Prime alternative to Canon 17-40 F4L?

NewbieNeil

NewbieNeil

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Neil
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I currently have a 7D with 24-70 L and 70-200 L. I will be upgrading to a 5D mk III in a few months, but keeping the 7D to use a second body, particularly with the 70-200 for the extra magnification and faster fps.

I am looking for a wide angle lens to use predominantly on the 5D and have read several threads on here that are pushing me towards the 17-40 F4L rather than the (possibly overpriced) 16-35 F2.8L because I don't think that I'll use the lens very often at maximum aperture.

Before I buy, I thought about prime lenses that might perform as well, or better, for the same price. But the main contender seems to be the ridiculously priced 14 F2.8L. I guess that I would rather stick to the L series.

Am I missing something obvious, or should I just buy the 17-40?

Thanks

Neil
 
I've just bought the 17-40 this weekend, can't make my mind up about it yet. It's sharp in some shots, a bit soft at the edges (nature of the beast I suppose) for me the biggest problem is there seems to be quite a lot of CA on the edges of some shots. It's a bit disappointing for an L lens, my 24-105 f4 L is a much better lens, but my go to lens has to be my f1.4 50mm Canon, it's fantastic on stills, also with video.
 
The 17-40 is fine for what it is. Yes it is a bit soft in the corners but it depends how much of a stickler you are, and in the centre it's really quite good.

Plus the 17-40 on the 7D makes a nice, albeit slow, general purpose zoom if you want backup options.
 
Yea another thumbs up for the Samyang 14mm manual lens, I use it attached to my (full-frame) 5D Mk1 with nice effect;


6248_21stMarch.jpg
 
What about the Canon 20mm F/2.8? Not an L lens, but still mega good!
 
Siggy 20mm f1.8? I have one and sharp in the centre at f1.8 and very sharp when stopped down just a little. Other than that there are 24, 28 and 35mm lenses to think about.

20mm is pretty sharp on FF and makes a nice 35mm equiv on APS-C so may be a good one to go for if having both format bodies.
 
If you are obsessed with sharpness (like me) you are in for a bit of disappointment, I am afraid.

I'd strongly suggest using 24-70mm as far as you can - after all it is the sharpest canon wide-standard zoom.

17-40mm is disappointing in the edges till at least f/11 for larger printing. Once you get past it, it's OK, not stellar, and at f/18+ it gets soft all over due to diffraction. At f/5.6 you may as well contemplate 8x10 crop. The main selling points are rich colours, superb flare resistance and very small size.

Canon has just released a number of patents for various new 16/17-35 wide lenses so I am holding out for one of those.

If you don't care about filters and excessive flare - Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 should be an obvious choice.

Primes - 17mm or 24mm II TSE - v. expensive, or Zeiss 18/21mm. Canon/Sigma 20mm is rather poor, and certainly worse than 17-40.
 
Thanks very much for the input everyone. Some really interesting options for me to consider, not least the suggestion from daugirdas to hold out and see what comes out over the next few months. Thankfully, I am not really in a hurry, either for the wide angle lens or the 5D mk III, which hopefully will drop a little in price in a few months time.
 
manualfocus-g said:
The Samyang 14/2.8 is excellent on the 5D, although it has some weird distortion. Sharp from f/2.8 though and of course, is manual focus.
Click to expand...
It's a nice shot, excellent colour saturation.
 
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