Are L series Canon lenses worth it?

On the original question, I think it's not about L or not. It's about whether it meets your requirements and budget. Sometimes that means L, sometimes not.

I got fed up with the barrel distortion on the 24-105 on FF so got rid of it and have replaced it with a pair of ancient Olympus primes and manual focus. Are they L lenses? No. But they are superb quality and for much less than a Canon prime.

I've also just bought what I believe to be Canon's most expensive non L lens. The 400 f/4 DO. I had one before and have always regretted getting rid so when one came up on Ebay from a good source, I got it. It's a compromise lens as it doesn't produce quite the same quality as my 500L, but when the 500 is sat at home as it is too heavy for a particular trip, its image quality doesn't matter!
 
I would say yes except, for my 100mm macro all my lens are L's . do I get the most out of them ? probly not, but for me the feel and build quality combined with the IQ is worth paying the extra for, they also hold their money well.
 
Personally I always try to buy L. I find the sealing, and build quality excellent, and I save until I can afford the lens I want. They hold there value very well, and I believe in the old saying better invest in quality glass than keep changing the body.
 
I hope they are as I just spent a small fortune on 2 of them 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 IS.

Why did I buy them? I like the white body on the 70-200mm I wanted to move from a compact to DSLR and liked the idea of the white lens simple as that. I was initially set on buying the f4 version £500 is a manageable amount I think but as my interest has grown I intend to further my photography maybe in to make a little cash out of it I don't know so I set myself the thing of only buying EF lenses as I hope to go full frame in the next few years I then started thinking I know there is an alternative/possibly better lens available and would have wished I had bought that one so I started out by buying the better lens. Buying once is cheaper then buying the lesser, flogging it then buying the better lens after.

Since I got the DSLR I have borrowed a few lenses and noticed how much better they are than the kit lens and the kit lens is actually pretty good especially compared to my compact camera before and I thought that was good so go figure. There is little point buying one thing and then discovering it is limited by somthing else I would never buy a quad core CPU and give it 512mb of memory or a 5400rpm hard drive everything can only perform as good as its worst part so now I am the weakness and I can hopfully improve that with practice and building experiance.
 
DDP said:
No there isn't, it's Sigma and Tamron owners constantly trying to justify their purchases and kid themselves they made the right choice.

:lol: ;)
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Controversial as this statement is.....

:agree:

:popcorn:
 
Is this thread really still going :shrug: we can go round and round in circles with this

The L series lens are superb when used for the right application. You do pay a premium for them but as mentioned previously they hold their value.

I think there is a lot of hype about L lenses and a lot of this is down to the very successful marketing of Canon in the Sports and Photojournalism markets along with the Nat Geo advertising. People still see the big white lenses at big sporting events and associate them subliminally as being the Pro standard.
 
DDP said:
:lol:

£1,500 on 70-200 because you like the colour of it, and you can't even spell lens. Good work.

;)
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he can't spell experience either but hey I'm being picky now ;)

but to answer the OP's question....

I think..........actually does it really matter what I or anyone else thinks?

MODS - Can this thread be locked as "totally pointless" please?

:D:p
 
Rovers_Andy said:
People still see the big white lenses at big sporting events and associate them subliminally as being the Pro standard.
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I don't think it's subliminal; if you're a Canon user they are the pro standard.

Pushing my earlier jokes aside and going back to the OP's question, take two people listening to the radio. Person A listens to an AM radio, Person B listens to DAB. They're both listeners, they're both enjoying themselves, but Person B is having the better experience.

If you're earning money from photography then IMO you WILL see the benefits L lenses bring over non-L lenses. For hobbyists, L lenses are 'nice to have' but in a commercial application they become more or less essential imo. That's to say I need the lens that is the fastest at focussing, is the sharpest, is the best built, has some weather sealing, maybe IS, wide aperture etc
 
DDP said:
:lol:

£1,500 on 70-200 because you like the colour of it, and you can't even spell lens. Good work.

