Canon 24-105 f4 L IS?
 

I'm toying with getting this lens for general stuff, such as pic of the kids and the odd group shot, but also would need to use it for a wedding later in the year.

I was wondering if anyone has this lens and if so can they tell me what they think of it?

Or does anyone have any other suggestions of lenses I should look at?

Hi postcardcv
I do not have this lens but seriously was tempted to purchase when I bought my 5D last month.
It came as a kit lens with the 5D but it stretched my budget so I went for the body only.
Checked it out instore on the 5D, it is an awesome lens, super fast and very responsive, one for the future for me!
Hope this helps
Regards
PaulV

Are you proposing to use a full frame, 1.3 crop or 1.6 crop body

currently I'm using a 1.6 crop body, but would like to go full frame in the future (probably a few years yet).

I have this lens which I purchased with my 5D. It is an incredibly good performer. It never fails to please me every time I use it. There seems to be no limit to the amount of enlargement the images will stand. Of course there is a limit, but it will easily produce 24 x 16 enlargements with crop factor of 1. Focusing is fast and accurate and the IS works well. I think it was money well spent. Perhaps I should add that I use a 20D body for use with bird photography. This is because even with a 400 mm focal length I never fill the frame and under these circumstances the 1.6 crop factor allows more pixels to be used.

I have it as well, with my 20D and use it all the time.. it rarely comes off my camera. I bought it with the idea that I could use it even if I upgrade to x1.3 or full frame..
highly recommended

This thread has very much tempted me. When I first went into DSLR I could only afford a Sigma 18-200 lens. Although it is extremely versatile, the quality isn't as good as other lenses I have. I'm of for a probably once only trip to Australia in April and the temptation is getting so strong. To back it up I also have the Canon 10-22, Canon 100-400 IS and 1.4x teleconverter, Canon 200mm f2.8, Sigma 150mm macro.

Dave

Well the temptation was too much, I should have it by tomorrow.

Dave

I believe the phrase is LBA, Lens Buying Addiction. Stand up and, in front of all the group here, say the phrase "Hello, my name is Dave, and I'm a lens addict".:D

No, by tomorrow I will have kicked the habit.:rolleyes:

Dave

You won't regret it!

John.

Don't believe it, its in curable.

John

I've just seen the price of this lens. That's quite a habit you've got there Dave. I won't quote the price in case it's less than you paid. ;)

Please do, I could at this stage get Warehouse Express to match it.

Dave

It's ok, I looked at Park Cameras, they have it for £640, that's £40 more than WE.

How on earth do you guys afford all these lenses? I'm sooo jealous.

I suspect that this was a retorical question but I can give an answer in my case. I am now retired and for all my working life I have not had time or money for a hobby like photography, except we did get an SLR when living in Kenya (1969-73) where they were half UK prices. That camera lasted me until around retirement time. Since retirement I have taken on a part time job that I do from home and my sole purpose in taking on the job was to fund my hobbies (photography and astronomy). For the hours I do it probably pays less than the minimum working wage but has paid for lenses etc. I wouldn't dream of spending such money from our normal income. This job also could stop at any time and when that happens, no more toys.:(

Dave

lucky you... I'm going to have to wait until I've sold a few bits before I buy one...

Well it arrived this morning and I have done a couple of tests.

The first picture was taken indoors in pretty dim light with the 24-105 lens. Time exposure 1/6 sec handheld with and without the IS and cropped to 100%. Both straight out of the camera except for cropping.

The second test was comparing the Canon lens with the Sigma 18-200.
All are f5.6, camera on a tripod. The first in the Canon on 105mm, the second is the Sigma on 105mm and the third is with the Sigma on 200mm but resized to match the others.

As you can imagine I am well pleased with these results and I don't even lose out on the extra reach of the Sigma.:)

Dave

looking good - now I really want to but one!

It's a really nice, well balanced lens that one.
There's one very minor niggle I have with it and a few others we get in the shop......Canon (and some Nikon) lenses aren't supplied with the hoods. This one is....BUT......it's plastic!.
Heck, call me old fashioned, but the expensive L glass atleast deserves metal, or atleast more substantial hoods?!
just my thoughts....

This lenses is a lovely one though....seconded quite recently by a regular we have in. I beleive he uses it on his 5D for weddings with great success. We all like looking at his nice photos when they come in. Traditionally the f/4 might be limiting....don't beleive it!...this is a more than capable lens.

I'm jealous too!

I agree about the lens hood. It is quite difficult to avoid getting it crossed when assembling it onto the camera. It gets better with use though. I don't think I would like a metal one, just a more substantial plastic one would do fine.

John

I have this lens and use in frequently, most of the time for weddings and group shots. Using it on both the 1D MKII and 5D with excellent results as would be expected for L glass and IS. Worth the investment

thanks for all the help and advice... however I'm not going to buy the lens as I've seen a good deal on a 28-70 f2.8 L that I couldn't resist!

I've been using a 17-85 IS for about a year now on my 20D, but recently I have been getting a bit dissapointed by the wide open chromatic aberations and vignetting. Therefore I've been looking at either a 24-105 f4 or the 24-70 f2.8 as an up grade and I'm struggling to make my mind up.

As I see it they stack up like this:
----------------24-70-----24-105
Max app ---------f2.8 ------f4.0
Zoom Range -----2.9x ------4.4x
IS ---------------No -------Yes
Weight ----------950g------670g
Price ------------£818 -----£599 (Warehouse Express)
Overall Rating ----9.56 -----9.16 (user feedback www.slrgear.com)

So I suppose the question is... "is one stop and a very marginal increase in performance worth the difference in zoom range, no IS, weight & price?" :confused: Anyone any views? The only slight worry is the comment in the photozone review "It took me 4 (f-o-u-r) samples of the lens to get a good one - please note: "good", not a "great" sample. The first three variants showed rather hefty centering defects which spoiled the results quite a bit"

How good & where?:D

That was exactly what I was thinking... in the end I decided the extra stop was what I wanted - IS can be very effective but for me nothing beats being able to get a faster shutter speed. I went through stacks of reviews of these lenses and struggled to find a bad word about the 28-70 f2.8 (except the weight). I already have a 70-200 f2.8 so wasn't too worried about the top end of the zoom... weight isn't a huge issue for me as Ispend most fo my time using long lenses so even a 900g lens will seem light.

I found the 28-70 f2.8 for about half the price of a 24-70 f2.8 in a camera shop, that decided it for me.