real life reviews of the 28 - 135 IS

[Celtic5549]

this is another lens that i am considering and was recommended in one of my other posts...just how heavy does it feel and is the IS system the same as that in the 70 - 200 2.8?
i will be carrying this all over europe for two weeks so the wieght and bulk are important but not as important as sharpness...
thanks

[PacAce]

The 28-135 IS is a very light-weight and relatively compact lens. It makes a good all-around lens.

As far as the IS goes, it only has one IS mode whereas the 70-200 f/2.8 has two. But it does do a good job with image stabilization.

I use the lens often and I'm very pleased with the images I get from it.

[5 Type]

I do own one.

Since it's my only lens, I can't compare. But, I think it's pretty light, Give you a nice "all around" range. It's not that fast though (3.5-5.6).

As for sharpness, it's better than the kit lens that comes with the rebel, but it's not an L lens (neither does the weight or the price). Finaly, if you do mostly outdoor pictures, just stop it down a bit and you'll be in business.

my 2 cents

[yenoram]

I've had a 28-135IS for three years the first two of which it spent most of its time mounted on my D60. I picked up a 28-70 2.8L a year or so ago and this lens bumped my 28-135IS. I pulled it out the other day and I couldn't believe how light it felt compared to the 28-70. The 28-135IS is a great all-purpose lens and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. My only concerns with this lens were as follows:

- barrel creep when the lens was pointing down;
- slow (that is once you get used to 2.8), and
- as odd as this may sound, it consistently underexposed on my D60 - a problem I have not had with my 28-70. Of course, EC solved the issue but I found this a pain. I've kept my 28-135IS in the expectation of replacing my D60 (which hopefully will happen soon!)

[IanD]

The 28-135IS is my Walk Around lens. Very light and excellent images. Cannot go wrong with it for the price.

[Gerdav43]

I am new to DSLR or SLR photography just this past year. The reason I say this is because I don't have all the fancy L glass lenses that many of these gentlemen and women have (my perspective is from smaller to bigger). I came from a Kodak point and shoot digital and a Rebel SLR film camera that did not get much play time for cost reasons. After I bought my D60 I needed a better lense then the one that came with my rebel (35-80mm cheapie lense). I went with the 28-135 IS as a all around lense for day trips, family outings and vacations. From my perspective as an amateur this lense was a fairly significant upgrade in weight and size. It is heavy relative to the lense I have but it is certainly manageable to carry on a trip as you describe. I would give this a lense a thumbs up. I've had great success to this point.
One day I will graduate to these bigger L lenses and look back and think, wow that 28-135 was really small and lightweight. :)

[Jesper]

I also have an 28-135 IS USM and I like it a lot - the IS is wonderful. It's not the fastest lens (f/3.5-5.6) but the IS partly compensates for that - you can use much slower shutter times than without it and still get sharp photos.

It's not an "L" lens but it is Canon's best consumer-grade zoom lens.

[timmyquest]

Can i request some pictures :-D

[toddb]

That and the 50mm 1.8 is all I got, got about 10,000 shots and alot posted here:
http://www.toddburke.net/

[Celtic5549]

i think that answered my question. thanks everyone.
J

[bugs]

Hard to give this lense a bad review - it was my first lense, and its still the one I use 90% of the time.

Its simply a great all-round lense thats hard to beat when price is taken into acount.

Below picture was taken using this lense :D

http://fireforge.dnsalias.com/forum_pics/CRW_7802.jpg

[5 Type]

Taken with this lens :

http://www.jsl.studiosj.com/images/2004%2001%2012%20-%20Salon%20auto%20Mtl%20-%20028.jpg
If you want to see more : http://www.jsl.studiosj.com

With this picture you can appreciate :
- Color
- Sharpness

I know the picture is a bit small, but I don't have the original handy.

There was no post processing done on it.

[chris.bailey]

http://www.pbase.com/image/26551164.jpg

Taken with the 28-135 IS (off). Its the lense I keep on the 10D unless I make a decision to use something else. Get a hoody for it as flare can be a problem at wide angles.

[Guillermo Freige]

Its a very good lens, and with a excellent value. I'm posting 2 links, to the same picture (almost) taken with the 18-55 at 55 and the 28-135IS at 50, at 1/800 f/8 ISO400, with minutes of difference. Sorry about the different framing. Despite that, you can see the HUGE difference between lenses. Straight from camera images.

http://gfreige.homelinux.org/18-55-55-f8.jpg

http://gfreige.homelinux.org/28-135-50-f8.jpg

And this is a similar picture taken prevously with the 50/1.8 at f/8. This one is in AdobeRGB colorpace and using a wider framing.

http://gfreige.homelinux.org/50-f8.jpg

[Belmondo]

Guillermo:

I'm having trouble getting your links to work. I'd love to see those pictures.

[Johnnynf]

Guillermo:

I'm having trouble getting your links to work. I'd love to see those pictures.

At least I know I am not the only one...I thought my computer was messed up. I too am having trouble opening the links. I tried the first one, it is opening, just VERY slowly...so far it has been opening for over 10 minutes, and it still is only about 3/4 of the way open. I am very interested in the pictures too as I have both of these lenses but have never taken the time to compare them directly.

[Guillermo Freige]

The pictures are in my own server, so only 128Kbps are available, and too many people trying to download them. It's working but slowly.
You can see some smaller recompressed crops from the same first two pictures here:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=29166

Guillermo