First Looks at Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM Lens Image Quality

[SoullessPolack]

You can still shoot stars with this lens at lower ISO if you use good technique. I got some star photos last night at f4 ISO 800 that turned out good. Brush up on technique, and you don't have to go out to expanded ISOs and get tons of noise.

 

[timcz]

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=949&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=3&LensComp=412&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=4

The sharpness in the corners at f8 and f11 compared to my 2.8 version is enough for me to want to buy this, which I did. However, still waiting for my pre-order to come through.

 

[skybc]

You can still shoot stars with this lens at lower ISO if you use good technique. I got some star photos last night at f4 ISO 800 that turned out good. Brush up on technique, and you don't have to go out to expanded ISOs and get tons of noise.

I am looking forward to see how it pans out for star shots (milky way etc). Would you mind posting a few? How is the coma?

 

[Hjalmarg1]

There are some lenses which preserve good resale value, while others you lose a lot due to different reasons, specially variations in the market prices. I got my f2.8L II, mint condition second hand, for $1,200 and managed to sell it after 1 year for the same. It was just enough to finance my new f4 IS. Sometimes market is good and sometimes bad.

 

[Otter]

Looking at the tests from the 2.8 vs the 4.0 at F11, the 4.0 definitely looks sharper. Especially around mid-frame, as well as the corners. I think if you're into landscape photography, it's a definite upgrade from the II 2.8.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=949&Camera=453&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=4&LensComp=412&CameraComp=453&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=5

 

[markko]

Today I went out with four wide-angles:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 IS
[*]Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 II
[*]Canon EF 17-40mm f/4
[*]Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 II
[/list]

For people that like to see pictures of walls: I took a few shots with each lens at the same piece of wall. The RAW files of these pictures and some additional pictures can be found in this ZIP file:

http://markkoenen.nl/downloads/2014-06-28-4-wide-angles-RAWs.zip

You can judge on the image quality yourself. Handling of the lens is as you would expect for this type of L-lens except for one thing: in case the image stabilization is turned on, the lens makes a weird noise occasionally. Not while you're focussing, but especially during moments that you point the camera at something else.

I thought this was an error in the specific lens that I got, so I went back to the shop and tried another copy of the 16-35mm f/4 and it had the exact same noise. It annoyed me this much that I turned off the stabilization

Cheers,

Mark.

The four lenses:

The wall:

One of the other random pictures: