Review Date: Jun 10, 2007
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: $680.00
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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nice build quality, silent USM focusing, light
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Cons:
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sharpness
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I really wanted to like this lens. I bought this to upgrade my Tamron 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5. It felt great on my camera, focusing was fast and silent, and I really wanted a L lens... I came home and did some tests, expecting this L lens to blow the Tamron out of the water. The L beat the Tamron in edge sharpness by a small amount. Otherwise, center sharpness was pretty much identical. So I paid $500 extra over the Tamron for build quality and silent focusing? I'm not too happy about that... I don't really care that it's built like a tank if the pictures it takes is almost the same as something 1/5th the cost.
I'll try another copy of this lens, but if the results are similar, I'm returning it for good.
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Tamron 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 AF
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Review Date: Jun 10, 2007
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $130.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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pretty sharp, light, small.
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Cons:
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build quality isn't spectacular, feels flimsy at times, slighty loud AF
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I bought this lens when I just started digital photography, a little more than a year ago. It has served me well, and many of my favorite photos were taken with this lens.
Just today, I went to the camera store to upgrade to the Canon 17-40L f/4 lens, which is about 5 times the cost of this lens. I came home, and did some tests to compare the 17-40L against this lens. I expected night and day differences in terms of sharpness and image quality, but much to my disappointment (and anger), the L lens was only better in certain respects. Center sharpness was basically the same between the two lenses. The L lens has better edge sharpness, but you would really have to be pixel peeping to even see it. You might notice some small different if you blew up your pictures to poster size prints, but otherwise, you wouldn't. Can you tell I'm really disappointed in the L lens?
In summary, if you're just starting out, and you want a good lens to take good pictures with, stick with this lens. Just don't expect fantastic build, or silent focusing and you'll be perfectly happy with this lens.
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Canon EF 28mm f/2.8
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Review Date: Jun 21, 2006
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Recommend? no |
Price paid: $160.00
| Rating: 5
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Pros:
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Price, weight
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Cons:
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Image quality not as good as you would expect from a prime
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When I used this on film for landscapes, I didn't really notice many problems (maybe because I only made 4X6 prints), but when I got a digital SLR, I found out that this lens is pretty average.
It's OK when stopped down to 5.6 or a little bit more, which makes it decent for landscapes. But with the crop factor on digital, I wanted this lens to act like a 50mm on film. I don't think it's usable at all at f/2.8. It might be passable at f/4.0.
Not worth the money. On hindsight, I should have spent a little bit more and gotten the 35mm f/2 or maybe the 24mm f/2.8.
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Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX Macro 1:1 Lens
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Review Date: Jun 21, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $350.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Excellent image quality, great performance for the price
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Cons:
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The way focus is switched from auto to manual
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I've had it for about 3 months, and I've taken great pictures with this lens. I only wish I had bought it sooner.
And now onto some nit picky stuff. The build quality is good, but the focus ring seems like it can fall off pretty easily. The lens has a weird design(at least to me) where if you want to switch from auto focus to manual focus, you have to flip the ubiquitous little switch near the mount, but you *also* have to pull/push the focus ring to switch it to auto/manual mode. It feels like it can fall off while you're switching it.
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Tamron 28-75MM F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF)
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Review Date: Jun 21, 2006
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $330.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Good sharpness at all apertures, good AF, not too heavy, internal focusing
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Cons:
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Focus ring is too "short", barrel extends when zooming
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I was a little apprehensive about buying this lens after reading posts about the QA problems that people have experienced, but I’m glad I got it. I’ve had it for about 3 months, and have had no problems with it. Auto focus is right on, and the sharpness is good even wide open.
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