madzazulu

I’m surprised that this lens is actually pretty good. Pretty sharp even wide open. Now I own lots of L lenses but this one is good enough for my walking lens.
Rating: 5 / 5

  G. Stant

Let me start by saying that this review is by an photographically active amateur, not a professional. I am returning to SLR use after many years of using a more simpler camera. While I do not take professional pictures, I do consider myself quite active in taking pictures so wanted to step up to the next level of camera, and lens, without going to the really high end equipment. I now have several lenses, but this one was my first. In this lens, I was looking for versatility – a “walk around” lens as it were. After several weeks of research, including reading as many reviews as possible through customer ratings on Amazon and other sites, I felt that this lens would meet my criteria of a walk-around lens with some telephoto as well as wide-angle capability. Over the last month, I have take nearly 1,000 pictures and while this lens, according to some reviews, may not produce quite as good a picture as one of the equivalent Canon “L” lens, it is more than adequate for me, not nearly as expensive at this stage of my involvement, nor as heavy. Nor does it have the “lens creep” reported through reviews of Canon’s other equivalent (28-135) lens which I also considered. As an interesting anecdote, during a recent trip on the train from Central Florida to the Washington, DC, area, I wanted to take some photos out of the train window showing snow scenes as we entered Virginia. The train was traveling at approximately 50-70 MPH so I knew I had to adjust for blur. I set my camera speed at 1/1200; let the aperture adjust automatically, as well as the ISO, and found that I could take sharp photos out the window without problem. It also made me realize how important a lens with Image Stabilization was for these type of shots. While not all were perfect (due to user error), most were very good considering that this was my real first attempt at doing “speed shots.” After further review of my shots later in the trip, I noticed that I shifted my zoom from 35mm to 85mm, back and forth, depending upon the type of picture I wanted to take. This process was quite easy to do with this lens. In summary, I find this to be a very capable lens for the purpose I intended it to be and would unequivocally recommend its purchase for similar needs.
Rating: 5 / 5