Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Abdulrahman Aljabri on January 08, 2016, 02:37:56 am

Title: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: Abdulrahman Aljabri on January 08, 2016, 02:37:56 am
I use the 17-40L, 24-70L 2.8 and 90tse for my hotel photography. This combination is just too much to carry and travel with on my back all the time. I am looking to replace the 24-70L 2.8 and 90tse with the 24-105L. The weight saving is significant 1515g (950g + 565g) versus 670g. Does the 24-105L offer good enough picture quality to replace those 2 lenses?

Take note that I would not use it in the 24-35mm range because I have the 17-40L, which covers that range well. I would use the the 24-105L mainly from 50mm to 105 and mostly stopped down to f11. So dropping from 2.8 to 4.0 is no issue for me, and focusing speed is no issue either because I am mostly manually focusing. What I am interested in is image quality in the 50-105 range stopped down to f11. Do you think it will fare well?

Thanks
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: David Sutton on January 08, 2016, 03:02:28 am
Hi Abdulrahman.
If I had stayed with Canon I probably would have sold the 24-105 and gone to 24-70 for tripod work. There are advantages to both. The IS on the 24-105 is really useful when hand held and to my thinking almost makes up for it being not as sharp, and I have made some good 17inch prints from it, though I had to do some CA correction.
Most of the problems I had with it can be corrected in software. Distortion in particular (see first image below) at 24 mm was fairly pronounced but at 70mm (second image) was not so bad. Mind you, that was from 2009 and for all I know Canon have done work on it since. Really, best to try one out in a shop (brick wall shots or similar are good) and see if it is good enough for you.
David
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: Abdulrahman Aljabri on January 08, 2016, 03:18:46 am
Hi Abdulrahman.
If I had stayed with Canon I probably would have sold the 24-105 and gone to 24-70 for tripod work. There are advantages to both. The IS on the 24-105 is really useful when hand held and to my thinking almost makes up for it being not as sharp, and I have made some good 17inch prints from it, though I had to do some CA correction.
Most of the problems I had with it can be corrected in software. Distortion in particular (see first image below) at 24 mm was fairly pronounced but at 70mm (second image) was not so bad. Mind you, that was from 2009 and for all I know Canon have done work on it since. Really, best to try one out in a shop (brick wall shots or similar are good) and see if it is good enough for you.
David

Hello David,

Thanks allot for your reply and the samples. Yes the distortion is really obvious at 24mm. The good thing is I plan to use it starting from 50mm only. At 70mm the distortion looks alright. How about sharpness from 50 to 105mm stopped down to f11, how do it fare in that range?

Abdulrahman 
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: David Sutton on January 08, 2016, 04:03:47 am
Hi Abdulrahman.
From memory it was sharpest at f/8 but with good sharpening technique fine at f/11. At f/16 to maybe f22 diffraction really took it's toll but with something like Topaz Detail or smart sharpen enough detail could be recovered to make the files look good.
It depends on your output. If you are printing over 17inches this lens is not the sharpest around but quite usable I think. If your output is not high resolution (output to screen or prints under 17inches) then it should work well. For use as a business tool you really should try one out in a shop if you can. My copy fell off a little in sharpness at 105mm but I seldom noticed it in real world situations.
David
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on January 08, 2016, 04:20:15 am
Sell the 24-70 f2.8, get the 50 macro (old but very good).

Or sell the 24-70 and 90 tse, and get 50 and 100 macros.
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: NancyP on January 08, 2016, 12:00:13 pm
Do you use the 90mm tilt-shift capacity at all? If not, the 24-105 gives you that 40 to 105 range nicely stopped down. Save some weight, add lighting weight   :D
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: Abdulrahman Aljabri on January 08, 2016, 12:56:24 pm
Do you use the 90mm tilt-shift capacity at all? If not, the 24-105 gives you that 40 to 105 range nicely stopped down. Save some weight, add lighting weight   :D

Not much really, that is why I figured I can skip it. Besides, hotel clients do not pixel peep or print their pictures at gallery size. They are mostly used for web, A4, and billboards.
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: BobDavid on January 21, 2016, 07:05:26 pm
The distortion on the wide end was bad, especially noticeable when shooting architecture. However, I sold my Canon kit in 2009. Maybe ACR has a good profile for correcting the distortion. I used it on a 5D Mark I. It was plenty sharp for the 12 mp FF sensor.
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: stever on January 21, 2016, 07:49:17 pm
I have used the 24-105 a lot for several years and my main gripe is softness at the long end beyond 70mm even when stopped down.  this is what you should probably test to see if it's adequate for your requirements.

there is distortion at all focal lengths but it seems manageable to me with post processing correction
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 21, 2016, 11:10:10 pm
From what I've heard individual examples of the 24-105 vary. My own seems very sharp, and for the kind of uses you anticipate I think a good one would satisfy you very well. On my Canon 5D and 5DII I think perhaps 90% of my shots have been with that lens. I've been very happy with it. Most of my work these days is hand-held.

