What does EF mean?

[drisley]

I am buying a Digital Rebel, and I've been debating getting the lens kit, or the basic and pick my own lens.

I saw that camera canada has the 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 USM for $307cdn.

http://www.cameracanada.com/eNet-cart/product.asp?pid=6469A004&type=3

What is the diff between this and the EF version? Or is there a typo on the product page?
How does this lens compare the the 18-55mm kit for image quality?

[Morden]

For Canon lenses, "EF" stands for "Electro-Focus", which amounts to Canon's term for autofocus.

Looking at the page you indicated, both lenses refered to are autofocus (i.e. EF) so I assume that they are either refering to a newer version of the same lens, or else there is a mistake in the description.

[PacAce]

I am buying a Digital Rebel, and I've been debating getting the lens kit, or the basic and pick my own lens.

I saw that camera canada has the 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 USM for $307cdn.

http://www.cameracanada.com/eNet-cart/product.asp?pid=6469A004&type=3

What is the diff between this and the EF version? Or is there a typo on the product page?
How does this lens compare the the 18-55mm kit for image quality?

If I were you, even if you intended to buy the 28-105mm lens, I'd still get the 18-55mm kit lens. You can't beat that price, and it's a pretty decent lens even if it is all plastic. And even with the 28-105mm lens, you're still going to miss out on the 18-27 mm range unless you intend to purchase a different lens that covers that range (which might be another US $300-$500).

[Canuck]

I am buying a Digital Rebel, and I've been debating getting the lens kit, or the basic and pick my own lens.

I saw that camera canada has the 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 USM for $307cdn.

http://www.cameracanada.com/eNet-cart/product.asp?pid=6469A004&type=3

What is the diff between this and the EF version? Or is there a typo on the product page?
How does this lens compare the the 18-55mm kit for image quality?

If I were you, even if you intended to buy the 28-105mm lens, I'd still get the 18-55mm kit lens. You can't beat that price, and it's a pretty decent lens even if it is all plastic. And even with the 28-105mm lens, you're still going to miss out on the 18-27 mm range unless you intend to purchase a different lens that covers that range (which might be another US $300-$500).

A wide angle lens that can do half decent in the $300-500 range other than the EFS one that can come w/ the 300D. Two words come to mind: Not likely. Yeah, start talking about the the Canon 16-35 F2.8L I have and stick a 1 in front of the middle figure on the aforementioned price range. Yes, that means that the 16-35L lens runs about $1400!

[Jesper]

There is a mistake in the page you are referring to, but there ARE two versions of the 28-105 lens, according to the Canon EOS Beginners' FAQ (http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/):

28-105mm 3.5-4.5 “Macro” USM, Ø58
28-105mm 3.5-4.5 II “Macro” USM, Ø58

The second one, the "II", is just a new version of the first one. I don't know what the difference is, but you can probably look it up in the Canon Camera Museum (http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/lens/f_lens.html). Probably the one they're selling on the website you refer to is the "II" version.

Actually, there is a third version of the 28-105, the 28-105mm f/4-5.6 USM. Note the difference in maximum aperture. According to posts in several forums this lens is not as good optically as the f/3.5-4.5 versions, so you'd better avoid it.

[evilenglishman]

--

[Jesper]

I use the 28-105 f4 USM II and haven't had any issues with it, I found it had a tendency to not be as sharp as it could be - but removing the syklight filer fixed that.

Ehm... things are getting confused here. There is a 3.5-4.5, a 3.5-4.5 version II and a 4-5.6. There is not a 4-5.6 version II.

So which one do you have, the 4-5.6 or the 3.5-4.5 version II?

The 4-5.6 is probably not really bad, but from what I've heard and read the 3.5-4.5 version is just better.

[drisley]

Yes, I think you are right.
It should read II.

I wonder how the image quality compares to the 18-55mm lens kit on the DRebel?

[evilenglishman]

--