First 'L' Lens

Coop

Coop

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Ben
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recently purchased a 24-105 F/4 L

one word really 'wow'

I heard a lot about the step up to 'L' being a kind of 'moment' as it were and when I first unboxed the thing I didn't get it. Don't get me wrong, the things a fair chunk of glass and the build quality is excellent, but no different really to my sigma EX DC 10-20 F4-5.6 HSM. So it didn't wow me, and to be honest compared to the sigma it looks a bit dated in its style (probably a personal preference, I'm not keen on fussy designs with loads of different coloured scribbling's, etc). However, the key is how something performs.........and believe me on this I'm sold!

After the first run out in the field, in the dank dark wood yesterday afternoon, with nothing but gloom and poor light to work with, all I can say is what a lens! Images are crisp and sharp as you like hand held down to silly slow shutter speeds. Not to bad on the distortion even at the wide end, although no architecture shots thus far to see it. Autofocus is fast and fluid, and very good even in the poor light yesterday.

I'll be using the lens more over the coming weeks, but basically I'm pretty impressed thus far and genuinely excited about using the lens more.
 
Word.
Made the same purchase about a month ago - the sharpness of it compared to my cheaper ones is incredible. Also have the same Sigma lens, which I still love, but the zoom and focus rings don't feel as smooth as they used to in comparison... *sigh*
 
It's a great lens for sure.

I shot some cows yesterday when going to shoot an old brick house, didn't have a telephoto, so put this lens to 105mm and shot away, came back, cropped the hell out of it and it's still quite sharp.

Unless I want ultra-wide angle or large aperture, I stick to this lens most of the time. f4 105mm even works well for portraits. In fact, 24-105 f4 and 35 f2 are my go-to setup.

At wide angle, distortion does come into play, and there's quite a lot of it. At least on full frame.
 
The distortion is easily sorted within Lightroom or DPP, but as you are shooting on a crop sensor there should be minimal distortion or vignetting, even on f/4 at wide angle. It is much more of an issue for full-framers, but is easily corrected within software (or within modern bodies themselves).

Welcome to L-Land.
 
ai, the effective 38 odd mm wide end on the crop does help hide the distortion I'm sure :) and it gives me that bit extra on the telephoto as well which is good, makes it a good all-rounder really and I have the 10-20 (16-32 effective) for the wide stuff!

I'm very tempted however to sell up some lens' and the 550D body and plug for a 6D, only slight issue is having to sell the 550 means no 10-20 and I doubt the budget would allow for a 17-40 L or similar to replace it on the FF
 
Coop said:
ai, the effective 38 odd mm wide end on the crop does help hide the distortion I'm sure :) and it gives me that bit extra on the telephoto as well which is good, makes it a good all-rounder really and I have the 10-20 (16-32 effective) for the wide stuff!

I'm very tempted however to sell up some lens' and the 550D body and plug for a 6D, only slight issue is having to sell the 550 means no 10-20 and I doubt the budget would allow for a 17-40 L or similar to replace it on the FF
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I'm sure you could survive with proper 24mm for a bit? Now I mostly only use 17-40mm for interiors, and most landscapes with 24-70mm
 
oh I can survive on the camera on the back of my phone really when all's said and done ;)

but I really like the 16mm distortion the sigma gives me on the crop for creative stuff, particularly with automotive snaps, I take a lot of pics of my cars, I'm a bit sad like that!
 
If you just want to get crazy perspective get Samyang 14mm. Sharpest wide lens you will ever see. You can download Lightroom correction profile for it as well - just no filters.
 
cheers, I'll perhaps look into that option if I can balance the books to afford the 6D, looks good fun :)
 
I got mine on Wednesday, been bidding and missing on ebay for a few weeks so was dead chuffed when i won the auction! Only had a little play with it so far, nothing extravagent but it does seem so sharp and the IS performanced is fantastic! It's going to be my general purpose shooting lens, weddings/days out/ holiday etc.

Just the 100-400 L and a 2 x teleconvertor to get for me now and I'm happy!

Also using a 550d and happy enough with it for the time being.
 
Having a 24-105 myself I totally agree with the comments above. My problem now is having borrowed a 24-70 2.8(ii) L do I upgrade :shrug:

Oh and how do I sneak this cost via the wife :lol:
 
corb said:
I got mine on Wednesday, been bidding and missing on ebay for a few weeks so was dead chuffed when i won the auction! Only had a little play with it so far, nothing extravagent but it does seem so sharp and the IS performanced is fantastic! It's going to be my general purpose shooting lens, weddings/days out/ holiday etc.

Just the 100-400 L and a 2 x teleconvertor to get for me now and I'm happy!

Also using a 550d and happy enough with it for the time being.
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I don't think the 2x converter on the 100-400 will give you results you'd be happy with! Mine was a good sharp copy but even the 1.4 TC dropped the IQ noticeably. And of course no AF.
 
Having gone to test shoot some cricket saturday evening with the 550d with my tele kit lens @ 300mm, I've decided the 400mm 2.8 is the way to go with a 1d for better continuous shooting. Anyone got this weeks lottery numbers?!
 
Oscellaris said:
Having a 24-105 myself I totally agree with the comments above. My problem now is having borrowed a 24-70 2.8(ii) L do I upgrade :shrug:

Oh and how do I sneak this cost via the wife :lol:
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I don't think i'd want to loose the extra length, although the 2.8 would be nice......
 
I had the 24-105 for a while, it was my first L lens, and I'm afraid I was never impressed with it. The focal lengths on a crop worked out less than ideal. The wide end at about 38 was not really wide enough, and the long end often seemed a bit short. My copy may have been a bit "off" but I always felt it lacked contrast, things just seemed slightly soft and washed out. I felt my 35 f2 was better. It was one of the reasons I gave up with zooms, I just use primes now.
 
I've got the 17-40L on a 6D. It is absolutely brilliant!
 
turbotoes said:
I don't think the 2x converter on the 100-400 will give you results you'd be happy with! Mine was a good sharp copy but even the 1.4 TC dropped the IQ noticeably. And of course no AF.
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Agreed on this. Dont expect anything other than poor results with a 2x stuck on a 100-400. I too have the 100-400 with a 1.4x and the results are hit and miss at best.

MAT
 
I use a 24-105 on my 5d mk1 and have no problems of any description, it
Gets used for everything, pin Sharp, no distortion, no vignetting or anything !
 
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