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Luminous Landscape Forum > Equipment & Techniques > Digital Cameras, Backs and Shooting Techniques
Jack Flesher
I had a discussion with a buddy who has one on his newly acquired 20D, so this is third-party info --

His initial impressions were it was about equal to the 28-135 IS on a full-frame camera, yet it vignettes significantly (I think his word was "horrible") at the wide end on the 20D. He confirmed this vignetting was NOT due to the UV filter he had mounted.

That being said, he liked it as a lightweight travel lens for that camera, but put it the "snapshot" category.
Jack Flesher
Personally for my style of shooting, IS or not, I would take the 17-40 L in a nano-second over this lens...
I'm traveling a lot right now so chance are I won't be able to do a DxO test of the lens until early in November.

But, I can tell you that I have taken hundreds of shots with it and find the rsults to be very good. I have some 20X24" prints made with it that will be on public display, and they are just fine.

Michael
jdyke
Thanks for that Michael, 20x24 is a fair bit bigger than I can print so it sounds like this lens is certainly good enough.

JD
jdyke
Has anyone go the new 17-85IS yet?  I am tempted by this lens but have seen some comments claiming that opticaly it is not much better than the 18-55  kit lens (obviously the build is far superior and it has IS).  

For this amount of cash I would expect optics a fair bit better to be honest as I find the kit lens very soft for landscape type photos (ok for snapshots).   I appreciate its not 'L' glass but I would excpect something approaching it.

I belive Michael tested one in Paris and gave it favourable comments but this was mainly for reportage type shots.

I have not see a single  review of this lens anywhere yet.

Cheers,

JD
jdyke
That's what I had heard.  I saw a few comparison shots in another forum and it was very soft at 17mm (softer than the 18-55 which is a bit shocking).

I think is may be a bit pricey for the 'snapshot category'.  UK price is only marginally below the 17-40L.  

A bit of a shame as the focal length is spot on for a standard day to day lens on a 300D/rebel.  The 17-40 is a bit chunky on a 300d/rebel unless you get the battery grip to counter balance.  

Oh well I guess I will have to wait for the 17-85L ;-)
peterpix
Michael was going to do his analyzer thing with this lens? Anytime soon?
I got the 20D with the this lens but as i've posted elsewhere, I got a bad body and I'm now waiting for Canon to replace. I really only wanted a body but my supplierdidn't have any without lenses sol I figured the 17-85 was beter than  other lens .Besides I already have a 16-35.
So Michael, can  we expect a report soon?

Peter
peterpix
Thanks, Michael

Peter
Jack Flesher
Yes, thanks for the input Michael... this lens now sounds promising!

How about posting some actual pixel crops of a detailed subject, center and corner,  comaring this lens to say the 17-40 or 24-70 at similar focal lengths and apertures?
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