;)
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kennysarmy said:
he can't spell experience either but hey I'm being picky now ;)

:D:p
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But I can spell Dyslexia and love it when the people take the **** out of my spelling. So please add the search for posts by me to favourites if you want to find spelling mistakes, you will find plenty and I will keep you busy correcting my mistakes if it really bothers you. I do re read everything I type 2 or 3 times but part of the problem is that my mind doesn't see the mistakes.

I actually intended buying the f/4 non IS which is £500 but I went for the f/2.8 IS just for the sake of it. Its like when I was buying my car I was offered a grey/green coloured one for a really good price but I had my heart set on a black one, no point buying something you won't really be happy with in the long run it just costs more money in the end.

Thanks
 
Little John said:
But I can spell Dyslexia and love it when the people take the **** out of my spelling. So please add the search for posts by me to favourites if you want to find spelling mistakes, you will find plenty and I will keep you busy correcting my mistakes if it really bothers you.
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Well I havent got Dyslexia but i bet my spellings worse than yours. i just cant spell thats all. if it bothers anyone then i suggest they go shoot themselves or summat :)
 
Little John said:
But I can spell Dyslexia and love it when the people take the **** out of my spelling. So please add the search for posts by me to favourites if you want to find spelling mistakes, you will find plenty and I will keep you busy correcting my mistakes if it really bothers you. I do re read everything I type 2 or 3 times but part of the problem is that my mind doesn't see the mistakes.

I actually intended buying the f/4 non IS which is £500 but I went for the f/2.8 IS just for the sake of it. Its like when I was buying my car I was offered a grey/green coloured one for a really good price but I had my heart set on a black one, no point buying something you won't really be happy with in the long run it just costs more money in the end.

Thanks
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But also no point spending more than you have too either ;)

I hear WORD has a spell checker :bonk:

(hope you are taking this all as good humoured banter) - if not ...then erm...I guess you can shoot me or something :eek:
 
Little John said:
But I can spell Dyslexia and love it when the people take the **** out of my spelling. So please add the search for posts by me to favourites if you want to find spelling mistakes, you will find plenty and I will keep you busy correcting my mistakes if it really bothers you. I do re read everything I type 2 or 3 times but part of the problem is that my mind doesn't see the mistakes.

I actually intended buying the f/4 non IS which is £500 but I went for the f/2.8 IS just for the sake of it. Its like when I was buying my car I was offered a grey/green coloured one for a really good price but I had my heart set on a black one, no point buying something you won't really be happy with in the long run it just costs more money in the end.

Thanks
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:coat:
 
kennysarmy said:
I hear WORD has a spell checker :bonk:
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I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC
It highlights for my review
Mistakes I cannot sea.

I ran this poem thru it
I'm sure your pleased to no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My checker told me sew.


And yes.. all smiles here :)
 
kennysarmy said:
But also no point spending more than you have too either ;)
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I know but I do go to a few concerts where I am allowed to take my camera and without the chances of it getting covered in beer and urine in the VIP area so I went for the wider aperture and it wasn't that much more for the IS version so ahhh sack it and spent the extra. I had a good 2 weeks at work last month so not a problem.

and the humour, I get it a lot so it doesn't really bother me but when I see it happening to others "the spelling and punctuation police" it annoys me as there are reasons why people make mistakes while writing/typing. I have learnt to deal with it by checking and rechecking I know most of the words I make the mistakes in so I can spot those but its the words that don't get used too often that catch me out. and I have a spell checker in my browser so I try to use that but forget sometimes as I have checked it but Im not that good at checking LOL
 
Little John said:
I know but I do go to a few concerts where I am allowed to take my camera and without the chances of it getting covered in beer and urine in the VIP area so I went for the wider aperture and it wasn't that much more for the IS version so ahhh sack it and spent the extra. I had a good 2 weeks at work last month so not a problem.

and the humour, I get it a lot so it doesn't really bother me but when I see it happening to others "the spelling and punctuation police" it annoys me as there are reasons why people make mistakes while writing/typing. I have learnt to deal with it by checking and rechecking I know most of the words I make the mistakes in so I can spot those but its the words that don't get used too often that catch me out. and I have a spell checker in my browser so I try to use that but forget sometimes as I have checked it but Im not that good at checking LOL
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The irony is that a lot of people without dyslexia seem to spell lens wrongly, and yet your posts don't hint at someone with dyslexia imo, as your spelling is good (and/or you make quite an effort to check).
 
