need advise: 28-135 IS USM


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ST_sg

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Mar 23, 2004
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Guys, need some advise from you all, I'd like to get a good zoom range, and guess I need the IS model to combat my camera shake skill ;p

Is the EF 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM a no brainer to upgrade from my trusty EF 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM lens?

I'm going to treat it as a standard lens. Is it heavy or light enough to carry around for general shooting usage? How's the AF speed, is it fast as compared to 24-85 USM? I find that, the 24-85 AF speed fast enough for my liking :) Is the 28-135 IS produce good image quality?

Hope to get some feedback from you guys before I jump into it.

Thanks and much appreciate your advise.
ST.
 

28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is Good, Fast AF. dunno about the EF 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM, but the 28-135's AF is Slighly slower than the EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM due to the additional focus range to hunt for focus.

the IS.. yea, particularly usefull for lowlight situation.

Weight?... slightly heavier than the 28-105, nothing compare to the 24-70 F2.8L. Good walkaround lens I would say.

I have one to let go if you are interested :D:D
 

RossChang said:
28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is Good, Fast AF. dunno about the EF 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM, but the 28-135's AF is Slighly slower than the EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM due to the additional focus range to hunt for focus.

the IS.. yea, particularly usefull for lowlight situation.

Weight?... slightly heavier than the 28-105, nothing compare to the 24-70 F2.8L. Good walkaround lens I would say.

I have one to let go if you are interested :D:D

Hahaha... since I'm hunting for this lens. Perhaps you can give me a good deal :D :D
http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=85518&highlight=28-135

PM me the details. ;)

Thanks.
 

Hi,
Get this lens and dont forget to get the hood too. The IS is a great help.
Its my main lens and I built the rest of my lens around it. ;)
 

Hi Kcky, thanks for your feedback. How's the image quality the lens deliver? I heard that, it needs to stop down 1.5 or 2 in order to get a good decent sharp image, else it's soft especially in wide angle.

I'd check out at pBase, and found that, most of the photos are taken in f/9 or f/10 onwards in a bright day.

Btw, can this lens able to take Macro shots? Does it have a good DOF for portrait as well? :think:

Thanks again.
 

This is the first lens I ever bought, other than the kit lens, and for a time, it used to be my main walkaround lens. Why? Reasonably good (not L class) image quality, good build, and namely the IS. Even has a distance scale to boot..Some people might say that the duo cam zoom mechanism is a bit less than solid and tends to allow the front element to shake a bit, but it's not much of an issue. Weight wise, I am not sure how to compare...it's slightly heavier than the kit lens for the 300D...:)

My reccomendation is go get it if you can..It's a good glass..

In terms of using this lens for potrait work, it's pretty good too..my first potrait shot was taken with this lens and I'm still quite happy with it.Here's some of the potraits I've taken with the lens. Hopefully you find the DOF shallow enough and that the sharpness is acceptable..:)

2227243-md.jpg


2224357-md.jpg


2224347-md.jpg
 

its abt 590 gms? almost the weight of a wide angle 'L' zooms.

what can i say, its a very useful lens, i used it for general/walkabout, macro with extension tube. Its been my first lens and for that i could forgo the temptations of 24-70, 28-70, 1002.8 macro so far.

the creep is not really an issue for me, its how dirty the lens can get within a short period of time. its kind of a dust sucker!
 

Thanks Perror, I've no doubt about the portrait capability after looking at your sample :)

Belle, care to tell me more about "macro with extension tube"? How to turn this lens to macro role? Is it some kind of design fault on its lens creep?

Again, thank you for all valuable comments given :)
I shall get one to replace my 24-85 USM. (Actually a bit relunctant to give out this lens, I'm very happy with its AF speed) Will I suffer any AF speed in 28-135 ?

Cheers!
ST.
 

Hi,
Forgot to mention one more thing, beware of lens creep. Had to live with this nuisance. ;p
 

Nice pics!! Montoya....Theissen....Webber?
 

