Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: gregjohnston on July 13, 2008, 11:11:33 pm

Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: gregjohnston on July 13, 2008, 11:11:33 pm
I recently upgraded to the 1DS MKIII and find my 16-35 is not quite sharp at the edges. Rather than upgrade to the II series lens, was thinking of purchasing new primes. The first being the 20mm lens. Anyone using this combination with great results.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: Lightbox on July 14, 2008, 05:00:12 am
It ain't a bad lens, I have owned it for the last 4 years, but recently upgraded to the 24mm f1.4L, preferring a slightly less wide fov to work with. I would expect similar results to the 16-35 you already have.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: JonRoemer on July 15, 2008, 10:15:44 am
Quote
I recently upgraded to the 1DS MKIII and find my 16-35 is not quite sharp at the edges. Rather than upgrade to the II series lens, was thinking of purchasing new primes. The first being the 20mm lens. Anyone using this combination with great results.
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I haven't shot the 20/2.8 (image quality samples I found online and lens reviews did not impress me) but I've found that the 16-35 II lens on the 1DsM3 is very good from 20mm and longer.

[a href=\"http://www.jonroemer.com/blog/2008/07/the-search-for-the-holy-grail-wide-angle-lenses-for-the-canon-eos-1ds-mark-iii/]My Blog Entry on Wide Angle Lenses for the Canon 1DsM3[/url]

I'd love it if Canon came out with a new prime "L" lens in the 18-21mm range with the same quality as their new 14mm II lens.

Jon Roemer
--
http://www.jonroemer.com/ (http://www.jonroemer.com/)
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: DarkPenguin on July 15, 2008, 10:20:57 am
I thought that lens was crap on an APS-C sensor.   Can't imagine it being any better on a 1DsMkIII.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: BobDavid on July 15, 2008, 11:21:45 am
I used to have the 20mm f/2.8 Canon lens. I sold it when I got the 17-40 f/4 L. At 20mm, not only is the 17-40 as sharp as the 20mm prime, it also exhibits less CA than the 20 f/2.8.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: Josef Isayo on July 15, 2008, 07:21:06 pm
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I used to have the 20mm f/2.8 Canon lens. I sold it when I got the 17-40 f/4 L. At 20mm, not only is the 17-40 as sharp as the 20mm prime, it also exhibits less CA than the 20 f/2.8.
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I wouldn't recommend it!
My old 16-35L MKI was significantly sharper wide open, with a lot less vignetteing, and had much better corners than the 20 f/2.8. It's really a mediocre lens.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: CJL on July 17, 2008, 09:12:41 am
I think you'll find that *any* of Canon's wide-angle zooms are better performers than the EF 20mm f2.8.  I tried 9 or 10 different copies, and the results ranged from mediocre to downright terrible.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: TMARK on July 17, 2008, 10:24:11 am
I shoot people and find its great.  Way better than the 24-70L at 24.  Surprisingly low levels of barrel distortion.  Good contrast and color.

Edited to add:  I shot it on a 1ds2 and 5D.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: JonRoemer on July 19, 2008, 05:30:02 pm
Quote
Edited to add:  I shot it on a 1ds2 and 5D.
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With Canon I've shot with the 1Ds, 1DsM2 and now the 1DsM3.  The change from the 1DsM2 to the 1DsM3 while not a huge leap in pixels is a noticeable leap in how well the wide angle lenses perform.  So, experience on the earlier bodies may have no bearing on the newest body.

My 16-35 v1 lens was fine on the earlier two models but unacceptable on the 1DsM3.  On the 1DsM3 the corners look smeared the wider you go.  Stopping down and zooming in never fully clears it up.  The 24-70, too, while passable at 24 on the early models (as more of a press coverage grab and go lens) looks pretty poor on the 1DsM3 at 24.

The 24 TSE lens and the 24/1.4 hold up quite well on the 1DsM3.  The 24 TSE better than I expected.  It was never the sharpest lens in the world to begin with but the 1DsM3 has not made it worse.
Title: Canon 20mm 2.8 lens
Post by: Brad Proctor on July 20, 2008, 01:07:10 pm
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I shoot people and find its great. 
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Yikes!