Canon 24-85 3.5-4.5 today

[mrk]

the lens feels MUCH MUCH more healthier than any kit lens, it looks more professional and the weight is not too heavy nor is it light either. the metal mount adds confidence that it's going to last and the fitting is more rigid than the metal mount on previous lenses I;ve had the newest being the sigma 18-200 and I thought that fit well !

USM, it feels good to be back with USM and this time in ringtype form. focusing was instant, there is no hunting at all, you aim and fire, it's just like that and I doubt I'll be able to live without USM again. It's also silent as one might expect.

If you hold the camera pointing up or down there is zoom creep, that is the barrel will extend or descend into it's wide end, this is to be expected I guess but the zoom ring could have been made a bit stiffer to counter this. It's not a problem unless you intend on leaving the camera tripod mounted to stars at 85mm pointing directly up though.

The samples below are 100% full res, both wide open at 24 and 85 mm, it's sharp at both ends and focus was on the centre of the frame.

http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/24mm_full.jpg
http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/85mm_full.jpg


There is some minor CA on the left box white area but that's to be expected on any lens wide open so I hear.
And here's what it looks like

http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/24-85_1.jpg

http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/24-85_2.jpg

A nice, quite fast, sharp lens that cost £230 with hood, not bad

Tests:


Bokeh

Canon 24-85 @ 50mm f4.5
http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/50mm_4.5_2485usm.jpg

Canon 50mm 1.8 @ f4.5
http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/50mm_4.5_50prime.jpg

It appears the 24-85 at 50mm grabs more of the frame in the shot than the 50mm prime, I used same elevation, same position for both shots too, the 50 prime sharpness is a bit more because I was a little more sturdier in pose when taking the shot but you get the idea.


Sharpness
http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/sharpness.jpg


Barrel Distortion at 24mm
http://www.fixit-4u.net/mrk/root/photos/camera/canon_24-85_usm_II/barrel_distortion.jpg

Anyone else got this lens? share your thoughts !

[Tom W]

It's a great, well made, handy lens - I picked one up to use on my XT as well. It's about the same size as the kit lens, but considerably better to operate. Optics aside, I didn't want to buy the kit lens because of the way it felt - build quality and the way it operated.

The 24-85 USM is pretty sharp, especially stopped down about 1/3-2/3 stops. Colors are typical good Canon colors. There's a bit of barrel distortion at the wide end, as is typical of zooms.

A typical shot (nothing special, just trying it out) from my first outing with the lens, on the 1D Mk II:

http://www.pbase.com/photosbytom/image/44759727/large.jpg

I wish it went a little wider, but if I'm only going to carry the XT and 1 lens, this is the one.

[mrk]

Yup same with me, I intend to get a super wide and a full tele later on but this will serve as the main 24/7 lens and for portraits, I'm pretty impressed so far and as you say it's got the "Canon" feel to it and look to the images copared to competition lenses

[summerwind4]

great review and hope you enjoy this lens as much as i did.
mine was just as sharp as the 24-70 that replaced it when stopped down to f/8.
but the 24-70 got dumped for the 17-85, which was almost the 24-85 again.
the 24-85 is such a nice lens with flash too (onboard works with it) at f/5.6, i wish i had never sold the one i had.

[Tom W]

I think that there are some design similarities between the 24-85 & the new 17-85, though it's obvious that Canon had to make some significant changes to get the extra width as well as the IS.

I'm sure that the 17-85 wouldn't be a very easy design in full-frame.

Anyway, the 24-85 is a great lens at a great price, and is the right size and weight for the XT and probably the 20D as well.

[Willie]

How does this compare to Tamron 28-75? I want to replace my kit lens on XT.

Regards,
Willie

[wintoid]

I switched from the Canon 24-85 to the Tamron 28-75. Whilst I prefer the Tamron, I do miss the great zoom range, compact size and fast focus speed of the 24-85.

[Willie]

Is the focusing on the Tamrom that much slower? I like to take pics of my kids playing, and I notice on my non USM lens it's hard to catch them in motion. My older 28-80 USM lens is much quicker (and quieter) than the kit lens.

[nitsch]

I use this lens on my 300D instead of the kit lens, I sometimes wish that it was a little wider as 24mm isn't that wide with the 1.6x crop but otherwise it's a lovely lens to use.

Very smooth in operation, quiet and rapid focusing, nice weight, well built and very sharp pictures. Mine doesn't suffer from any zoom creep but then I haven't got the hood which might change the balance of things a bit.

I highly recommended it as a cheap but good quality walk around lens. :)

(I do still have a hankering for a 17-85 EF-S though... has anyone ever done a direct side by side test of these two lenses I wonder?)

[ed rader]

was a 24-85....in fact i ditched the kit lens before ever using it in favor of the 24-85.

i now use the tamron 28-75 and the optics are superior but it does focus slower and 24 on the wide end is much better than 28....and while we can adapt to almost anything it is hard to go back :).

for a midrange lens i think the 24-85 is the best made by canon. the weight and size is much better than the 28-135, which i have also owned.

with the lens fully extended it does feel a bit cheesy but the rattly feel of the 28-135 is worse.

my copy was a bit soft but it was a great lens.

ed rader

[who me?]

Congrats on your new lens. For me, I bought this lens because I needed an intermediate zoom and after looking at both the Tamron and the 24-70L, I picked this one for several reasons. Affordable compared to the Canon (DUH), better zoom range than both. Focus ring doesn't move like the Tamron (which to me was REALLY bothersome). To me the USM was quicker and quiter than the Tamron and seemed almost as quick and quiet as the Canon. Build quality seems OK but that Zoom creep is a little annoying. The weight and size issues were not factors as this is now my smallest and lightest lens. It seems to disappear on my 20D compared to the others.
After looking at the 28-105 and 28-135 reviews, I am glad I got it but I used it for one weekend and unfortunately it now just sits in my camera bag. My 17-40 is still on my camera 90% of the time. I will probably sell it in the future when I decide on another intermediate zoom. I just wish someone had a good 28-105 f2.8-4 type lens.

[mrk]

How does this compare to Tamron 28-75? I want to replace my kit lens on XT.

Regards,
Willie


I had the Tamron and sold it because I needed a wider lens, I also considered the sigma 24-70 but seeing the size and weight would make my shoulder cry on day events!

This lens pleases me more than the Tamron, several reasons, it's faster focusing, silent focusing, ok the build quality is not as robust as the 28-75 but it's better than most! and it also has the full time manual focusing so you simply cannot go wrong when composing and focusing


The tamron is a super lens though, sharp and fast :)