Next Lens to buy

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Canon EOS FAQ forum : One Thread

I own a Canon Elan 7 with a 28-135mm IS lens. I am thinking about purchasing a 75-300mm IS lens and a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens. How good are these lens and which one should i purchase?

-- Tony Webb (awebb3296@aol.com), August 16, 2001

Answers

There is only one 75-300mm IS and one 50mm f/1.8, so if that's what you want, there really are no choices.

All the Canon 75-300's are good & sharp from 75mm to about 200mm. At 300mm they are a bit soft, but improve considerably if you stop them down to f/11. They don't offer FTM and the autofocusing is slow. The IS works great though.

If you can do without IS the 100-300 USM is built better and focuses faster. It also has FTM (as does your 28-135 USM IS). Image quality is about the same as the 75-300's. The 100-300 f/5.6L is sharper but handles clunkier.

The Sigma 70-300 DL and APO is also clunky, feels poorly built, has slow AF, and has a reputation of falling apart, but the APO version is marginaly sharper than any of the above except the Canon L version. The Sigma's do focus closer though.

The 50 f/1.8 is very sharp when stopped down to f/4 or so. It's a bit soft wide open, but most fast fifties are. The version/mark I was built better with a metal mount, a distance indicator & fatter manual focus ring. They are about the same price used as the newer version/mark II is new. The newer one is lighter and quieter focusing, but they are optically the same.

The 50mm f/1.4 is sharper, focuses faster, has FTM and costs three times as much. I prefer the 35mm f/2 as a fast prime since the focal length is more useful indoors, where I'm most likely to want a fast prime.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), August 17, 2001.


Another budget alternative is the hoary 100-300 f 5.6 L lens, released in the late 80's. No USM, no FTM. AF is slower than USM but workable. With low-despersion glass, optics perform well, especially for the price. Still available new, although it appears to be on its way out.

***

-- Rod Nygaard (rod.nygaard@boeing.com), August 17, 2001.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