Canon 17-40mm

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Creaxel_photo

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What are your thoughts on the Canon 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens?
I'm looking at buying this and sell my Canon 15-85mm.

Your help is much appreciated
 
Do you have any plans to go full frame in the near future? As you'll be loosing on the wide and tele end and I'm sure your 15-85 is at least f/4 till 40mm?
 
Not much to say other than it's my fav lens on my 5D2. absolutely love using it and landscapes at f18 really sing. I recall people being negative about how it works in the far corners of an image but I've never really had any issues and lightroom soon sorts out any distortion / vignetting etc.

Other than that, a solid, well built, and reasonably priced lens.

Mark.
 
Creaxel_photo said:
What are your thoughts on the Canon 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens?
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The 17-40mm f4 is a wide angle lens designed for full frame cameras. On APS-C it's no longer a wide angle and (IMVHO) you're better off with a 17-50mm f2.8, more range, faster aperture and probably smaller and lighter too.
 
Use it on my 5D Mkll and love it, built like a tank and a fantastic Landscape limp of glass. As been said about, really designed of FF

Ian
 
What do you think it will do that your 15-85 doesn't?

It's got better build and weather sealing and is full frame compatible, but apart from that the 15-85 seems just as good or better in every other way.
 
Thanks everyone for the information.

Rajkay said:
Do you have any plans to go full frame in the near future? As you'll be loosing on the wide and tele end and I'm sure your 15-85 is at least f/4 till 40mm?
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Well, I am thinking one day I will have a full body lens,


squishy said:
What do you think it will do that your 15-85 doesn't?

It's got better build and weather sealing and is full frame compatible, but apart from that the 15-85 seems just as good or better in every other way.
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The main reason is because I am thinking that at the moment I do not use my 15-85mm much so I thought if I sell it now I will be making more money than in the future when it gets older, since its an EF-S lens I won't be able to use it on a full frame at all.
 
Sounds a bit like you're more looking for a reason to sell your 15-85 rather than to buy a 17-40. :thinking:

FWIW, I found the 17-40 made a good mid-range zoom when I had a 300D and there weren't many other options at the time.

It gets used very regularly on my 5D since I bought that in 2006. What wavefront said.
 
You'd be mad to swap. Worry about full frame when the time comes.

Whatever lenses you get now will behave compleletly differently on full frame anyway.
 
I have both a 15-85 and 17-40. I also have a 5D2 and 7D. The 17-40 never goes on the 7D....
 
Thanks again, so I suppose even if one day I want to go full frame I'd keep my 7D anyway which in that case I'll be able to use the 15-85mm.
Hmm I guess I'm just rushing to buy something!

So I will keep my 15-85 and I have to make sure that I use it more (if I can stop using my 50mm!!)

But I'm wondering would the value of a lens go down a lot as the time goes? I've heard some do and some don't.
 
Creaxel_photo said:
But I'm wondering would the value of a lens go down a lot as the time goes? I've heard some do and some don't.
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The good lenses hold their value. Personally I'd consider the 15-85 a good lens.
 
wavefront said:
Not much to say other than it's my fav lens on my 5D2. absolutely love using it and landscapes at f18 really sing. I recall people being negative about how it works in the far corners of an image but I've never really had any issues and lightroom soon sorts out any distortion / vignetting etc.

Other than that, a solid, well built, and reasonably priced lens.

Mark.
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What is like at f/4 - 5.6 in the corners? Would it not become more like 18-19mm after the distortion correction, just like 24-105@24mm becomes more like 27mm. But the colours are really fantastic from that lens.
 
I used to have the 17-40mm, it was a great lens. The only downside for me was the limiting range it offered so I opted to replace it with a 24-105mm which has saved a lot of swapping lenses.

As others have mentioned, the 17-40mm is more suited to a FF camera but still very usable even on crop. To get similar kinds of wide angle shots on a crop sensor you'd want to look at the 10-22, or similar. I'd personally find the 10-22mm overly restrictive on FL though.
 
