Comparison of Canon EF 24-105 L USM to other lenses on an EOS 5D
Intro - 24 mm - 28 mm - 50 mm - 85 mm - 100/105 mm - Summary
Well, it is surely a lot of images to sum up in just a few words. Lets take it one lens at a time: The Sigma AF 12-24 mm f:4.5-5.6 EX DG has a somewhat dubious reputation. This is to a large extent due to sample variation which can let buyers end up with less than perfect copies. Just see my comparison of two different specimens of the lens. However, at the 24 mm setting it turns out to perform very admirably even on a full frame camera. The Canon EF 24-105 L USM may be a little sharper at the edge, but on the other hand it has a little more chromatic aberation. While these differences can be seen in the 100% crops which correspond to a reproduction about 160 cm (60 inches) wide at 70 dpi, these differences would be hard if not impossible to discern in a 300 dpi reproduction. The Canon EF 28/1.8 USM is another lens that has a rather dubious reputation. This is probably not so much due to sample variation but more due to it generally being rather soft wide open. And sure enough, my specimen is also quite soft wide open. Lenses like the EF 24/1.4 USM L and EF 35/1.4 USM L surely are sharper wide open, but that are also a lot bigger and cost a lot more. While the 100% crops may indicate that it is on the border of being useless wide open, again I must say that at 300 DPI these images look quite respectable. And the ability to shoot at f/1.8 just may save the image by enabling a faster shutter speed. So, it is a nice compliment to your general purpose midrange zoom lens. It is admirably sharp at f/2.8, and somewhat to my surprise, it is even sharper than the L zoom at f/4.0 at the edges. The Canon EF 50/1.4 USM lens is a type of lens that has sort of gone out of fashion. On top of that it has also been criticised for not being razor sharp wide open. But seriously, what can you expect at f/1.4. At this aperture it has been shown to be not far behind the newer EF 50/1.2 USM L. Generally it behaves and compares much like the EF 28/1.8 USM. It sharpens up considerably between f/2.0 and f/2.8 and at f/4.0 it is noticeably sharper than the L zoom. If only it had a ring-type USM motor I'd be perfectly happy with it. The Canon EF 85/1.8 USM is a joy to work with. Well built, focuses super fast, and admirably sharp edge to edge even wide open. Surely it get sharper as you close down, but it is unlikely that you would be able to tell in a 300 dpi reproduction. The Canon EF 100/2.8 USM macro lens is quite a dual purpose lens. While not quite as fast as its f/2.0 cousin it is never the less quite usable as a general purpose 100 mm lens. And it works remarkably well as a macro lens on top of that. And as the crops demonstrate, it is quite sharp even wide open but impressively sharp at f/5.6. Its only drawback is that it is somewhat big, but that is the price one has to pay to get a lens that will focus from infinity down to a 1:1 reproduction. Finally, the lens that was the centre of this entire combination - the Canon EF 24-105/4.0 USM L lens. In the sharpness department it was beaten by each prime lens at comparable focal length and aperture. Yet, for a zoom with this range it provides an impressive image quality and with the added feature of image stabilization on top of that, which in a real life situation could result in images that are sharper than those provided by the unstabilized prime lenses. I am quite confident to leave in on my EOS 5D for every day shooting, only fitting other lenses out of necessity, such as the requirement for another focal length, low light photography, or macro photography.
Kjeld Olesen, May 30th, 2007
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