Replace 28-135 with 18-135 on cropped body

Been going thru lot of posts in the past two weeks trying to get an answer without starting a new thread but just wanted to listen directly from APS-C owners who went thru the choice enigma/dilemna.

I'm a Casual photographer looking for sharp quality images. Here is what I've for Canon XTi cropped body:

28-135mm
50mm f1.8 Nifty Fifty
(the kit lens 18-55mm not working now, but not great IQ anyways)

28mm is just not cutting it especially indoors for parties and kids, so this became a travelling lens but it doesn't help landscapes either But I do like the image quality and sharpness.

Definitely like the Nifty Fifty for its quality but it's equivalent to 80 mm, still feel happy that it's close to 85mm that everybody really loves!

Question: Just started thinking of either replacing the 28-135mm and 18-135mm seems to be a choice. From IQ perspective, do you say that these are closer ? Sharpness ?? Color ?

One other alternative is to get the 10-18mm that's been getting good feedback here in POTN forum as well as everywhere else.

Someday I've to get another prime like a 30mm or 35mm but need to get the wide angle aspect taken care off first.

I wish there is a sticky on the recommended lens for Cropped bodies

Thanks in advance !

Following your post because I'm in a similar boat...I have a 60D with an 18-200 zoom lens I'd like to replace. I also have the 50mm 1.8 mk1, which I love, but I also need something for indoor parties/landscapes with a wider angle.

So let me base my reply off this, I started with a 28-90 EF on my first DSLR so I was fairly used to having to deal with 28mm at widest for quiet a while. And yes, it does suck.

I upgraded after a while to my 17-50 and for many years, that was the lens you would always find on my camera. 17 is very nice for pretty much everything, but at 50mm, the reach isnt there. I was really lusting for a 28-135 for several years, and actually I just bought one this past spring. I really like it. The IQ is good for what its worth and once you get used to how you need to frame for 28mm its a great lens to have. I like and use it as a walk around.

I was tempted to get a 18-135, but I will probably be buying a 5Dc later this year or early next year, so I wanted atleast a basic walk around lens for FF. As far as IQ, as long as you stick with the STM version of the 18-135, the IQ is going to be VERY very close. I think the 28-135 is built alot better, its got the metal mount and its definitely heavier in hand.

For the 10-18, i LOVE that thing!! Its been on my camera a bunch lately. I have shot all kinds of things with it and absolutly love its range, or lack there of. 10 is great for big landscapes and shooting a whole room, but down in the 17/18 range you can get close and get good shots of people. Its fun to play with it 10mm and people, its can get some kinda crazy results with their faces, but its easily avoided by moving a small amount.

It really comes down to, in my opinion, how often you feel the need or want to chance lenses. If you dont want to be changing lenses alot or dont have the option to, the 18-135 is the way to go. If you dont mind the small gap in local length youd miss, 18-28, i'd add a 10-18 to your collection and stick with the 28-135.

And for a prime, the 24mm 2.8 pancake is out for pre-order now. Probably going to buy that one.

Why not just keep the 28-135mm and get a Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 to complement it?

i had a 28-135mm the entire time i had my 40D...bought the 70D kit with the 18-135mm...haven't used the 28-135mm since...id for sure go for the 18-135STM over the 28-135mm

i'll probably keep the 28-135mm to use on my 5D, but i doubt i'll ever mount it to my crop body again...the 18-135mm is just better range, and i'm not comparing side by side, but i feel like the images are better out of it as well

MegBear26 wrote in post #17156041
Following your post because I'm in a similar boat...I have a 60D with an 18-200 zoom lens I'd like to replace. I also have the 50mm 1.8 mk1, which I love, but I also need something for indoor parties/landscapes with a wider angle.

How does 18-200mm serve you from IQ perspective. From what I read 18-135 STM provides better quality, hence I ruled out 18-200.

GeoffSFAs10: Thank you for your valuable input !

For 18-135mm, here is what I get by reading various inputs:
a. Serves wide angle as well for cropped body (not UWA, but just wide enough) for indoor parties with good IQ (may not get best pics between 18-24mm coz of distortion)
b. Serves like a walkaround when outside given the range, still have acceptable IQ towards tele.

However, 28-135 almost serves above except for the loss of 18-28mm range which is critical for me.

I'M TEMPTED now on the 10-18mm. Might be new territory for me, and there is always 28-135mm to fall back while outside. And 10-18mm might open up opportunities outside too ?

jimewall wrote in post #17156580
Why not just keep the 28-135mm and get a Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 to complement it?

Don't want to give the same answer jimewall but 18-35mm certainly seems expensive at this moment to me.

DreDaze wrote in post #17156682
i had a 28-135mm the entire time i had my 40D...bought the 70D kit with the 18-135mm...haven't used the 28-135mm since...id for sure go for the 18-135STM over the 28-135mm

i'll probably keep the 28-135mm to use on my 5D, but i doubt i'll ever mount it to my crop body again...the 18-135mm is just better range, and i'm not comparing side by side, but i feel like the images are better out of it as well

Ahh, it sounds like 18-135 and 28-135 give almost similar IQ and your opinion has reinforced it.

Maybe, I should get the 10-18mm new, and replace 28-135mm with 18-135mm, that way it covers UWA thru tele?

I've never been a fan of kit lenses.For years I've preferred fast primes. I bought my EOS M for its video capabilities then decided to buy a 18-135mm STM also for videos. This lens does this very well.

Naturally I tried the 18-135mm STM on my 50D (and 20D) and was actually gob smacked by the image quality, even for a kit lens. Bought a 700D also for video and as a general purpose camera. With the 18-135mm STM makes a pretty good travel kit.

