One Sick Kit Lens (for the money)

As part of a combo deal, I bought an 18-55 IS off a member here at P.O.T.N. that had never been used with intent to turn a dollar on it.

Well, this week end (since I had to sell my 17-55 2.8 IS and my 24-70L recently) I grabbed it to stick on my Brand New 7D, I got in the mail last Friday, to shoot candids of my now 3YR old daughters birthday party Saturday.

All I can say is WOW, this little lens shocked the every living SH#T out of me. Color rendition was very true to life but what I still can not understand is how tack sharp it was. To date it may very well be my sharpest zoom ever. It does have some dramatic barrel distortion when you zoom out to 18mm but that was to be expected. However, what was not expect, not by me at least, is how freakishly sharp this lens is for the price. I can look at things at 150-200% and still be sharp.

Is this normal for this little bad boy or did I get a really lucky piece of glass? It IS sharper then my 17-55 was for a fact!

Samples to follow.

BigAlz1 wrote in post #10954501
As part of a combo deal I bought an 18-55 IS off a member here at P.O.T.N. that had never been used with intent to turn a dollar on it.

Well, this week end (since I had to sell my 17-55 2.8 IS and my 24-70L recently) I grabbed it to stick on my Brand New 7D, I got in the mail last Friday, to shoot candids of my now 3YR old daughters birthday party Saturday.

All I can say is WOW, this little lens shocked the every living SH#T out of me. Color rendition was very true to life but what I still can not understand is how tack sharp it was. To date it may very well be my sharpest zoom ever. It does have some dramatic barrel distortion when you zoom out to 18mm but that was to be expected. However, what was not expect, not by me at least, is how freakishly sharp this lens is for the price. I can look at things at 150-200% and still be sharp.

Is this normal for this little bad boy or did I get a really lucky piece of glass? It IS sharper then my 17-55 was for a fact!

Samples to follow.

Either you've got a bad copy of an 17-55, or you're under the influence of... something. I've done many direct comparisons of my 18-55 IS and 15-85mm, and the 15-85mm comes out the winner--absolutely no contest. At 100% crop, there's no doubt that the 18-55mm IS has inferior IQ--not that it's BAD, just not as good. The effects are even more pronounced in low-light situations. The 17-55 is a much better lens than the 15-85mm. 17-55 > 15-85 > 18-55

I don't buy the claim that the 18-55 IS is sharper than your standard 17-55mm IS... not for one second. Consider sending your 17-55 in for calibration--something must be very wrong... or you need some microadjustments.

Ill just post the link to my Photobucket folder for those that want more samples
http://s646.photobucke​t.com/albums/uu185/Big​Alz1/18-55/


But here is one of the best examples, Every image I captured Saturday and today are of this quality, I uped a few to photobucket for show and tell here at the forum.

MOkoFOko wrote in post #10954523
Either you've got a bad copy of an 17-55, or you're under the influence of... something. I've done many direct comparisons of my 18-55 IS and 15-85mm, and the 15-85mm comes out the winner--absolutely no contest. At 100% crop, there's no doubt that the 18-55mm IS has inferior IQ--not that it's BAD, just not as good. The effects are even more pronounced in low-light situations. The 17-55 is a much better lens than the 15-85mm. 17-55 > 15-85 > 18-55

I don't buy the claim that the 18-55 IS is sharper than your standard 17-55mm IS... not for one second. Consider sending your 17-55 in for calibration--something must be very wrong... or you need some microadjustments.

Well I must admit, I never got to try my 17-55 out on my 7D, as I explained, but the 17-55 coupled with my 40D didn't give me 100% this sharp!!

And your logic that sharp images from an 18-55 deams my 7D faulty is puzzling to me to say the least!

BigAlz1 wrote in post #10954537
Ill just post the link to my Photobucket folder for those that want more samples
http://s646.photobucke​t.com/albums/uu185/Big​Alz1/18-55/


But here is one of the best examples, Every image I captured Saturday and today are of this quality, I uped a few to photobucket for show and tell here at the forum.

While those do look good, a direct comparison between the two lens with the exact same shots and focal lengths is the only fair way to do it... You may want to also do some comparison shots in a low-light setting and see how they turn out.

BigAlz1 wrote in post #10954552
Well I must admit, I never got to try my 17-55 out on my 7D, as I explained, but the 17-55 coupled with my 40D didn't give me 100% this sharp!!

And your logic that sharp images from an 18-55 deams my 7D faulty is puzzling to me to say the least!

