The lens tests:
A tripod was standing about 3 meters from the wall on which the outside
glossy of a networking Switch box was hanging. This illustrates the sharpness
(or softness) of the lens. To reduce camera movements a remote was used to make
the shots. The sun was shining from behind this wall, no hoods and filters were
used. A minimum of 3 focal lengths were chosen mostly based on an overlap of at
least 1 with another lens and 50mm for later comparison with the
EF50 f/2.5 Compact
Macro. The pictures were taken with the EOS 300D and the crops are full-size and
in highest quality jpeg encoding. The crops were taken from the centre to the
right and down, for reference see the thumbnails in the table. The test of the
EF50 f/2.5 Compact
Macro and the EF24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM were performed on another day (hence a slight difference in distance to
object and therefore the size of the crops).
In conclusion, the EF28-80
f/3.5-5.6 III USM lens performs well for a kit lens, it is
soft at the 28mm end wide open, however when stopped down gives nice pictures.
The EF28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM
Mark Ia is disappointing. Wideopen it is very soft and needs to be stopped down
to f/5.6 in order to get reasonably sharp pictures, not just at 28mm but also
towards 105mm. In this case the need for the f/3.5-4.5 aperture is a waste as it
produces very low sharpness. I wonder if mine is just bust or a bad copy. It is
a bit dusty inside though but I wouldn't think it makes the lens so soft.
In other reviews the images from the
EF28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM lenses are judged to
be reasonable, as there are three versions (two of Mark I of which mine is the 5
blade diaphragm first (a) version opposed to the 7 diaphragm (b) version) and a
Mark II, more details on these versions you can read
here) the version may
also be
the difference.
The EF24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM
is a remarkably sharp lens for its make. In several reviews and internet
postings this lens is said to be comparable with the
EF28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM
regarding sharpness, however in this case the lens is very sharp from 24-85 mm
compared to the
EF28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM
and the EF28-80
f/3.5-5.6 III USM. Of course it is no L-lens quality but very usable as a
fun, take anywhere lens, and it even suits the 300D in colour wise. Although it
is relatively sharp, when possible a stop down to 4.5 or 5.6 is advisable.
EF50 f/2.5 Compact
Macro is a very sharp lens, especially when making ultra close macro's. On a
distance however it shows some unsharpness wide open, but this decreases swiftly
towards f/3.5 and f/4. In all a great lens, however the AF motor is loud, a ring
USM or even a microUSM would be a plus.
The L lenses are superb, 17mm end of the
EF17-40 f/4L USM
may need some stopping down, in that end an EF16-35 f/2.8L USM may be better
however too expensive for me.
At focal lengths of more than 50mm you also can see the glimmer of the glossy
box, especially when the pictures are very sharp, the
EF28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM
needs to be stopped down to f/11 for 80mm and to f/5.6 at 105mm to show it
therefore the glimmer is a nice measure of sharpness.
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