ST_sg said:
Thanks Perror, I've no doubt about the portrait capability after looking at your sample :)

Belle, care to tell me more about "macro with extension tube"? How to turn this lens to macro role? Is it some kind of design fault on its lens creep?

Again, thank you for all valuable comments given :)
I shall get one to replace my 24-85 USM. (Actually a bit relunctant to give out this lens, I'm very happy with its AF speed) Will I suffer any AF speed in 28-135 ?

Cheers!
ST.


to 'turn' it into a macro lens, buy an 25mm extension tube from canon, very ex or kenko less than $100. attached between your lens and body and you can do macro shoots!!! use 135mm for more working distance or you can zoom out to 70mm to shoot certain small objects! great usage stops down to f36 for 135mm end.
 

My experience with the AF on the 28-135 has also been nothing short of excelent. The lens snaps into focus real fast and rarely hunts. Whether or not it will be faster than your previous lens, I'm not sure..:)

In terms of macro, I used this lens with a Nikon 6T +2.9 macro filter which yields a magnification of about half live size (0.6x). I still have some samples of those shots here..maybe I'll upload it somewhere later..But it's an ok to decent macro lens..

Lens creep is quite common especially in consumer level Canon lenses..it depends on your luck though..I am not sure whether mine creeped..i'll have to check it out..:) It's not a design flaw so no worries about it.

Thanks ptwong..:) Yup that's the 3 people..was working at the Sepang Formula 1 and managed to get some shots of them..:D There's 3 more shots I took at that even here in my album: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=308146

One is Shuey's partner..err..forgot his name..and the belly of a MiG-29..both taken with the 28-135. The MiG needs some PS though.. :embrass:
 

i never used the 24-85 but compared to other usm lens, less its just a tad be slow especially low light, what i do is to manual focus to what is close to what i want in focus and half press, if it hunts alot.

really depends on camera, on the 10D hunts a little, on the 1D, snap focus!!!
 

u want my 28-105 USM? keke I'm thinking of upgrading....to non L lens
 

rainman said:
u want my 28-105 USM? keke I'm thinking of upgrading....to non L lens
hahaha... I'm looking for the IS with fair bit of zoom range, that's why come to this 28-135 IS USM :)

Thanks :D
 

Every time a thread on the EF 28-135 comes up, I put on my Tamron cap. Check out the Tamron SP 24-135 before you decide on the Canon. I did a comparison test between the two last year and went for the Tamron. I have no regrets since, it is a sharper lens capbable of rendering truer colors and clarity than the Canon ever can, and it's about two thirds of the Canon's price too.

Check it out for yourself. It has slower AF and no IS, but I find that to be inconsequential over the quality of shots it produces. It is one of my non L zooms which I can never bring myself to sell off whenever I think of letting it go.
 

Good point Terence..:) That lens certainly is a good choice to consider..:)
 

Sharp, good contrast. I chosed it instead of Tamron after testing both at TWC. Its sharpness compared to my old 28-70L is equal when I printed 8 by 10".

My problem with Tamron is it slow focus and it hunts a lot.

Of course, not that 28-70L is not good, but I rather go for IS than 1 stop more. Also, its alot cheaper compared to L lens
 

I was in the similar situation b4 but decide to keep my 24-85, reasons are:

1. 85mm/4.5 and 135mm/5.6 is not a big difference.
2. IS is only useful when you are shooting with slow film/ISO can IS cannot stop
motion. IS on 28-135 is 1st generation IS. 2nd generation IS already out. You can always use a monopod to gain the extra 2-3 stops.
3. Optically not much difference between 24-85 and 28-135.
4. 24-85 is lighter, smaller, easier to handle.
5. The extra 4mm at the wide end is valuable. Just go and borrow a 28-135 and compare it at the wide end.

If you want to experience with a telephoto zoom, get a 2nd hand 80-200 4.5-5.6 super-light-weight pocket rocket at around SGD100 and try the range out first. You can always sell it off and buy the more expenstive 70-200 later.
 

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