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Comment on Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras by R. M. Kohary

R. M. Kohary — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:52:33 +0000

359 of 368 people found the following review helpful:

Best available all-around Canon lens, August 27, 2004

R. M. Kohary (Bothell, WA USA) -

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This review is from: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Camera)

Simply put, this is the best all-around lens that Canon manufactures. It produces razor-sharp images with startling color and saturation, and at f/2.8 across the zoom range is capable of shooting in all but the dimmest of lighting conditions. The "L" glass (Canon's professional line of lenses) is simply the best out there, bar none, from any manufacturer. It's pricey, but well worth it.

I use this lens for portrait and wedding photography, landscapes, sports, and anything else that doesn't require extreme telephoto. In concert with my EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM lens, I find that these two lenses cover just about everything I ever want to shoot. Of the two lenses, if I could pick only one, it would be the 24-70mm, because it's so versatile and can shoot so many situations (the 70-200mm is also a marvelous, invaluable lens, but at 70mm is limited in wide-angle situations).

I can't recommend this lens highly enough. If you can afford the entry fee, you'll have no hint of buyer's remorse once you see the spectacular images this lens produces.

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Comment on Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras by Larry Kottraba

Larry Kottraba — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:45:38 +0000

317 of 324 people found the following review helpful:

You will not be sorry you bought this!, February 11, 2006

Larry Kottraba (Phoenix, AZ USA) -

This review is from: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Camera)

In April of 2005 I bought the Canon 20D with the 18-55 kit lens, my first SLR camera. After getting used to properly taking pictures with the camera I bought the 24-70 as a lens upgrade - and what an upgrade it is. All the positive stuff you read about this lens is true ... the color, the contrast, the sharpness, it's unbelievable how well this lens performs compared to a consumer grade lens.

A lot of reviews complain that the 24-70 is too heavy, and it is heavy for a lens, but it's not "too" heavy to carry around all day. I also regularly use my Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS - that's a lens that is maybe too heavy for regular use but it's also A LOT bigger than the 24-70.

A note about debates you'll find everywhere comparing the 24-70 to the new Canon 24-105 f/4 ... These lenses are not built to be an either-or, they are different lenses targeted at different uses. The main complaint I found online about the 24-70 is that it lacks Image Stabilization, a complaint I eventually dismissed as irrelevant. I've taken thousands of photographs with this lens and not once did I miss a shot because the lens didn't have IS. Simply put, this lens isn't long enough to require IS.

If you're new to SLR photography be careful when reading product reviews, especially those in discussion forums. Just like any other hobby (like computers), people who are in to photography have very strong opinions and tend to have to have the latest and greatest thing that just came out. If you're thinking of purchasing a lens this expensive and are unsure if you should get one or the other, try renting one for a few days.

Another reviewer on this page commented on using this lens with the built-in flash on a 10D. If you're buying an $1,100 lens you should know that Canon didn't design it specifically so you could use it with the built-in flash. They probably assumed that if you could spend a grand plus on a lens that you could also step-up and buy a real flash. This reviewer gave the lens a 3/5 rating because his camera body didn't have the right flash, something that has nothing to do with the lens at all.

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Comment on Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras by erugifog "erugifog"

erugifog "erugifog" — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:54:03 +0000

592 of 604 people found the following review helpful:

A great general-purpose lens, December 15, 2005

erugifog "erugifog" (Seattle, WA USA) -

This review is from: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras (Camera)

I've owned the 24-70mm for almost a year now. This lens has been a favorite of many since it replaced its well-regarded predecessor, the 28-70mm. It shoots images that are very sharp and have excellent contrast and saturation. It's sharp wide open and only gets better when stopping down. The USM (Ultrasonic Motor) focuses very fast, and full-time manual focusing is allowed. I've thought about buying a 50mm f/1.4, but the results from this lens are so good, I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase. I've been nothing but pleased with the pictures I get from the 24-70mm. The constant f/2.8 aperture is great for shooting indoors and produces a very nice bokeh (background blur) when shooting portraits. This lens is much heavier than comparable consumer-grade zooms, but I don't object to the weight. I actually like the heft and feel of this lens on my 20D. The only feature I wish it had is IS (image stabilization).

The one thing preventing an unqualified recommendation is the recent release of the Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L IS. The latter lens costs about the same and has some noteworthy advantages. It is .7" shorter, .2mm narrower and .6 lbs. lighter. It has 3rd generation IS that gives you a 3-stop shutter speed advantage when shooting handheld. I know from my 70-200mm f/2.8L IS that image stabilization is a very welcome feature when shooting handheld at slow shutter speeds. And, obviously, the 24-105mm adds an extra 35mm of focal length on the long end.

The 24-70mm bests the 24-105mm in one way: It's a faster lens. That translates into the following advantages: At f/4.0, the 24-105mm cannot stop subject motion blur as well in low-light situations where the 24-70mm's f/2.8 can give you a shutter speed that is twice as fast. Note that IS does not have any impact at all on subject motion blur, only on camera shake on your end. If bokeh (background blur) is important to you, the 24-70mm will have a slight advantage over the 24-105mm given its wider aperture. A wider aperture also helps a camera focus a little better in low light.

