Canon 15-85 gone!. what next?

lucky_13

lucky_13

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Billy
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Ok so I sold my canon 15-85 and now im on the market for a new fresh bit of glass, I have it narrowed down to two, first choice would be the Tamron but wanted to know what you all think, don't worry about nether of these lenses not being wide enough for a crop sensor as I've done my home work and 99% of the photos shot with the 15-85 were between 20mm and 70 and I also have a Tamron 70-300 VC USD. One thing I struggled with the 15-85 was in low light so F/2.8 would be the better option I think.
1) Tamron 24-70 F/2.8 VC USD
2) Canon 24-105 F/4L IS USM
Both of these lenses would have to be gray imports as UK prices are too high my only concern is if one has front/back focusing issues I wouldn't just be able to swap it for another.
 
I don't have experience of the Tamron, but use the 24-105 as a walkabout lens, have had it for many years and I really can't fault the IQ, but as you have said, it's f4 and the tammy is 2.8.
Why not buy 2nd hand off the forum, you see the 24-105 Canon quite frequently, and any lenses I've bought here have been exactly as described?

Build quality is great, as with all the L series.

George.
 
Hi Billy

I have a friend with the Tamron and it does take some lovely shots, I have heard of reliability issues though. Dave Bass5 went through several copies before he gave up (check the 5D3 thread).

I have the canon but use it on a 5D3, I have put it on my 60D but much prefer the 17 - 55 2.8 is on a crop.

I personally don't find F4 a major problem in low light, but I find that the extra DOF on a crop senor the main draw back of F4.

I like my 24-105 F/4L, it's solid, reliable, focuses quickly (even in very low light), with good technique I can get 5 stops out of the IS. I don't think you'll be disappointed with the canon but I might have taken a punt on the tamron if I'd have had a bit more cash and not heeded Daves advice (which I thank him for!).

Hope that helps

Darren
 
The 24-105 is a good general purpose lens on a full frame.

And for that reason, that is why for a crop camera the 15-85 is a good focal range, (15-85 is the equivalent of 24-136 on a full frame).

Also you say you normally use a range between 20-70, so the 24-105 will not meet this criteria.

You could go for the Tamron - Although again it's not wide enough, or try the Canon 17-55 f2.8 which is wide enough back is lacking reach.
 
Steve W said:
The 24-105 is a good general purpose lens on a full frame.

And for that reason, that is why for a crop camera the 15-85 is a good focal range, (15-85 is the equivalent of 24-136 on a full frame).

Also you say you normally use a range between 20-70, so the 24-105 will not meet this criteria.

You could go for the Tamron - Although again it's not wide enough, or try the Canon 17-55 f2.8 which is wide enough back is lacking reach.
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The only thing the 17-55 would offer me over the 15-85 is 2.8 as I don't really use the first few mm it makes it redundant. As I siad above the (not wide enough) thing isn't an issue to me. Thank you for your input
 
What do you have currently, and what did you find it wasn't doing for you?

Only with that answered can we truly help
 
RichardtheSane said:
What do you have currently, and what did you find it wasn't doing for you?

Only with that answered can we truly help
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It appears from the OP he had a 15-85 which he has just sold.

I would suggest the OP has to consider the 17-55 f2.8 if the 15-85 was considered not good enough. The OPs other suggestions don't make sense on a crop body, at least not unless he buys something else for wide angle.
 
RichardtheSane said:
What do you have currently, and what did you find it wasn't doing for you?

Only with that answered can we truly help
Click to expand...

At the moment I only have a 70-300
I only shoot in manual so I would need a constant aperture like F/4 or F/2.8 through the zoom range. I hardly ever used the wider angle so I feel that a 24-something with better IQ and a wider constant aperture would be a better option
 
joel222 said:
I have a 15-85 and a 24-105 and the 15-85 is (imo) the sharper one of the two.
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It seems to be a lot of copy variations with zooms as I discovered with a Tamron 17-50 was tac sharp wide open but the next copy I tried was so soft I thought I needed glasess. I tried a 24-105 in the shop and was superb and I tried one from a friend and I wasn't that impressed and he said it was the worst lens he owned in terms of sharpness.
 
