Review 2 of 27
Price Paid:
$280.00
from Ebay Summary: A well-designed, compact lens with an extremely useful zoom range, which produces excellent results. Strengths: The wide 24-105 range is great for family/holiday snapshots. I find the 24mm end comes in very handy. The aperture range of f/3.5-f/4.5 is also pretty good for this type of zoom.
For a 24-105 range the lens barrel is very compact. I have been able to use the built-in flash on my 600si without any shadowing effects (I remove the lens hood first). The weight of the lens is also quite acceptable (395g). The zoom ring turns reasonably smoothly, and I haven't experienced any zoom creep so far. The manual focussing ring does not rotate in AF mode, which is great. An internal focussing mechanism means that the front of the lens also does not rotate during focussing. Overall, build quality is very good, and the lens looks smart on my 600si.
So far, the 6x4 prints I have produced are very sharp and extremely contrasty. Flare control is excellent. Distortion isn't noticeable apart from at the shortest focal lengths. Weaknesses: On my sample you have to use a fair amount of turning force to click the lens hood into place, so much so that the front of the lens wobbles slightly, which is a bit of a worry at first. In my opinion, the lens hood could also be sturdier.
The focussing speed on 600si was not as fast as I had hoped, in fact, not significantly faster than my old Sigma 28-105 or Tamron 28-80 (my 600si does have a reputation for slow AF though). I suppose this lens needs to be paired with a camera like the Dynax/Maxxum 7 for best AF performance. During focussing, there's a distinctive buzzing sound - but I think this is mainly due to noise from the 600si's lens drive motor. I've tried this lens with a 7 before and this combination was fairly quiet.
Vignetting is highly evident at 24mm for wide apertures, especially in low light shots. Some distortion is noticeable at 24mm. Similar Products Used: Sigma 28-105 f/4-5.6 UC (not particularly sharp, suffers from severe distortion and uneven sharpness across the frame)
Tamron 28-80 f/3.5-5.6 (quite sharp, but prone to flare) Customer Service: Not used
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