18-55mm "Verse's" 28-135mm image sharpness compara

18-55mm "Verse's" 28-135mm image sharpness comparason. how do the standared lens compare with the 28-135 is usm lens for quality of picture sharpness?....is there much difference puting aside the image stabaliza and usm motor drive in the 28-135mm. i need somthing better than the standared lens but dont have the funds for the "L" series and i would like it to be able to zoom, im not after the prime lens types. any help would be much appreciated.

cheers,
Foxcrew

You would be hard put to describe the EF 28-135mm as a particularly sharp lens. Certainly it is the "softest" zoom lens I own.

Isn't this just another variation on the "I want a sharp lens" posts that you've been making and that everyone has already answered for you?

no one has given me a straight answer yet. im after a small zoom lens (not a prime) that is as close to the quality of an "L" series lens and is of canon brand

the 28-135 is a pretty common lens for me to use. It is not a great performer at f/3.5-5.6 but it performs very well in daylight conditions at f/8. Even the softer images can be fixed in PS. It is a very versatile lens despite its weaknesses. The IS is nice for me, especially when I want to create movement while handholding.

My friend has the 18-55 kit lens and he says that the 28-135 outperforms the crap out of it.

foxcrew wrote:
no one has given me a straight answer yet. im after a small zoom lens (not a prime) that is as close to the quality of an "L" series lens and is of canon brand

Why canon brand?

Look for the 28-105mm F3.5-4.5 USM with a metal mount. That is supposed to be pretty damn sharp. Not L quality but not L price.

The only way you will get closer to L quality is move away from the canon brand. Optically the Tamron 28-75 F2.8 XR DI is pretty good, much closer to L than the canon con/prosumer zooms.

foxcrew wrote:
no one has given me a straight answer yet. im after a small zoom lens (not a prime) that is as close to the quality of an "L" series lens and is of canon brand

Well I'll give you a straight answer. There are no consumer Canon zoom lenses close to the quality of a Canon "L" series lens. If you want "L" quality you either buy a Canon "L" or if you don't want to spend so much money then you go third party.

Think about it for a bit... if Canon made cheaper zooms of "L" quality that weren't "L" lenses why would anyone fork out the money for Canon "L"s? It wouldn't make commercial sense for them to do it.

has anyone done a poll on these 2 lenses side by side?

I have the 28-135 IS USM lens and have compared it to 50 1.4 which I bought for a "sharp" lens. What I found was that in normal use, I couldn't tell the difference between the two in terms of image sharpness. I know the 50 is sharper but it wasn't distinguishable in hand-held pictures under normal conditions. I have found that tripod mounting makes a big difference. Even the remote release helps increase sharpness. And finally, mirror lockup helps. Honestly, if you were going to use all the above techniques in your shots and image sharpness were paramount, get a prime. Otherwise, I have found that for general picture taking where you don't have a set objective ahead of time, the flexibility of the 28-135 far outweighs any sharpness issues, which in most cases won't even be detectable. I would choose between the two lenses based on how close their focal range is to your needs. That's my two cents, others may have had a different experience...

foxcrew wrote:
no one has given me a straight answer yet. im after a small zoom lens (not a prime) that is as close to the quality of an "L" series lens and is of canon brand

Foxcrew you have been given many straight answers so far. Apparently you just don't like the answers.


Buy a prime or spend some serious money.


But PLEASE stop these posts! You have 6 posts total and 4 of them are posts asking this question over and over. Stop. Just stop.