Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/02/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 9:37 PM +0100 2/12/07, Philippe Orlent wrote:
>I read different stories about the 16-35 and the 17-40. Seems that
>it's a piece to piece comparison thing.
>Looks like unstable production. Maybe I'd better go for 2 primes in
>this range.
>Thanks for the info,
>Philippe
>
Then the problem becomes finding two good primes in this range.
Maybe the 15mm Super Elmarit and the 21mm Zeiss for the Contax....
Canon doesn't have anything much better than the zooms in this area.
The 20/2.8 is especially poor, and even the fairly expensive 14 isn't
very good.
I had the 16-35, and that one was picked out of 3 the store had. I
then got the 12-24 Sigma, and the 24/1.4 and 24-105 Canon. After that
I didn't shoot with the 16-35 anymore. At similar apertures the Sigma
was better, and for speed I had the 24/1.4.
I tried the 17-40, and it was definitely better than the 16-35; the
17-40 seems to be about the same on the 5D as the 10-22 is on the
1.6x bodies.
While I'm talking about this: my first choice for the 5D is without a
doubt the 24-105. The loss of one stop to the 24-70 is more than
offset in my list of preferences by the longer range, lighter weight
and especially the IS. I have 5 lenses at present with IS, and my
only regret is that not all do. All zooms and most primes need some
distortion correction for critical work, so the distortion on this
lens is not particularly bothersome. The rather severe vignetting at
24mm is probably more concerning, but still manageable.
The 70-200/2.8 IS is great, but I find it even noticeably heavier and
harder to handle than the 100-400IS, and particularly if an extender
is put on the 70-200. I'll probably get rid of it and get the 135/2.
Also not small, but tiny in comparison.
With the 5D my general inclusive lens kit is the 12-24 Sigma, 24-105,
100-400 and 35/1.4 and 85/1.8 or 100/2.8 macro, depending on
situation. I might include 24TSE or 24/1.4 for specific purposes.
For 1.6x crop cameras, the 10-22, 17-85 (weakest optically, but very
convenient), and 70-300IS with the 24/1.4 for speed and the
60/2.8macro.
--
* Henning J. Wulff
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