I also have the 50mm, 100mm macro, and the 17-40/4, which was my walkabout lens on my 10D. I have used hardly any of these since I got the 24-105.
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: BernardLanguillier on January 22, 2016, 01:52:48 am
No first hand experience with that lens, but I personnally find it pretty hard to align correctly an image (verticals vertical) when there is a strong distorsion.

This can of course be fixed in post, but having just gone back to shooting a zoom from a few years of primes only shooting, I personnally find that pretty disturbing.

This is a major advantage or mirrorless systems that typically correct distorsion on the fly in the viewfinder.

For what it's worth.

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: ErikKaffehr on January 22, 2016, 02:10:23 am
Hi,

The Sigma 24-105/4 Art may also be worth a look.

Best regards
Erik


I use the 17-40L, 24-70L 2.8 and 90tse for my hotel photography. This combination is just too much to carry and travel with on my back all the time. I am looking to replace the 24-70L 2.8 and 90tse with the 24-105L. The weight saving is significant 1515g (950g + 565g) versus 670g. Does the 24-105L offer good enough picture quality to replace those 2 lenses?

Take note that I would not use it in the 24-35mm range because I have the 17-40L, which covers that range well. I would use the the 24-105L mainly from 50mm to 105 and mostly stopped down to f11. So dropping from 2.8 to 4.0 is no issue for me, and focusing speed is no issue either because I am mostly manually focusing. What I am interested in is image quality in the 50-105 range stopped down to f11. Do you think it will fare well?

Thanks
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: Abdulrahman Aljabri on January 29, 2016, 07:52:26 am
I just had the chance to test my newly acquired used 24-105L against the 90ts-e. Given that prime is very sharp and practically distortion free I was interested to see how the zoom would fare. It did pretty good, with the center of each looking almost identical. In the far corners you could see a difference, but the zoom was not lacking, it's just the prime was better. Also, the zoom requires some distortion correction. That's about it, the rest is almost all the same. I posted some comparison crops. Take note the books are not perfectly level and since I was focusing at close distance (1.4m) I had to crank the zoom all the way to 105mm to match the field of view of the prime.

(http://s21.postimg.org/o4xdxqkxf/09407_EOS_5_D_Mark_III_273022000056.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/o4xdxqkxf/)

(http://s21.postimg.org/9x33vciur/09411_EOS_5_D_Mark_III_273022000056.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/9x33vciur/)

(http://s11.postimg.org/5aa20d7fj/24_105_L_bottom_left_corner.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/5aa20d7fj/)

(http://s11.postimg.org/yj6mk0s7z/90tse_bottom_left_corner.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/yj6mk0s7z/)

(http://s11.postimg.org/4yx71cgdb/24_105_L_bottom_right_corner.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/4yx71cgdb/)

(http://s11.postimg.org/vmjljqme7/90tse_bottom_right_corner.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/vmjljqme7/)

(http://s11.postimg.org/62hbdb10f/24_105_L_top_left_corner.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/62hbdb10f/)

(http://s11.postimg.org/40gtz231b/90tse_top_left_corner.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/40gtz231b/)

Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: Abdulrahman Aljabri on January 29, 2016, 07:57:40 am
Hi,

The Sigma 24-105/4 Art may also be worth a look.

Best regards
Erik

yes I was very interested in that lens. I read great reviews about it. Even though I got the 24-105L I am still interested about it, especially to know if it is possible to shift with it while installed on the TSE adapter V2.
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: powerslave12r on January 29, 2016, 08:07:52 am
Glad to hear it's working out.

I myself always read the reviews and wrote off the lens as, it'll never be as sharp as my tilt-shift, why even bother, but I have not been without one for the longest time. It sits on my camera 95% of the time. Given how their prices have fallen, they're the best bang for buck lenses.