Hmm? I don't believe I'm making a case that your 7d is faulty... you never exactly said you tried the 17-55 on your 7d (which you just confirmed), so that's not a fair assessment. I wouldn't really expect images on your 40d to turn out as well as on a 7d--especially with higher ISO comparisons. If you compare shots from both lens on your 7d and find the 18-55 to be sharper... consider microadjusting the 17-55 or sending it in for calibration.

Canons $1200 EF-S king vs $180 budget kit lens...

MOkoFOko wrote in post #10954558
While those do look good, a direct comparison between the two lens with the exact same shots and focal lengths is the only fair way to do it... You may want to also do some comparison shots in a low-light setting and see how they turn out.

No need, I shot my 17-55 2.8 for over a year on my 40D body and my images are not that sharp. The 17-55 is gone and so is (soon) the 40D.

Point is, the 17-55 w/40d was good enough for a year and this little kit lens, for it's application, is awesome. No it doesn't stop down to 2.8 and yes it has more barrel distortion but, for something like candids with flash, and general outdoor WOW this thing is a BIG bang for the buck!

50.00 dollars, in my case, vs the 1000.00 for the 17-55, rarely did I end up shooting in low light and the 7D promises much better high ISO then the 40D ever dreamed of.

I will explore this little lenses limits further. If I am not mistaken, it has a stop faster IS then the 17-55, can someone confirm that for me.

Well, there you go. IMO, it's mostly because you used flash.

There's no replacement for proper lighting. Ample lighting (from flash) plus narrower aperture = sharp photos.

As long as you're very happy with the results, I say screw the technicalities.

Just so you get a better idea of why I am blown away by the lens, here is a very similar shot with my 17-55/40D combo. The 40D had been calibrated by Canon but the lens was not.
This is the sharpest my lens ever got, under any condition. I cropped right at the AF point.

BigAlz1 wrote in post #10954573
No need, I shot my 17-55 2.8 for over a year on my 40D body and my images are not that sharp. The 17-55 is gone and so is (soon) the 40D.

Point is, the 17-55 w/40d was good enough for a year and this little kit lens, for it's application, is awesome. No it doesn't stop down to 2.8 and yes it has more barrel distortion but, for something like candids with flash, and general outdoor WOW this thing is a BIG bang for the buck!

50.00 dollars, in my case, vs the 1000.00 for the 17-55, rarely did I end up shooting in low light and the 7D promises much better high ISO then the 40D ever dreamed of.

I will explore this little lenses limits further. If I am not mistaken, it has a stop faster IS then the 17-55, can someone confirm that for me.

Canon claims 4-fstops gain on the 18-55, but some reviewers say it's closer to 3, which is what the 17-55 is rated for. For the most part, you're not going to notice a difference. The IS is handy for low-light, but the 17-55 wins that battle no matter how you look at it.

Now I see that you sold off your 17-55. I will not debate this further, as you cannot provide any reliable tests between the two... I'm glad that the 18-55 is serving you well on the 7d, but I still have no doubt that a decent copy of an 17-55 would blow the kit lens away on the SAME BODY

I gotta say that the 17-55 IS is indeed the king of crop lenses. Mine was tack sharp! But I have to admit that the 18-55 is very impressive with a flash. You can't go wrong for the money. That's why I still have mine even though I have switched to using only primes.

jwcdds wrote in post #10954588
As long as you're very happy with the results, I say screw the technicalities.

+++1

Again people, I even stated in my thread heading, "for the money"

And as you can clearly see against what I was dealing with previously, it is improvement by leaps and bounds.

All discussions about which lens is better aside, I'm glad that you enjoy your new body and lens. Have fun shooting!

Hey BigALz !!

To point out that I did purchase the 17-55 from BigAlz and when I received it...it was in pristine condition as he stated before selling me this lens...however I also too didn't feel it was as sharp as my kit lens as I was experiencing a bit of front focusing...so I paid 100 bucks to have it calibrated by canon in irvine...when I received the lens back it was experiencing the same prob...long story short it took me several times sending it back to have it calibrated correctly and on top of that I was issued a 50 refund for my troubles...all in all a great deal and now I have a 6 month warranty...focus is a non issue now...so his lens was sharp just not focusing correctly...and thanks again I love love this lens!

Glad you got it sorted. There was definitely something not right with the sample he posted. The 18-55IS is a good lens, but it's not in the same league as the 15-85 and 17-55.