Far far away
Senior Member
I used the 15-85 before and loved it! The deal breakerfor me is the variable aperture though. However on a cropped body would still recommend it over the 24-105. Best is the 17-55 for cropped.
Cropped body : EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM or EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM?
- Thread starter DigitalCamera
- Start date
DigitalCamera
New Member
No problem
For me I found the limited zoom range of the 17-55 the deal breaker for me, so I went for the 15-85 since I prefer zoom over aperture
Ding5678
New Member
Hi guys, is it worth buying a new set 15-85mm or just a 2nd hand will do. I mean 2nd hand with a few months left in warranty. I havnt experienced buying a 2nd hand lens before. Will a 15-85mm be enough for a landscape, street and portrait photography? Or should i just stick to my 18-135mm and buy a 10-22mm canon or a 11-16mm tokina.
Ding5678 said:
Bro, i have haf experience with the 10-22. IMHO, i believe the 10-22 is too wide for street and portrait. I dunno enough about 15-85 or 18-135 being useful for your style. So i wont touch on it.
My advice to you when buying a second hand lens is to bring 4 things: your camera body, lens pen, blower and a small torchlight.
When you hold the lens, check the front element first. If there is a filter, remove it. Use the blower to blow off any dust. Next lightly brush the glass with the lens pen and see if there are any scratches. If there any oily marks, use the lens pen again to remove them. If u see any flaws, immediately highlight them to the seller. Once your done checking, Replace the cap.
Next open the end cap (the side that goes towards your camera) and check it. The glass should be in pristine condition. If there are any dust, again lightly dust it off to ensure they are just dust and not scratches.
Now open the front lens cap again and use the torchlight to shine through the lens. You should not see any scratches. If there are, again highlight them. Its impt to tell the seller to avoid them saying that you caused the scratches.
Now check the focus and zoom ring for tightness. Hold it in the vertical position and zoom in all the way and release the zoom ring. It should not creep down on its own. Then place the lens on your camera body and test its AF.
If all ok, buy it! If not nego. Thats how i always do it.
DigitalCamera
New Member
I dunno about you, but I feel safer getting a brand new set. You never know what the seller did to his lens before he decides to sell it.....
DigitalCamera
New Member
I dunno about you, but I feel safer getting a brand new set. You never know what the seller did to his lens before he decides to sell it.....
huatman
Senior Member
15-85mm may not be the best lens for either of them, but to me it is a good lens for general purpose with good IQ. It not a fixed aperture lens so may not performer so well at the longest end when in dim light conditions. But then had use the lens at night (without tripod) before, so far still quite satis with it. I am happy with this lens on my crop camera when I dun know what I will encounter when I bring my camera out.
There always some risk when buying 2nd hand stuffs, do ur homework on the price of brand new one to compare and have to check carefully when getting 2nd hand. I had bought few lens 2nd hand from here, so far so good.
Ding5678 said:
2nd hand is great if you are not sure whether you want to keep this lens for the long run. If it has a few months warranty left, then all the better.
I'm using the 15-85 as my main lens. The extra 3mm on the wide end is quite significant. It is quite good for landscape. It is also a great do-it-all travel lens. It is ok for street if the lighting is good. But if you want to shoot handheld at night or take lots of portraits, I suggest you look at a large aperture prime lenses like Sigma 30 f/1.4 or EF 50 f/1.4.
As for super wide landscapes, the 10-22 is a safe choice. However I lean towards the 11-16 for its large aperture. It's notorious for chromatic aberrations but that can be easily corrected in post processing.
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my 2 cents worth:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/cano...ntages-over-efs-17-55-f2-8-a.html#post7537809
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/cano...ntages-over-efs-17-55-f2-8-a.html#post7538545
in any case, user happy can already~
This is a lot like my thinking/reasoning. I'm shooting a crop camera (40D) and I have and use a 24-105L extensively but finding that I bump into a constraint at the wide end quite often now. I also have a 55-250 for tele which is just fine because I seldom shoot in the tele range. What I have decided to do is sell my 24-105L and replace it with the 15-85. I'll then have 15-85 and a nice overlap with 55-250 so I'll have 15-250 covered with just 2 lenses. Then I'm planning on adding a fast prime for indoor/low light shooting and that will be my lens kit.
DigitalCamera
New Member
Haha I see! The 15-85 is really a great lens for crop cameras, cos the 24-105L really is quite tight at the wide end, considering it becomes 38.4mm. I don't really use tele, but the times I do use them, I long for the IQ of the 70-200 series. The IQ for my 55-250 is mediocre, but the details wont be there when I crop it. Really rather soft. It focuses quite slow too. Now, 70-200 once I have saved enough....?
DigitalCamera said:
Dead on for the 55-250. Just fine and nice and sharp on computer screen and small prints, and mine actually focuses nice and fast (and I'm used to the 24-105) and the IS is very good, but when I look at shots 100% size you can see the softness that would be evident if cropped and blown up.
DigitalCamera
New Member
Exactly! I have to avoid cropping pictures taken with the 55-250 as much as possible, and even if I do I crop a little only, if not the picture will be REALLY soft, and details are so washed out.
DigitalCamera
New Member
Don't think that would work. Cos even though you tweak the settings, the picture still wont be sharp cos its the design of the lens. Anyway, you give it a try and post up the results bro?
OK . . UPDATE: Back to the main topic of this thread. I bought the 15-85 and have shot two events for the local mag I do some work for SNAP Okanagan - Community Events Media . The copy I have is every bit as sharp as my 24-105. Very good wide open at 15-70mm and only needs to be stopped down to about f8 to get great sharp imager between 70-85mm. The 15-23mm extra (over my 24-105) is VERY noticable and useful in my case for shooting events indoors in close quarters. Build quali is very good, just not a tank like the L lens, but I appreciate the somewhat smaller size and weight. I'm happy enough with the IQ that I' now going to sell my beloved 24-105L. Hope this helps anyone who might be considering the Canon 15-85 IS USM.