17-40 is my walk around on 7D.

Yes if I had money to burn I might look at spending a few grand on other lenses. However, being a reasonable sort of chap I find it an amazing combination and not a wate of money or madness. Just great.
 
Mark_C said:
I used to have the 17-40mm, it was a great lens. The only downside for me was the limiting range it offered so I opted to replace it with a 24-105mm which has saved a lot of swapping lenses.

As others have mentioned, the 17-40mm is more suited to a FF camera but still very usable even on crop. To get similar kinds of wide angle shots on a crop sensor you'd want to look at the 10-22, or similar. I'd personally find the 10-22mm overly restrictive on FL though.
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Well I don't find myself needing much zoom at the moment, I think it's mainly because I do street, portrait and landscape, but you got me thinking there with the 10-22mm, need to see it in action!
 
PCPhil said:
17-40 is my walk around on 7D.

Yes if I had money to burn I might look at spending a few grand on other lenses. However, being a reasonable sort of chap I find it an amazing combination and not a wate of money or madness. Just great.
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Cool, it seems a good lens to me too, being an L lens for the price it is (£570).
I just need to do some comparison with my 15-85mm!
 
Creaxel_photo said:
Cool, it seems a good lens to me too, being an L lens for the price it is (£570).
I just need to do some comparison with my 15-85mm!
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Ah, the L-Factor. If people are honest, most crop camera users that want the 17-40L are after the red ring. That's fine, but optically it doesn't add up to the most versatile choice, or even the sharpest (though it's not bad!).

If range isn't so important, but maybe sharpness and a low f/number is, consider the highly rated 17-55 2.8 with IS. But it's not an L-lens and it's more expensive too. That was my choice on a crop body, and mighty impressive it was too.
 
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HoppyUK said:
Ah, the L-Factor. If people are honest, most crop camera users that want the 17-40L are after the red ring. That's fine, but optically it doesn't add up to the most versatile choice, or even the sharpest (though it's not bad!).

If range isn't so important, but maybe sharpness and a low f/number is, consider the highly rated 17-55 2.8 with IS. But it's not an L-lens and it's more expensive too. That was my choice on a crop body, and mighty impressive it was too.
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well one of the reasons for me with the L lens is the weather sealing, which I believe this one had too?
I'm not very much bothered with the aperture here since it's a wide angle lens and I have my 50 1.4 which does what I need.
 
AFAIK, weather sealing on a lens only works when you mount it on a weather sealed body - i.e. a 1-Series.
 
Musicman said:
AFAIK, weather sealing on a lens only works when you mount it on a weather sealed body - i.e. a 1-Series.
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7D is quite good at that, but admittedly 1-series are slightly better sealed.
 
I think it is only the 1D series that have the gasket on the lens mount that interfaces with the seal on the lens.
 
Craikeybaby said:
I think it is only the 1D series that have the gasket on the lens mount that interfaces with the seal on the lens.
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Yep. That's why.
 
There's no seal on any camera mounts, it's only on the back of weatherproofed lenses.
 
HoppyUK said:
There's no seal on any camera mounts, it's only on the back of weatherproofed lenses.
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Yes, I can't see anything special on any of my 1-series mounts. The mounts look no more special than 40D.
 
Musicman said:
AFAIK, weather sealing on a lens only works when you mount it on a weather sealed body - i.e. a 1-Series.
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The weather seal is on the lens mount not the camera, and 7D body is weather sealed too, and I have tried it in rainy stormy days with my 100mmL and they worked great.
 
I use the 17-40 as a walkaround on my 40D and love it :)

Re the weathersealing, the gasket is on the rear of the lens but the 17-40 also needs a screw in filter to complete the seal.
 
Go for a 17-55mm F2.8 IS, one of the best lenses you can get for crop. the 17-40mm is a ultra wide designed for full frame
 
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