Sharp lens for Canon digital Rebel

[bgrabows]

Can anyone offer any advice on a lens that will produce razor sharp images? Any thing within 35mm to 85mm. It can be fixed or zoom. It can be a Canon lens or made by an independent manufacturer: Tamron, Tokina, etc. etc.

[Tom W]

Well, for starters, Canon 50/1.8, Canon 50/1.4, Canon 35/2, Canon 85/1.8, Canon 24-70/2.8L. I also hear good things about the Tamron 28-75/2.8.

[CoolToolGuy]

Tom's got the Canon lenses covered - any of the above. What do you want to shoot with it?

[Andy_T]

If you consider the crop factor (the focal length on the DRebel is 1,6 times the actual focal length of the lens) the 17-40 f/4 L would also deserve mentioning - especially as it's one of the cheaper 'L' lenses. (maybe I should put the word 'cheaper' in marks, and not the L :lol: )

It would behave on the DRebel like a 27-64 mm on an EOS film body.

Best regards,
Andy

[defordphoto]

Razor sharp is dependent on much more than the lens. Post processing is where sharpness really comes into play. It also depends on your shot too. Perceived sharpness is more apparent on a high contrast photo as opposed to a low contrast shot. It takes a little practice but once you have your workflow down to a science, it's pretty simple really.

[Andy_T]

BGrabows,

I don't own the 17-40/L.

For test shots of the lens, you could look at http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/canon-17-40.shtml for a test that compares it to the already very good (but twice as expensive) 16-35 /2.8 L.

You could also open a new thread in this forum asking specifically for pictures from this lens. There must be a lot, as many users have it.

In general, try to put questions to the board, there will be more people answering them than if you PM.

BTW ... welcome to the forum 8)

Best regards,
Andy

[Adam Hicks]

I couldn't be more pleased with the Tamron 28-75 f2.8. Fast focus (not quite as fast as the equivalent Canon L, but darned near, and every bit as sharp from everthing I've seen. I used it up against an 'L' lens and took pictures of things like soup cans, beer bottles, etc on a tripod and zooming in they were both incredibly sharp. For under $400 you can't go wrong with the Tamron IMO. I added to that a 100mm Canon macro and am saving a few bucks for the 100-400 to complete the set for everything I need. A wide angle isn't anything of interest at this point.

FWIW. I just think the zoom is a little easier to deal with than the primes, even though they are definitely tack sharp. It's hard to use a 50mm lens as your 'walking around' lens vs. a good bright zoom.

Adam

[Orogeny]

You can check out numerous examples here:
http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon

Scroll down towards the bottom and click on the lens you want to see an example from.

Tim

[Lincoln_Mennuti]

According to the Photodo MTF charts, the Canon 85mm/1.2L is an insanely high 4.8/5.0

The Canon 50mm/1.4 comes in at an impressive 4.4
The Canon 50mm/1.8 at an incredible 4.2 (I say incredible because a 4.2 for a lens that's WELL under $100US is 'incredible'...IMO)

While the MTF charts doesn't specifically mean 'sharpness', it does seem to be the de-facto means of gauging the 'quality' of a lens.

I personally have the 50mm/1.4 and it's a razor!