General Walk About Lens??

Matt

I've got one of these. Had it for a few years now. It currently sits on my 300D which backs up my 2 other cameras.Always had good results from it.

You might like to trawl the secondhand dealers just to see if you can get a good one.
 
how often do you use the 18mm end of the kit lens? 18 - 28mm is quite a difference. If you do, then maybe something like the Sigma 18-200 would be worth considering. £ 220 new from WE
 
The 28-105 is a great little lens. The one I had was sharp as a tack, you can often get them 2nd hand for around £100 on ebay...
 
You could always go for the 28-135mm IS

and there just happens to be one in the for sale section

EF 28-135mm IS

A little dearer but worth the extra :D
 
I've got that 28-105 (nonIS) 3.5-4.5 usm II and I don't rate it against my 18-55 kit lens!

The 18-55 is just sharper, and less CAs. The 28-105 can really smear bright areas across dark bits (sky 80% across lampposts at 50m). Its results are fairly good, but dont expect a leep from the 18-55 because it isn't, you have to kep away from the wide open end of the aperture range to get sharpness and it goes a bit soft at the 105mm end of the zoom too. It was a BIG step up from the kit lens that came with my EOS500N 7 years ago, but the modern kit lens is really quite good. I reckon the 18-55 kit lens is able to put slightly higher resolution onto the centre 2/3rds of the sensor than the 28-105.

It is a nice lens to use, the proper USM and the fulltime manual focus are good and feels nice and smooth. The build quality is reasonable, but the extending end of the lens is still a bit wobbly (nowhere near as bad as the kit lens though).

The 28-105 I find gives a nice zoom range on the 400d, but it would be nice to have a little bit more wide. I also have a 75-300 and can get better results at the 75 end of that than at the 105 end of the 28-105.

My thought is if you've got £200 for a new lens then keep the kit lens and accept its reasonable enough, but beg, borrow or sell your soul for the rest of the cash to buy a 70-200 F4 L from kerso while the canon offer is running . . . £280 for L glass, ooooh
 
beware of different models of 28-105, watch the aperture range, the 3.5-4.5 usm mk1 or 2 are the good ones, there are also horrible 28-105 models only identified by different aperture ranges
 
Given your budget I would go for the 28-135 IS. It's not in the same class as a good L but it produces reasonable images and looks the part (if lens posing is your thing).

Bob
 
..but if lens posing is your thing, do you keep it in its pouch ??

Only Bob can answer that, me'thinks
 
..but if lens posing is your thing, do you keep it in its pouch ??

Only Bob can answer that, me'thinks

Alas, the 28-135 is my good lady's walkabout.
I, on the other hand, pose with my 35-350L.....that monster makes any pouch look impressive. :razz:

Bob

PS...I have moved on from the posing pouch to the posing paunch
 
Hmmm Bob - reckon I too qualify for the paunch bit, but don't seem to have much success when posing with it..
 
28-105 sample picture with problems

2750a579.jpg


notice the lamppost about 1/3rd of the way across from the righthand side, follow the right hand edge of it up to where it passes the top of the roof, then the right hand edge of the post disappears. The same problem appears all over the photo on the chrome of the motorbikes. Looks a lot worse full size.


now comparison of 28-105 and 18-55 in similar light conditions

2e5ee57b.jpg


and

536185eb.jpg


can you tell the difference? which one is taken with which lens?

honestly, forget the 28-105, its nice enough but its not perfect and its not going to be significantly different from the 18-55, use the money to get the 70-200 L instead!
 
Wookie, I think you must have a bad copy, here's a shot I took with the 28-105 I had under similar lighting and a lamp post in the distance.
web_1895.jpg
 
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