Moving from Canon 40D to Full Frame. Lens questions?

[pulseimages]

Bad news: A camera is only as good as the glass you stick on the front of it.


Good news: My 18 year old 28-70 2.8L works a treat on my 5D2 and 5D3. Ultra-sharp.




You might find that you get MORE out of your L lenses with a full frame.

I was talking to a pro friend of mine about if I will need to get a newer 28-70 L lens when I make the jump to the full frame sensor and he agreed with you that the older L lens will actually be better than the newer.

[sandymandy]

Probably cuz they were made of real glass not some crystal kind isnt it?

[bholliman]

Bad news: A camera is only as good as the glass you stick on the front of it.

Good news: My 18 year old 28-70 2.8L works a treat on my 5D2 and 5D3. Ultra-sharp.

You might find that you get MORE out of your L lenses with a full frame.

I was talking to a pro friend of mine about if I will need to get a newer 28-70 L lens when I make the jump to the full frame sensor and he agreed with you that the older L lens will actually be better than the newer.

I'm not familiar with the 28-70 2.8 L, so I looked up the reviews and comparisons on The Digital Picture.  From the sample pictures, its almost as sharp as the current flagship 24-70 2.8 II at 28mm and 35mm, but the 28-70 looks extremely soft at 50mm and 70mm. 

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=787&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=4&API=0&LensComp=102&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=3&APIComp=0

[pulseimages]

Well I decided to rent the Canon 6D and shot with it at a car show today using my old 28-80 L lenses. Wow, did the pictures stink! Vignetting on almost all the pictures and none of the images were really "sharp". I have the camera until Monday and will continue to test it with my other lenses on Sunday.

I was really hoping I wouldn't have to replace my 28-80 L with a newer L lens. It's great on a APS-C body but is horrible on a FF camera.

[JohanCruyff]

The 17-40mm zoom may not be the very best of wide angle choices, but it isn't so bad either. I primarily shoot wide angle primes (14mm L, 17mm TS-E and 24mm L), but sometimes the need for versatility makes me pick up my 17-40mm zoom and no it doesn't kill me to use it, not on a 1D-X nor on a 5D Mark III.

Actually the 17-40mm zoom provides a much nicer zoom range on full frame than it does on crop, so yes, this lens will come into its own on a full frame body. It has not been designed for crop cameras. I expect you will be happy with it despite its flaws. In case you are desperate for better optical quality, you can still follow my route and collect wide angle primes .

When I use my "17-40mm F/4" on my 5Dc as if it was a "20-40mm F/8", most of the concerns about sharpness (and distortion) disappear .
 
BTW, F/8 is not a weird aperture for a mostly-landscape-oriented lens.
 

[rs]

Well I decided to rent the Canon 6D and shot with it at a car show today using my old 28-80 L lenses. Wow, did the pictures stink! Vignetting on almost all the pictures and none of the images were really "sharp". I have the camera until Monday and will continue to test it with my other lenses on Sunday.

I was really hoping I wouldn't have to replace my 28-80 L with a newer L lens. It's great on a APS-C body but is horrible on a FF camera.

Are you shooting jpeg? If so, there might be a lens profile you could install on the camera to sort out vignetting and CA. Use the free Canon EOS utility, plugged into the camera to update it. If you're shooting raw, try the same automatic lens correction in LR or whatever you're using. It might well tidy it up quite bit.

Also remember to feel free to stop it down about one a third stops beyond what you'd use on crop - that way you maintain the same DoF, and the lower noise levels of the FF sensor will allow you to boost the ISO to shoot in the same low light situations (or even darker). Stopping it down will reduce these issues you've noticed. If you want to open it up, just remember you're in territory that the crop camera couldn't go to.

[bholliman]

Well I decided to rent the Canon 6D and shot with it at a car show today using my old 28-80 L lenses. Wow, did the pictures stink! Vignetting on almost all the pictures and none of the images were really "sharp". I have the camera until Monday and will continue to test it with my other lenses on Sunday.

I was really hoping I wouldn't have to replace my 28-80 L with a newer L lens. It's great on a APS-C body but is horrible on a FF camera.

Did you run AFMA on this lens/body combination?  If not that might help.  There are a number of good on-line instructions on how to perform this.

[pulseimages]

Well I decided to rent the Canon 6D and shot with it at a car show today using my old 28-80 L lenses. Wow, did the pictures stink! Vignetting on almost all the pictures and none of the images were really "sharp". I have the camera until Monday and will continue to test it with my other lenses on Sunday.

I was really hoping I wouldn't have to replace my 28-80 L with a newer L lens. It's great on a APS-C body but is horrible on a FF camera.

Did you run AFMA on this lens/body combination?  If not that might help.  There are a number of good on-line instructions on how to perform this.

What is AFMA?

[rs]

Well I decided to rent the Canon 6D and shot with it at a car show today using my old 28-80 L lenses. Wow, did the pictures stink! Vignetting on almost all the pictures and none of the images were really "sharp". I have the camera until Monday and will continue to test it with my other lenses on Sunday.

I was really hoping I wouldn't have to replace my 28-80 L with a newer L lens. It's great on a APS-C body but is horrible on a FF camera.

Did you run AFMA on this lens/body combination?  If not that might help.  There are a number of good on-line instructions on how to perform this.

What is AFMA?

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/photography-tips/AF-Microadjustment-Tips.aspx

[bholliman]

What is AFMA?

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/photography-tips/AF-Microadjustment-Tips.aspx

Sorry I should have elaborated.  The link RS provided is a very good introduction.  I own a copy of Reikan Focal Pro which can automatically (or manually or semi-automatically) perform AFMA, but you don't have to spend a lot of money.  The method described in the TDP article works very well and is pretty accurate.  For a quick test that is less accurate, the following procedure can also be used:

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=13056.0

[pulseimages]

I was able to shoot pretty much all day today with the Canon 6D with my 17-40 L, 100 2.8 Marco and 70-200 2.8 L lenses and the images look great!

Many weird things happened with the 6D when I was shooting with it today. I don't know if the 6D is buggy or if this camera is just acting weird but for a couple of hours I couldn't change the ISO. Also when I pushed the preview button to preview the images I shot I kept getting the Enable or Disable the Protect Images function. I tried to select it but the Select button wouldn't work. Then when the Preview started working normal again I pressed the magnification button and the Menu screen would appear.

I tried to turning off and on the camera several times to no avail. Finally without notice everything started working normal again. Weird. Should I tell the rental company when I return it?

[bholliman]

Weird. Should I tell the rental company when I return it?

Very strange.  I would definitely report this to the rental company.

[wysiwtf]

sorry ... mistake

[pulseimages]

I've decided to get the Canon EOS 6D + 24-105 L kit.