Henning Wulff wrote:
At 9:06 AM -0800 11/26/05, David Young wrote:
Also, a quick question. Are 'for sale' or 'wanted to buy' ads
allowed here? Restricted to any one day? Verboten? On the LRflex
list we allow them, on
Fridays, from members, but not commercial dealers. What is the rule
here?
Lastly, has anybody here had good success with the 17~85mm IS zoom
made for the 20D and 300/350D (EF-S mount)?
I was extremely disappointed with it... it suffers from a HUGE
tendency to flare... lens hood use is a must and it's still bad. And
it suffers an inordinate amount of barrel distortion at the wide
end. (This can be cured, to some extent, with PTLENS during
post-processing, but....) Are all examples of this lens that bad? Or
did I get a dud?
Certainly, it does not inspire me to purchase more Canon glass! :-(
Anyway... enough muckraking for now! Time to go and shovel the snow!
Well hello...
WTB and FS notices happen quite occasionally, and therefore pretty
much unregulated. While notices from Vancouver Island and the Lower
Mainland are encouraged, those from the deep interior are looked at
more critically. :-)
As know, I have the 20D and no Leica glass that will fit, so I use the
Canon stuff, and occasionally my old Nikon MF lenses. The 17-85, which
I believe gives decent performance for the money, is no 50/1.4
Summilux ASPH, but it is a 5x medium zoom with IS and autofocus. It
does flare a bit more than some lenses, but you learn to shoot
accordingly, and it generally meets my expectations. The distortion is
a fact of life at this point for all high ratio zooms, and I always
run images through PTLens if distortion might affect the picture in
any way. I don't find that onerous at all.
What bugs me more about Canon lenses is that optics such as the 50/1.4
perform as poorly as they do, and there are no realistic options.
Flare in this lens is something which should be controlled better.
Some of the longer Canon lenses fare better, such as the 70-200/2.8,
but it will not measure up to the 70-180 APO either in performance or
price.
The big problem is with Canon's wideangles. The 10-22 EFS is really
quite a decent lens, and is of an acceptable quality for its range,
speed and price, but Canon offers nothing in fixed focal lengths that
is better. The same holds for the FF bodies. I have the 5D, and while
the new 24-105 is a definite step up from the 17-85, if I want
something shorter than that and high quality there aren't a lot of
options. Using Leica or other glass poses problems with the large
mirror, so I mostly use the 16-35/2.8 and make sure I shoot RAW so I
have the best chance of optimizing things in Photoshop. My old 15/3.5
Nikkor is definitely better than the 16-35 (and the 14/2.8 Canon) in
overall performance, but it has serious flare issues.
All that said, when you actually want to make prints the Canon lenses,
even the 17-85, produce very decent quality when processed and are
quite useable.
Well... look who we find here! :-)
G'mornin' Henning!
I didn't join this list, to grump endlessly abut the 17~85-EFS... my
only experience with Canon glass, so far. I joined, in order to make a
few new friends, and learn more of the Canon line.
I suppose you are right, that distortion levels well above what I'm used
to are to be expected in high ratio zoom lenses. I guess I'm too quick
to compare to my 80~200 f/4 Vario Elmar, or even my old 75~150 Auto
Zuiko, but both of those would not be considered "high ratio" zooms!
But even the old Auto Zuiko was far superior in both flare resistance,
sharpness and distortion, to the 17~85!
I guess, like you, I'll continue to run each shot through PT-Lens (being
thankful such a program exists!) and quite grumping!
I must say, however, that I find the Leica lenses on the Canon 20D to be
a marvelous combination!
I am curious, however, about your 5D. I've thought about it (it seems a
viable alternative to the lovely, but horrifically expensive DM-R!) and
am concerned by something Tina Manley mentioned on another list. She
bought one and said that while the camera was delightful, the battery
life was incredibly short, compared to the 20D. Do yo find this so?
And, overall, how do you (or anybody here with one) like your 5D?
Thanks.
Cheers!
--
David Young,
Logan Lake, BC
CANADA.
Personal Web-site at: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt
Leica Reflex Forum web-page: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/lrflex.htm
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