The first run of the 24-105mm had a flare problem (see Canon's Web site for more info), and the early production models have been recalled. But the problem has now been fixed. You'll have to consider your photography priorities when deciding which of these two excellent lenses best suits your needs. You would be well served by either.

Update 5-17-10: It's been 4 1/2 years since I wrote this review, and I continue to use and enjoy my 24-70mm, which is now paired with a Canon 7D. Anyone considering buying this lens today, however, should know that a major Canon rumors Web site is reporting Canon is getting ready to update this lens in 2010. There are reports that the mark II is currently being field tested, and the new version is rumored to have image stabilization. No doubt, a mark II with IS would cost significantly more than the current version. FWIW, Canon updated their 70-200mm f/2.8 IS earlier this year; the mark II version of that lens brought improved optics and the latest generation of IS, but it was priced $500 (MSRP) more than its predecessor. A mark II version of the 24-70mm would be adding IS to a lens that doesn't currently have that feature, so the increase in price could be even more than $500. Just something to consider as you plan your purchases.

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Comment on Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras by L. Smith

L. Smith — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:35:53 +0000

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

Awesome lens at a bargain price, December 11, 2007

L. Smith (Florida) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

When my old Sigma 70-300mm lens died this summer, I wondered if I'd be able to replace it with anything I liked as well. I'd used it with my Minolta SLR camera for years, and then for a couple of months with my new Sony DSLR, and it had performed beautifully. But this Tamron lens far exceeded my expectations. It is relatively lightweight, yet feels sturdy enough to stand up to hard use. The focus is sharp and quick, and it works very well with Sony's Super Steady Shot feature (essential for me since I don't use a tripod). Pictures shot in macro mode are gorgeous, once I got used to the minimum focal distance. And the price of the Tamron lens is a real bargain when compared to other lenses that work with Sony DSLRs. I'm a pretty good amateur photographer, and I'm picky about the quality of my equipment, but I don't want to spend more than I need to. This lens is just what I needed.

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Comment on Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras by Hiram Grant "just call me Sam"

Hiram Grant "just call me Sam" — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:14:11 +0000

114 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

Very good lens with some nice extras, July 23, 2006

Hiram Grant "just call me Sam" -

This review is from: Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

The new Di lenses from Tamron are designed to work well with digital cameras, although those with the Di will work for 35mm as well (Di-II only work with smaller, APS-C chip size digital cameras). This is an improvement on the fine 70-300 LD (Low Dispersion glass) design. The major improvements in this lens are in the coatings, to help reduce any color bias, and minimize reflections. Additionally, lens manufacturers are doing more inside the barrels to reduce reflections.

Like the older LD design, the new lens has a close-up mode (not strictly "macro") position that allows images 1/2 lifesize on the negative. That's about twice the size of most 300mm zooms lacking this feature.

Compared to the Canon lenses, it includes a lens hood ($$ from Canon) and a six year USA warranty (vs. 1 year). It's a bit noiser than the Canon lenses in autofocusing. Additionally, the Canon 75-300 III is a considerably older design, which came out well before the needs of digital cameras were known. One slight drawback is that the Tamron uses 62mm filters vs. 58mm for the Canon (which is the same size as the popular 18-55 kit lens).

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Comment on Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras by D. Brodsky

D. Brodsky — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:07:41 +0000

132 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

Surprisingly good lens for just over a $100, March 3, 2009

D. Brodsky -

This review is from: Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens with Built In Motor for Nikon Digital SLR (Camera)

I own both Canon gear (Canon 40D) and Nikon gear (D40). Since Nikon is my cheaper lighter gear, I am not to invest a lot of $$$ into it. While D40 is light and cheap, it is an excellent camera which I use all the time for many reasons. I needed a tele lens to compliment my kit 18-55 lens (which is excellent in itself and gets great reviews). I was between Tamron 70-300 and Sigma 70-300 APO since Nikon's 70-300 is 4 times more expensive than Tamron and Sigma. After reading tons of reviews and playing with both Tamron and Sigma, I chose Tamron and I am very happy I did. There are several versions of Tamron's 70-300, however this one is the latest, 2008 version, which autofocuses on D40, 40X and 60. This lens is remarkable for the amount it is sold for. I've taken many great photos with it on vacation and around town. It is also very compact and light. While it is not an ideal lens to shoot Birds in Flight (neither is D40 with its 2.5 fps) due to its slow autofocusing mechanism, it is great for general photos and portraits. As you can see from samples I even took some bee shots with it. I took a star because of slow autofocusing, but hey, you are paying $130 for it, realize it. I recommend this lens over Sigma for budget shooters who want 300 tele, but don't want to pay $450 Nikon wants for its version. I am happy with it

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Comment on Holga 60mm f/8 Lens for Canon DSLR Camera by C. D. Holt "oh hi"

C. D. Holt "oh hi" — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:45:03 +0000

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

holga lens is limiting, but fun., November 14, 2011

C. D. Holt "oh hi" -

This review is from: Holga 60mm f/8 Lens for Canon DSLR Camera (Electronics)

A couple weeks ago, I randomly came across these lenses (they have them for both Canon and Nikon mount).. I knew of the Holga film cameras making some what of a come back, and they sounded fun, but no chance was I going to buy a low quality film camera and film.. Even if I did buy that stuff, I won't lie, I'm a child of this here digital era, and I'm just WAY too lazy to go get pictures developed - just not going to happen! Are you kidding me?? You need to be seriously dedicated to go THAT far out of your way to get some really poor quality pictures..