Right... it looks like a Tamron 24-70 F/2.8 VC USD it is than. Or maybe I'll just get a 50 1.8 to see me through for a while!?

The 15-85 was not perfect in many ways ether CA, vigneting at 5.6, lens creep a useless recessed very thin focus ring. I was unable to use the black rapid as the lens would be at 15mm one min and at 85 the next without anyone touching it. There's a lot I didn't like about the 15-85, even the way it looked with the double barel, in fact the only thing I did like about it was it's sharpness, @ F/5.6 it was tac sharp
 
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lucky_13 said:
I see your point but it is one stop faster through out.
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At 24mm the 15-85 has a max aperture of F4 which is the same as the 24-105 so the 24-105 isn't a whole stop faster throughout is it?

I've got both lenses and whilst I appreciate the 15-85 may not have been for you I don't see the 24-105 being really much different. Just quite a bit more expensive.
 
Wayne Els said:
At 24mm the 15-85 has a max aperture of F4 which is the same as the 24-105 so the 24-105 isn't a whole stop faster throughout is it?

I've got both lenses and whilst I appreciate the 15-85 may not have been for you I don't see the 24-105 being really much different. Just quite a bit more expensive.
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I agree with you which is why I think the 24-70 2.8 VC is the one I'm gonna go for. I ordered a 50mm 1.8 last night just to see how I get on, never know I might even prefer primes!? :-) thank you all for your input as this has made it clearer for me to chose a lens, it eleminated one anyway. :-)
 
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D4rr3n said:
Hi Billy

I have a friend with the Tamron and it does take some lovely shots, I have heard of reliability issues though. Dave Bass5 went through several copies before he gave up (check the 5D3 thread).



Darren
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Yep, very poor QC for a very nice lens IMO (ive now seen a few others having issues with this lens).
Saying that, and coming from a 60D with 15-85 (which replaced a 17-55 f/2.8) i think the Tamron, Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS or 24-105L are the best bet, if a good, reliable copy is found.
Ignoring the real faults i had, i found the first copy was not usable on ym 60D. it was very soft until about f/4. I was quite shocked at this, as this was the first costly lens id ever had that was like this. As the 60D didn't have MFA (nor the OP's 550D) it meant it was no usable on both my cameras.
The second copy was better, but it still wasn't as sharp as my 40mm, both wide open at f/2.8.

Its a good lens, just buy it from somewhere that has a good returns system (my second one was from Amazon, and they were fantastic as always).
 
dave_bass5 said:
Yep, very poor QC for a very nice lens IMO (ive now seen a few others having issues with this lens).
Saying that, and coming from a 60D with 15-85 (which replaced a 17-55 f/2.8) i think the Tamron, Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS or 24-105L are the best bet, if a good, reliable copy is found.
Ignoring the real faults i had, i found the first copy was not usable on ym 60D. it was very soft until about f/4. I was quite shocked at this, as this was the first costly lens id ever had that was like this. As the 60D didn't have MFA (nor the OP's 550D) it meant it was no usable on both my cameras.
The second copy was better, but it still wasn't as sharp as my 40mm, both wide open at f/2.8.

Its a good lens, just buy it from somewhere that has a good returns system (my second one was from Amazon, and they were fantastic as always).
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Thank you for your response. Today I received the (canon 50 1.8) which I ordered from Amazon and I must admit I'm very impressed with it, build quality aside. A few months ago I tried a copy of the tamron 24-70 2.8 in cameraworld and I was blown away by it's sharpness @ 2.8 and it's clear to me as I'd experienced this issue about some copies being sharp and some not with the tamron 17-50 f2.8 vc which was replaced by the 15-85. I will stick with my 50 F/1.8 as it stands as I just ordered a Yongnuo YN 560 III speedlite too but in the near future I will definitely get a Tamron 24-70 2.8 VC, maybe after I get a 70D :-)
 
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