Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

The Canon 24-105mm F4 I.S. L lens is very good to use with the EOS 1D Mark III.
profesional camera. I was able to it in a wedding shoot some time ago and was easy to use with the flash 580EX mark II when it came to zoom from 24 to 105mm. Good pictures with flash in the church with this lens. I like the Image Stabilizer to use because of the three stops and UD glass and fast USM motor. Manual focus during AF mode.
The 24-105mm F4 I.S. L is good to use in taking photos of places and people. Better in zoom when compare with the 24-70mm f2.8 L lens with the 24-105mm f4 I.S. L lens, good for close up shots. I do enjoy using this lens with my camera and it is good price compare with the 24-70mm F2.8 L lens.

The strenth is the price and extra zoom up to 105mm and Images Stabilizer.
can be use in your profesional work like photojournalism and weddings.
Solid build and UD and good USM motor.

It is not as good as the 24-70mm f2.8 L lens because it has the wide apeture of f2.8 which you can use in low light and does give better picture. But the 24-105mm F4 L lens means that the F4, you have to use the Image Stabilizer in low light but still get blur images and you have to use a flash like the 580 EX I or II to get a good shot. You have to increase the ISO setting from 400 or 800 to 1000 to 1600 to shoot in low light or indoor and at 24 mm a small distorstion but not a real problem, the picture are still good. When it comes to zooming to 105mm the lens barrel extend outwards which means that dust can get in. Meaning cost money to get it clean on an L serise lens. So no internal zoom or better seal to stop dust getting in.

28-135mm I.S. Lens

Good customer service at Canon Australia

Having a penchant for constant aperture lenses having used Nikon, Sigma and Tamron lenses with an aperture ranging between f/1.8, f/2.8 with my Nikon film based cameras, I was shopping for a SIGMA 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens for my Canon EOS 5D. No one had the SIGMA or even the TAMRON 28-75mm f/2.8 Di in stock, both which cost around 50% less than the CANON EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM.

The CANON EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM at Rs. 35000/$900[Grey market price] was the only constant aperture lens available and having spent Rs. 145000/$3750[Officail Canon price] on the 5D I was literally short on funds. Having, but no other option than to be stranded with only the 5D body, I very hesitantly paid the extra cost for the CANON EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, however knowing that I was paying for a premium product.

In the few days that I’ve used this lens, I am amazed at its fast and silent focus thanks to the USM and ALSO the IS feature which is permanently active.

The ONLY missing link is the f/2.8 aperture which is of great advantage in low light. Wish Canon would manufacture an f/2.8 lens in this focal range [I remember Tamron manufactured a SP 28-105 f/2.8 lens, which has been discontinued, reasons unknown to me].

I highly recommend this lens for serious enthusiasts, intermediates and professionals too.

I have not yet printed any of the images captured with this lens and will update my review as time progresses and the images are printed.

Highly

For the moment, I rated 4 stars for Value and 5 stars for Overall.

? A Canon product
? Weatherproof lens
? Excellent grip when used with the 5D

Have not noticed any till now.

Have never used Canon lenses before. This is the first Canon lens I'm using.

None needed so far. Would I?