I was probably putting lenses and missed a letter. I do check and recheck and a lot of the time spell check it depends which PC or laptop I am on as the spell check buttons work on some others I need to use the menus and my netbook it doesn't have it installed. I have learnt to live with it, I was 12 when it was discovered and I wasn't just thick which is what it was at primary school and my parents were really supportive and bought me a PC for doing home work and assignments on. It was quite funny when I was doing my GCSE's as I was told to put spelling mistakes in there so it didn't look like I had used a spell checker, that was tougher than it sounded I had to get help finding words that would be spelt incorrectly rather than my incorrect spellings of words doing the e's before i's. I have a problem with left and right which has made driving even more interesting this last few months as I spent just over 2 weeks driving 3200 miles in the states my head is taking a while to get back used to driving on the left again most of the time isnt an issue but car parks pulling out of them is usually when I'm on the wrong side. I use a PDA synced with my PC so I don't miss appointments, I email people messages as I take them so I don't mess that up and reading out numbers out loud I see 2495 but will say 4259 you think how did that happen even when I know it could never be more than 2500 most people think Dyslexia is not being able to read or spell but it affects quite a few different things in life. I try to never write anything down, i do get embarrassed when i make mistakes on job sheets for work as I need to get a customer to sign them I used to have a word document template but the company I do work for changed it to a carbon copy pad so I now have to hand write them. nightmare.
This is spell checked so it should be ok. ;) anyway its going off topic should we all be buying L glass or not?

I have tried it and liked it so I will be buying L glass if I can, I will try to make informed decisions on what I buy but there are always the occasion that an L option isn't available well at a reasonable price for a hobby photographer I have a two and a chunk grand package arriving tomorrow I hope they will be the last ones I need to buy covering the range from 24-70mm and 70-200mm. I may find the need for some prime lenses, but I don't know if I would buy L or look at the none L stuff I have a decent copy of the 50mm 1.8 so maybe I will get luck again.
 
blah blah blah

Little John said:
This is spell checked so it should be ok. ;) .
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Why? I mean why spell check.. I find that even spelt wrong people get what your saying.. why waste time with a spell check? just to pander to the spelling police?

whenever i go anywhere that i know i am gonna have to fill out a form.. i take my wife and hand it to her..

sorry i just dont get all the trying.. if poeple dont like yer spelling.. stuff em..


yes i have had a drink :)
 
KIPAX said:
I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC
It highlights for my review
Mistakes I cannot sea.

I ran this poem thru it
I'm sure your pleased to no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My checker told me sew.


And yes.. all smiles here :)
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;)

I'm terrible at spelling so saw the funny side of that.

PS

Are you a Sitty fan with that name ?
 
dinners said:
;)
Are you a Sitty fan with that name ?
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Nope but I did do a bit of stewarding there early eighties.. when they brought the no alchahol law in.. had to stop city fans taking there pint onto the ground.... not a great job :)
 
Well my 2 new L glass lenses have arrived and does anyone know a way of strengthening my neck mussels? But wow, the focus is so quick and looks accurate, they feel like they will withstand a demolition ball, everything moves so smooth and are put together so well. My only grip is the lens hoods, they seem a little fiddly to actually get on facing either direction but that is probably me just not used to dealing with them yet. Are hoods usually felt lined? I guess this is to stop reflections from the inside of them.

I'm off out to play.
 
Just bought a mint 70-200mm f4 L for £300 cash plus an old lens. There is defo a difference. I rented a 70-200 L in the summer and got some corkers that are now hanging on my wall. When i went back to my EF 70-300 (now px'd!) i could feel the quality difference and see the difference in the quality of pictures.

I'm not a pro. I just want to be able to get the best quality possible, as family and friends often ask for prints.
 
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