Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by:

endurocat
( Intermediate)

Review Date
September 4, 2008

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.75 of 5,
4 votes

Review 1 of 63

Price Paid: $0.00 from Grey market

Summary:

Good lens, not best, but a good choice. Medium light, compact, medium build quality. Good resoluition, sharp. Not more diference between middle of the frame and corners (on ASP-C). Great colors and contrast. Fast auto focus. In some poor light conditions can't focus, with all help of flash, but probably this is my camera problem, not lens.
In comparition with miserable 18-55 kit is a big step ahead.
I apreciate USM-FTM feature. 24-85 focal length is good for more situations.
In the dark side is:
CA - Canon don't implement an CA corection for this lens in Photo Profetional software yet !!! CA is pronunced in some conditions. Not so bad like 18-55, but more so others Canon lens.
Zoom creep, is very smooth, but creep.
Focus ring wobbling a little - not big issue.

Strengths:

Resolution, colors, contrast, AF, price.

Weaknesses:

CA, without support from Canon for this issue - very bad.
Zoom creep - but this is not a tragedy.

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Rating
Reviewed by:

korayd76
( Intermediate)

Review Date
August 3, 2006

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 2 of 63

Price Paid: $200.00 from used

Summary:

It is a great lens with outstanding contrast and acceptable sharpness throughout all the aperture ranges. It is tack sharp especially in f/8. I like most the contrast and tone of this lens and I sold my 28-105mm and 50mm as I got really good results with this lens.

Strengths:

Acceptable sharpness at almost all aperture levels
Superb contrast and tones.
Light

Weaknesses:

None

Similar Products Used:

28-105mm
17-40mm
28-135mm

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Rating
Reviewed by:

justinguo
( Intermediate)

Review Date
May 2, 2006

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5,
4 votes

Review 3 of 63

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:

The Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM exhibited a quite mixed performance. On the upside the lens is very sharp with very little vignetting throughout the range. Unfortunately distortions at 24mm are pretty hefty as are chromatic aberrations. The build quality is pretty decent and the AF performace is a joy. All-in-all the lens is capable to beat the cheapo EF-S 18-55mm as well as the EF-S 17-85mm IS and regarding sharpness it can even rival the the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 USM L (on APS-C). If the focal length range was more attractive here the lens would have been a killer but as such it is just a good compromise.

Strengths:

good resolution,Vignetting is basically a non-issue with this lens at any focal length even at wide-open aperture.

Weaknesses:

chromatic aberrations (color shadows at harsh contrast transitions) are a weak spot of the lens.

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 USM L
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 USM L
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 USM IS
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II
Canon EF 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5 II
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 USM IS
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L

Customer Service:

Good

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Rating
Reviewed by:

Erik
( Intermediate)

Review Date
August 2, 2005

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.75 of 5,
4 votes

Review 4 of 63

Price Paid: $289.00 from B&H Photo

Summary:

Did a rather excessive amount of research before settling on this lens. In addition to looking at these reviews, I talked to two pros. One of them says this is her workhorse for weddings despite owning several L models; "My clients don't pay four times more if the lens costs four times more!" The other pro works for a large metro daily in Ohio, and uses it for everything except sports.

Strengths:

*Lightning USM focus *Quite sharp at all focal lengths, especially stopped at 6.3 or tighter *Ideal size/weight for the EOS 20D *Price/value

Weaknesses:

67mm--not at all universal Obviously a rung down from 28-70 L, but the price gap is huge

Similar Products Used:

The 28-80 kit lens for the old Rebel G

Customer Service:

None needed thus far

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Rating
Reviewed by:

Richard23
( Professional)

Review Date
May 16, 2005

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.75 of 5,
4 votes

Review 5 of 63

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:

This lens is suitable for most work where a lens with this range is normally used. Professionals may rate it higher than may those with less experience, because as professionals they know how to get the most out of their equipment... understanding their lenses' strengths and weaknesses

Strengths:

Sharp where you would expect it to be Soft where you'd expect it to be Light. Compact. Fast focusing and relatively inexpensive.

Weaknesses:

Requires reasonable care in handling because of its light construction.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 24-70mm f/2,8 L

Customer Service:

Not used

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