I sold it off once, gave myself such a scare, bought a replacement asap. :D
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: ErikKaffehr on January 29, 2016, 01:34:05 pm
Hi Abdulrahman,

I am looking for a normal zoom in Canon mount to use with my Sony A7rII and the Metabones adapter. I would really rather have 24-105 than 24-70, but it seems that the 24-70/2.8LII is sort of the king in image quality. I don't really need f/2.8 or image stabilisation.

I have been shooting with Hans Kruse, a great guy having some great workshops in Italy and Scotland, and he has both the 24-70/2.8 on Canon and the Sigma 24-105/4 on Nikon. Neither sample is so great. He got the 24-70/2.8LII repaired at Canon and I think he is pretty happy with it now.

So, I guess that whatever lens we buy, we need to check it out thoroughly to make sure we got a decent sample.

Regarding image circle, I don't think the 24-70/2.8 allows for much shift. I'll see if I can find out more about the others.

Best regards
Erik


yes I was very interested in that lens. I read great reviews about it. Even though I got the 24-105L I am still interested about it, especially to know if it is possible to shift with it while installed on the TSE adapter V2.
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: DaveCurtis on January 29, 2016, 02:21:50 pm
Im using the 24-70 f4 IS with Metabones and A7R2 and also with 5D3.

I choose the f4 to keep the weight down. My 24-105mm died so rather than getting it fixed I bought the 24-70mm.

I would describe it a useful mid range lens, with reasonably sharp centre however the outer zone is rather weak at the wide end even when stopped down. However the A7R2 can be rather ruthless.

The CA is better controlled than the 24-105mm
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: David Eichler on January 29, 2016, 03:08:28 pm
Im using the 24-70 f4 IS with Metabones and A7R2 and also with 5D3.

I choose the f4 to keep the weight down. My 24-105mm died so rather than getting it fixed I bought the 24-70mm.

I would describe it a useful mid range lens, with reasonably sharp centre however the outer zone is rather weak at the wide end even when stopped down. However the A7R2 can be rather ruthless.

The CA is better controlled than the 24-105mm

Reportedly, while reportedly and excellent lens in many respects, the Canon 24-70 F:4 exhibits a significant amount of focus shift with changes in aperture. This is not a problem if focusing at the taking aperture, but could be a problem if focusing only at the maximum aperture and shooting a much smaller aperture. Also, 70mm is not long enough for what the OP is trying to do.

As to whether the 24-105 is useful for this purpose, it depends upon the end use. If that will be for large prints and reproductions, I would suggest staying with a high-quality prime or telephoto zoom such as the Canon 70-200 f:2.8. The Canon 24-105 F:4 is pretty good at the long end if well stopped down, but is not exceptional. In my opinion, it is only really an excellent performer from about 35-60mm. But, again, it depends upon how the photos will be viewed and the subject matter.
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: ErikKaffehr on March 11, 2016, 01:04:13 am
Hi,

Just a late comment…

After much contemplation I decided to buy a Canon 24-105/4 L for my Sony A7rII a couple of days ago. The main reasons for that choice were:


Due to weather and things to do, like work for living, I have just a few test shots and a few "creative" shots, but I am quite confident from what I have seen that the 24-105/4 will do fine.

Best regards
Erik

I use the 17-40L, 24-70L 2.8 and 90tse for my hotel photography. This combination is just too much to carry and travel with on my back all the time. I am looking to replace the 24-70L 2.8 and 90tse with the 24-105L. The weight saving is significant 1515g (950g + 565g) versus 670g. Does the 24-105L offer good enough picture quality to replace those 2 lenses?

Take note that I would not use it in the 24-35mm range because I have the 17-40L, which covers that range well. I would use the the 24-105L mainly from 50mm to 105 and mostly stopped down to f11. So dropping from 2.8 to 4.0 is no issue for me, and focusing speed is no issue either because I am mostly manually focusing. What I am interested in is image quality in the 50-105 range stopped down to f11. Do you think it will fare well?

Thanks
Title: Re: Can I replace my existing lenses with the 24-105L?
Post by: BobDavid on March 12, 2016, 05:13:28 pm
I used the 24-105 L with the 5D I from 2007 until 2011. At the wide end, I recall problems with mustache distortion. During that time, ACR didn't utilize lens profiles for optical correction.

The lens was sharp and contrasty.  However the 17-40mm L f/4 performed way better for WA architecture photos.

Times have changed and, the ACR lens profiles are respectable.