I got this lens for my 350D after many weeks of tossing up between this lens and the 17-40 f4.0L. This lens works out the same as a 38-168mm lens in 35mm terms so I was little worried that I would find the 38mm end a little restricting on the 350D. Surprisingly I find it perfectly OK. The maximum reach of 40mm on the 17-40 was really going to get on my nerves but with 105mm on this lens the possibilities are endless. It's a perfect lens for travel and street photography and will be especially good on the full frame Canon SLRs. I was a little surprised at the size and weight of the lens especially as it is only f4 and not f2.8. It's quite a big heavy beast and looks a little out of place on the tiny 350D. I think it would sit much better on a 30D or a 5D but it isn't a problem. If you're upgrading from the standard 18-55 kit lens then you will notice a huge difference in size and weight but this is only to be expected really. The exterior of the lens is mostly metal and the build quality is even better than expected. It probably couldn't have been built any better. I also own the 70-200mm f2.8L IS and the build quality is equally good. The front of this lens extends when zooming in and out unlike some of the other L series zooms. I don't really find this a problem. Others will be pleased to know that the front of the lens does not rotate or move in or out during focussing making using filters easier. Incidentally, the filter thread is 77mm which is good as its one of the more popular sizes so prices won't be too stupid. The zoom and focus rings are superbly smooth and you can focus manually without switching off AF on the lens barrel. The zoom does not creep when pointing the camera down like some cheaper consumer lenses. The IS system is a bonus with this lens and probably goes some way to explaining why the lens is heavy. Hand held shots at 1/4 of a second are actually possible if you take care! I don't find IS as useful on a lens of this focal length... on the 70-200mm it is a Godsend as I hate tripods. On this lens it should be seen as a bonus that can be used in emergencies. Interestingly the IS only has one mode unlike the 70-200 which has 2 modes (one for panning shots, one for static subjects).

Image quality: Fantastic, of course. If it wasn't I would ask for my money back after spending over 600 quid on it. Good at f4 but remarkably better at f5.6 and beyond. I only use f4 when I have to.

Another point to note is that this lens can NOT be used with Canon's extenders, not something I particularly care about.

AF performance: Sensational as usual on the L lenses. Silent, lightning quick and no hunting around. Extremely good in AF Servo mode, keep your focus point on the moving subject and it will not lose focus.

The lens also has a distance scale on it but like most modern lenses it is a bit of a joke and I personally don't find it very useful. No depth of field scale either.

Lens is also weather sealed against dust and moisture although I haven't had the courage to try it out yet. It's good to know though. So next time I get a soaking I can relax knowing that my 350D will be destroyed but my 24-105 will dry out nicely ;-)

Lens also comes with a good quality lens pouch which you should really expect given the price.

Overall, another hard to fault lens from Canon.

Image quality
Build quality (metal and good quality plastics)
Superb AF performance
Great zoom range
Good IS system
No vignetting on APS-C SLRs
Front element doesn't rotate when focussing
77mm filter thread
Reasonable price considering you also get IS

Just a tad heavy for an f4 optic
Can't be used with Canon's 1.4x or 2x extenders (but who cares?)
Wide end of the zoom a little restrictive on APS-C sensor SLRs (but this is obvious before you buy it and the lens was initially designed and intended for full frame anyway)

Canon 18-55mm EF-S
Sigma 28-105mm
Canon 28-80mm
Canon 35-80mm

Not needed (yet)

Much better than the EFS 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS.
Sharp wide open (on 20d)
Built like a tank.
Constant f/4 is very useful. I do miss the wide angle (all-in-one solution zoom) This lense with the EFS 10-22mm make a very high quality 2 lense combo for 1.6 crop cameras.

Versatile zoom range.
Image quality excellent.
Solid Build.
Fast auto focus.
L quality sharpness, colour and contrast.

Not as sharp past 90mm.
Wide end only 39mm equivalent on crop body.
Cost; although price has gone down since release.

EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
EF 70-200mm f/4 IS USM
EFS 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM

Had the 28-135 for years and was very pleased, had to do a lot of test shots to satisfy I was really upgrading with this lens, but I was sold. It's sharp, contrasty, all the good stuff all across the board, a definite improvement.

Yes it is three times the $$$ of the 28-135, but for a long term investment it's worth it. I don't miss the reach, as I can enlarge easily, and the extra 3mm on the wide end come in very handy (caveat: I don't shoot a lot of WA)

I mainly do "walaround" shooting without a tripod, and this is the lens for me. For my shooting, I don't need the motion stopping abillities of a 2.8 or faster

Image quality, IS, build

a little pricey, but it's a years long payout

Canon 28-135 IS
Tamron 28-75 2.8
Canon 24-70L (briefly)

not needed (Biggs is a great outfit though)