great lens
Pros:
light weight, compact, good zoom range
Cons:
some zoom creep
The Bottom Line:
Buy it.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I was originally looking for the 28-105mm lens. The camera shop that i frequent did not have that one, but they showed me the 24-85mm, and let me try it on a shop camera.
It was compact,lightweight and the zoom range was good. I particularly liked the 24mm range. It just seemed to take in the whole shop at that setting, so i purchased it. It has become my most used lens.
I have since tried the 28-105mm, and i find that the 24mm is a lot more useful than the 28mm, and the 105mm does not bring things that much closer than the 85mm, so i am really pleased with this lens.
I have an older Eos 650 Canon that this lens stays on most of the time. I use it a lot to photograph people, as the 85mm seems to give a really balanced look to faces. The 24mm end i use for cityscapes, landscapes and group shots.
About two months after i purchased it i began to notice that the lens would creep down when i held the camera in a vertical position. Since i used this setup a lot, it became a real burden, so i took it back to the camera shop where i bought it and had them return it to Canon for repair. I had it back within three weeks and it has worked properly ever since. The receipt they returned with it stated that they "replaced the zoom keys, cleaned and recalibrated to mfr. specs". It did not cost me anything since it was under warranty.
For those of you out there contemplating the purchase of a consumer grade Canon lens, i would strongly suggest that you do not get a grey market lens. If your lens shows zoom creep as mine did, you will not be able to send it in for repairs. Without paying for it,anyway.
I also notice that a lot of people complain that it is not built as well as an L lens. Get over it. It also is not as heavy as an L would be and it did not cost nearly as much as an L would have cost.
All in all, i rate this lens very highly. It has become a "do it all" lens for me.
I use it more than any other Canon lens that i own. It gives me acceptably sharp pictures and the colors come
through as natural looking, to my eyes anyway.
I have enlarged photos taken with this lens only to 8"x10"
so far, and they all seem sharp. They don't quite have the sharpness that i get from my 35mm/f1.4 Summilux-R, but the Canon lens only cost a fraction of what the Leica lens did.
I would suggest anyone interested in an affordable, all purpose lens, to take a good look at the 24-85mm.
