Review - Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
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wayno said:
I have angst, but what I've said here is not really born of that. It's just born of my thought process in my own pursuit of shopping for wide angle lenses...I wish I could get paid to write subjective reviews. It's not difficult. Far more difficult to become a great photographer...
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I shoot wide a lot. I have a 24-105 - apparently a good copy that I'm happy with. Had the EF20 f2.8 that was awful. replaced it with a 20-35 f3.5-4.5, which was much sharper at 20mm than the 20mm. Sold it to get a Samyang 14 f2.8. Very sharp, even to the edges, don't lose much when correcting distortion with LR. Its getting repaired - focus jammed and I'm not even sure what happened (i.e. I didn't drop it).
What I'd really like is a nice sharp 17mm. Something like the TS without the movements. I'd even settle for f4. I'd even take the 17-40 f4 if it was sharper. But in this age of super teles and zooms, is my request so difficult? A sharp 17mm, corner to corner? Zeiss 18mm?
What I'd really like is a nice sharp 17mm. Something like the TS without the movements. I'd even settle for f4. I'd even take the 17-40 f4 if it was sharper. But in this age of super teles and zooms, is my request so difficult? A sharp 17mm, corner to corner? Zeiss 18mm?
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GMCPhotographics
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wayno said:
Yarp, there's a lot of weirdos who are "into" photography and think they are experts...unfortunatly, they usually are expert forum trolls....which is why photography forums are full of weirdos and weird opinions.
My take on the 17-40L....it's one of the biggest selling lenses of all time. It delivers great results, it's an old design which makes it cheap but with plenty of scope for a mkII improvement.
As to the weird Nikkon f4 lens with VR....so people are using it on a d800 to handhold? Right? Surely that's an oxymoron right there....Tripod it and switch the VR off. Putting a VR unit into a lens doen't make it better or great. A 17mm lens can be hand held down to 1/20th second. If a photographer needs a VR unit becuase their shutter speed is lower and no tripod....then I wonder if any of their photos have any stature due to their lack of preparation and foresite.
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GMCPhotographics said:
Yeah, I kind of agree with the VR thing. Never had a hand-holding vs. shutter speed issue with my wide angles. Haven't really used IS on anything wider than the 24-70 f/4 and even then, not sure if it made much of a difference. A few ideas I have about potentially using WA + IS would be for wedding shooters going for an abstract long exposure, people wanting to take photos where tripods aren't allowed (lots of international landmarks are like this) or just the casual photographer going for a stroll. Or people like me who maybe had a bit too much coffee in the morning.
And yes, the Nikon, as I mentioned, is great on its own merits. VR is just an accessory after the fact.
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surapon said:
Thanks, I never read that one... though it's comparing the 17-40 to the 16-35 f/2.8 (version 1)... so while the empirical tests on the 17-40 are still very good, the comparison is less relevant... unless of course someone's buying a used 16-35 version 1 ;D
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JVLphoto said:
As a wedding photographer myself, I've had a need for a VR/IS on an ultra wide. The only time I need a tripod is shooting a low light venue exterior shot (ideally at cross over light), which is usually around 30 secs @ f16. Yes that needs a pod, no question and no VR can ever replace that function. I've never had issues with venues and permission to use a pod....after all, I'm the official photographer! I did a wedding a few years back in Canterbury Cathedral's crypt and that was DARK! Shot under candle light, my fast primes and 16-35IIL did a fine job. Unfortunatly the brides older sister who married in the same venue two years previously and hired a.nother photographer...didn't fare so well!
Personally, I love to shoot wide open and I like the softer corners and slight vignetting....it saves me a job in LR later....if I need the corners sharp then I'll stop down. Most landscapes are shot between f8 to f16, most UW lenses perform amazingly well at those apertures, but it baffles me why people compare wide open lens charts...when most of them aren't used in that capacity. For landscapes, even old mid range lenses perfrom really well.
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I recently read a neat technique using Lightroom 5's new radial tool to create an inverse sharpening overlay. So instead of drawing a circle just to create a vignette (yes, I'm very guilty of this) you can use that space to sharpen the edges a bit to help balance the image.
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Frodo said:
I have the Zeiss 18/3.5 on my 5D mk III, and the lens is very sharp corner to corner. This lens is also rated as one of the ten sharpest lenses tested by the Swedish magazine Foto, http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftidningenfoto.se%2Fde-skarpaste-objektiven-fotos-tio-i-topp-lista%2F%23Carl%2520Zeiss%2520Distagon%2520T*%252018%2F3%2C5%2520ZF. småbildskamera = full frame camera.
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nicke said:
Seriously. Imagine what innovating Canon would have to do if Zeiss had AF lenses we could use in our mount. I've pondered getting one of their magical wide primes for some time for landscape work, which I'd shoot largely in LiveView. But AF would be so useful for non-tripod work.
What's the genesis of not having AF on Canon/Nikon-mount Zeiss lenses, anyway? It's not a patent thing, is it, b/c the other 3rd party lens folks reverse-engineer AF function into their hardware... Is it a trade agreement or something, and if so, why would Zeiss leave all that money on the table? Did they strike an AF-exclusivity deal with Sony? Just curious.
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ahsanford said:
I wonder if AF just interferes with the optics somehow? More electronic bits inside make less room for sweet sweet glass.
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ahsanford said:
... and they are still having issues with it, but fortunately Sigma now has the one working solution for it with the usb dock to update the lens fw and do other corrections, let's hope other 3rd party manufacturers will follow.
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I thoroughly enjoyed the review when I read it the other day, I then also enjoyed the other wide angle recommendations people were offering in the earlier pages of comments. However the pissing match is kind of ridiculous guys. 
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