A couple of months back I bought the 10-18mm STM. Big bang for your bucks, especially for video. The 10-18mm STM has hardly left my 700D.

I'm going on holidays at the end of the week. 700D, 18-135mm STM, 10-18mm STM and 40mm f/2.8 is what I'm taking.

flthere wrote in post #17155993
Been going thru lot of posts in the past two weeks trying to get an answer without starting a new thread but just wanted to listen directly from APS-C owners who went thru the choice enigma/dilemna.

I'm a Casual photographer looking for sharp quality images. Here is what I've for Canon XTi cropped body:

28-135mm
50mm f1.8 Nifty Fifty
(the kit lens 18-55mm not working now, but not great IQ anyways)

28mm is just not cutting it especially indoors for parties and kids, so this became a travelling lens but it doesn't help landscapes either But I do like the image quality and sharpness.

Definitely like the Nifty Fifty for its quality but it's equivalent to 80 mm, still feel happy that it's close to 85mm that everybody really loves!

Question: Just started thinking of either replacing the 28-135mm and 18-135mm seems to be a choice. From IQ perspective, do you say that these are closer ? Sharpness ?? Color ?

One other alternative is to get the 10-18mm that's been getting good feedback here in POTN forum as well as everywhere else.

Someday I've to get another prime like a 30mm or 35mm but need to get the wide angle aspect taken care off first.

I wish there is a sticky on the recommended lens for Cropped bodies

Thanks in advance !

Heya,

Indoor parties? Flash with any wide lens will handle that. If you want to do it without flash, then a fast ultrawide with F2.8 and throw your ISO to the roof and shoot away, but just learn to process the noise.

Lenses to consider:

EF-S 10-18 STM with flash. Flash is essential for parties in low light, if people are moving. Otherwise, you're relying on ISO to keep shutter fast enough to avoid motion blur. IS does nothing for moving targets in parties, so that won't help out here. It's flash or ISO. This lens is great, but it's not a good low light lens due to it's narrow apertures.

EF-S 10-22 with flash. Same as above, but with more range and costs more, but it's better at everything, except it too is bound to ISO and flash in low light in parties and indoors.

Tokina 16-28 F2.8 / Tokina 11-16 F2.8, fast glass, sharp, and very wide. Great for indoor and parties. Still benefits flash, but you have more ability to not use flash with the F2.8 apertures. Still will need some ISO to keep shutter fast indoors without flash.

If you consider an 18-XXX lens, you're getting slightly wider angle, but you still have poor low light ability for indoor stuff. You're still looking at high ISO or flash to manage.

A wider angle prime, like the EF 28mm F1.8, 35mm F2 IS, will be decent for indoor without flash, as they're fast enough with higher ISO to manage. But are they wide enough? Probably not since you already want wider than 28mm and you have 28mm.

So for cost purposes and if you really want to grab photos easy on the XTi, a flash with E-TTL is your best bet and best purchase right now. Pair with a wide zoom of any flavor you wish. The faster Tokina's, or the slower Canon's. Your call there. That will handle all the indoor stuff and all your wide and ultrawide needs. You can keep shooting the 28-135 for the general stuff. And you can replace the 50 down the road with a 35 F2 IS and probably fall in love with that far more. But I cannot stress enough right now how important flash is with E-TTL for what you've described. Bounced E-TTL is amazing for indoor stuff. Bread & butter.

Very best,

I've had the original 18-135. It is better on crop than the 28-135 (which I still have, want it?). The newer 18-135s are reviewed to be even better. The 28-135 is fair on full frame. It just doesn't perform on apsc.

Yes, I do have flash and use bounce flash for natural looking flash pictures, but 28 mm is just not wide enough for home parties and birthdays.

10-18 mm it is in all probability, and possibly replace my 28-135 with 18-135. Thank you all for your valuable inputs !

My XTi is about 7 and half years old

I've owned both (the STM version of 18-135)

The 18-135 STM is optically superior to the 28-135.

The 28-135 doesn't get much respect here and it is an older design but it probably deserves better than it here. Mine is left over from my last film camera. I have never been unhappy optically with it on my 50D but I've never been real happy with the quality of its construction. I should add that mine does not creep when pointed sharply down or up but does have the wobble in the front tube that seems to be universal with the 28-135. I know there are better options, but it has never cried out to me that it's bad and must be replaced.

For some time I planned on replacing it with a 15-85 - a lens you should really consider before getting the 18-135. It's IQ is superior to either the 28-135 or the 18-135, it's very well made, and 15mm is a great WA focal length. However I did not get the 15-85 because I am developing a nice real estate photography business and really needed wider. I got a 10-22 which pairs nicely with the 28-135. Although I have some other lenses, I really don't need much except those two. When I replace the 28-135, it will most likely be with a 24-105L and that is not a high priority right now.

FWIW, I recently did some work with my 18-55 IS. This is one of the better versions of that lens and DxO actually rates it better on the 50D than the 28-135. I didn't need the UWA on this job but did need to do several exterior shots that might be too wide for the 28-135 so I decided to take just the one lens. The shots are good but they lack the kind of subjective quality I see from the 28-135. I can't put my finger on it, but the 28-135 just looks better overall.

OP, my advice is, unless you need the long end, take a good look at the 15-85. It's your best choice for both optics and build quality. And, before you get a 10-18, take a good look at the 10-22. Like all the new STM lenses, the 10-18 is reputed to be very good optically (and it has IS which the 10-22 doesn't), but the 10-22 is a little better, made a lot better, and matches up with your 28-135 better. Hope this helps.