But right! Then I discovered this Holga lens for your DSLR! And it is CHEAP (in price)! So I said what the heck, and I bought one! Seriously, as anyone with a DSLR knows, even a cheap lens is pretty danged expensive! But this little guy? Not expensive!! And after playing around with it, it's worth it just to have as something fun-and-different to spice up your DSLR bag/kit! Really, if you can't think of anything, just toss this lens on your camera, try reeaally hard to see through your view finder, and it's kind of amazing how that really boring normal ol' tree in the back yard all of a sudden looks cool and completely different through this piece of sh-glass (plastic, really..)! : D I'm telling you this little guy is a whole lot of fun!

And I'm also telling you, your pictures are going to look pretty danged bad! This is NOT a regular lens! It's made to take POOR pictures. And it excels at it!! : D So don't go complaining when you buy it that your pictures look less-than-stellar.. And don't forget it's MANUAL FOCUS, so your camera won't focus for you! (Here's my quick and dirty guess for focusing: the closest subject is 5 feet away, the mountain is for something 25 feet away or more...)

However, let me get a little technical real quick about a couple things...

Focal Length: When I was reading about this lens, I kept seeing 60mm "equivalent"! So I figured they were implying it would be a 60mm lens on a Canon Digital Rebel series (which has a smaller image-capturing-area than full frame digital or 35mm film cameras). NOT SO! This is labeled just like any other lens.. It's a 60mm focal length for 35mm film.. So if you put this on a Canon 5D (or 1Ds, if you're really awesome enough to own both that camera and this lens), then you'll have a straight up 60mm focal length.

But on your trusty Canon Digital Rebel or xxD series (or 7D), this 60mm must be multiplied by 1.6 to get the "actual" focal length.. which is 96mm. Putting it another way, if you have the standard Canon kit zoom, 18-55mm, the field of view is going to be pretty similar to when you have that zoom zoomed all the way in to 55mm. Go try that, and you'll get the idea of what it'll be like.

I was a little disappointed by this at first, since I'm more of a slightly-wider-field-of-view-kind-of-guy (translation, give me a 35mm lens for my crop sensor digital rebel, rather than a 60mm lens, and I'll be much happier), but after playing around with it and its limitations, I kind of like the tighter field of view. I'm forced to step back, and also stick with 1 subject(ish), and there's so much vignetting (blackness / light-fall-off around the edges), it's pointless to really construct a full on shot.. You lose a lot of your composition to the vignetting. IE stop trying to compose like normal! Think old-school point and shoot!! Find a subject, shove it into the middle(ish) of the frame, and take the picture! Forget what you've been taught about photography! (Welcome to lomo-style photography! Lomography, as it were..) Okay, moving on...

Aperture / F-stop: This guy is advertised as an f/8 lens. That is NOT correct... It's more like an f/32 lens! The day I got this, I didn't get a chance to use it til night time, so I (tried) to snap a couple pictures in the house.. HAH! This lens is absolutely not f/8! Measuring the outdoor light requirements, it's pretty much an f/32 lens, which is 4 stops slower than f/8.. Which means a few things..

a) You need a LOT of light (more on that later..) AND high ISO. Seriously you need both. OKAY, or you need a tripod.. but that sort of defeats the purpose of this lens..
b) Pretty big depth of field.. The "focus" ring is a joke and shows 1 body, 3 bodies, a group of bodies, a mountain.. choose your depth based on what fits in the frame, haha! : D Pretty much no matter where the focus ring is set, you'll still get a moderately-acceptable image..
c) Focus will always be a little bit soft (forget sharp detail when you zoom all the way in!) due to the nature of digital imaging sensors and high f-stops.. This will NOT be a problem, I'm just letting you know.. And a lot of post-processing programs can sharpen up edge detail very nicely... You may never even notice! I'm just saying.. Don't get frustrated when you never seem to... Read more

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Comment on Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens with Built In Motor for Nikon Digital SLR by L. Smith

L. Smith — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:40:05 +0000

55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

Awesome lens at a bargain price, December 11, 2007

L. Smith (Florida) -

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

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Comment on Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens with Built In Motor for Nikon Digital SLR by Hiram Grant "just call me Sam"

Hiram Grant "just call me Sam" — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:17:12 +0000

114 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

Very good lens with some nice extras, July 23, 2006

Hiram Grant "just call me Sam" -

This review is from: Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (Electronics)

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Comment on Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens with Built In Motor for Nikon Digital SLR by D. Brodsky

D. Brodsky — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:07:21 +0000

130 of 133 people found the following review helpful:

Surprisingly good lens for just over a $100, March 3, 2009

D. Brodsky -

This review is from: Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens with Built In Motor for Nikon Digital SLR (Camera)

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