Canon 15- 85mm

ROCKMORE

ROCKMORE

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How good is the canon 15- 85mm f3.5-5.6 besides being a little slow on the long end.
What are some other good choices out there in the 15mm range for similar money.
In the 7D kit the 15-85mm Canon will cost me about $525 which seems good.
 
Remember that this is an EF-S lens and can not be used with a full frame sensor camera later. That is a major turnoff to me, so I bought the EF 17-40 F4L instead (around $700). Seems like this lens will hold it's value much better.
 
saneproductions said:
Remember that this is an EF-S lens and can not be used with a full frame sensor camera later. That is a major turnoff to me, so I bought the EF 17-40 F4L instead (around $700). Seems like this lens will hold it's value much better.
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That could be the deal breaker for the 15-85 for me as well. I am planning to add a 5D to the package next year when the firmware is ironed out. I also have a good range of manual lenses I will adapt for both bodies. For the price break I will get the lens with the kit compared to buying individually may save me enough to sell it next year if I want, and still get a pretty good return on it. There will be a lot of dedicated 7D owners looking to upgrade. Speculation I know, but that's part of the game plan these days. Thanks for the post.
 
I bought the 15-85 with my 7D back in october. I recently sold it in favor of primes. The wide end had too much distortion and looked awful. The long end was way to slow for any low-light/indoor use. I now have a 24mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8 II, and will be getting an 85 or 100mm very soon.

Another good idea would be to look at the tamron 17-50mm 2.8, then get an 85mm f1.8. Throw in a 50mm 1.8 II for good measure. This would be a pretty good setup.
 
seven.b said:
I bought the 15-85 with my 7D back in october. I recently sold it in favor of primes. The wide end had too much distortion and looked awful. The long end was way to slow for any low-light/indoor use. I now have a 24mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8 II, and will be getting an 85 or 100mm very soon.

Another good idea would be to look at the tamron 17-50mm 2.8, then get an 85mm f1.8. Throw in a 50mm 1.8 II for good measure. This would be a pretty good setup.
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Primes are the way to go. I have many fast manual lenses I plan to work with and actually never use auto focus lenses in my work.
It will be valuable to have one auto lens to leave on the camera for general emergency applications though. I am rethinking the 15-85mm because I have also read some less than perfect reviews at both ends of the zoom.
An 18-135mm with the camera is about $250 which doesn't hurt at all. It also has a 67mm filter thread so I will be able to use the lucrative Caprock AA filter.
I also has a very good quality 77mm Century 1.6 wide adapter I can use in tight spots to get me back to a wide enough field of view when I'm up against a wall. Even though using wide adapters isn't always the best, it has worked well in the past on many different cameras.
 
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/462-canon_18135_3556is?start=1

here is a less than stellar review of that lens and is especially bad on the wide end and opened up all the way (which is where you need it). On an aps-c sensor, you really just need the wide end of the standard lens set. I went with a quality wide zoom (17-40 F4L and I would have got the 16-35 F2.8L if I had the money)), a 35mm f2 and a 50mm f2. I may add an 85mm later, but it has not been needed so far as th 50 is plenty long enough for me right now.

Buy the right thing the first time, even if you get the kit lens for a deal it is money that you could put twoards a lens you will use. The only exception I would say is if you plan on selling the 7d soon (say 6 months) and will need a lens to sell it with.
 
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I'd say it also depends on what your needs are though. As usual haha.

Some are more concerned with just getting a cheap zoom lens that can cover a wide range and then fill it in with sharper, higher quality primes as they go. And impecable contrast or sharpness kind of take a back seat until the budget gets bigger. Of course just switching up distance from subject can be considered too.

Having said that I was hoping to find out what would be 'better' to purchase with a 7D as a starter: a 18-135 or a 15-85. Both with similar speeds (3.5-5.6). The 15-85 being the more expensive and the 18-135 having a slightly larger focal length range on the telephoto side (and considerably cheaper). Also the 15-85 having a USM (marked focal points)--which is really a small loss in my mind because I'd probably check by eye anyway. is the 18-135 just that much poorer quality of a lens?
 
saneproductions said:
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/462-canon_18135_3556is?start=1

here is a less than stellar review of that lens and is especially bad on the wide end and opened up all the way (which is where you need it). On an aps-c sensor, you really just need the wide end of the standard lens set. I went with a quality wide zoom (17-40 F4L and I would have got the 16-35 F2.8L if I had the money)), a 35mm f2 and a 50mm f2. I may add an 85mm later, but it has not been needed so far as th 50 is plenty long enough for me right now.

Buy the right thing the first time, even if you get the kit lens for a deal it is money that you could put twoards a lens you will use. The only exception I would say is if you plan on selling the 7d soon (say 6 months) and will need a lens to sell it with.
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I don't want to invest a lot of money in EF-S lenses. Your right about the 17-40mm & 16-35mm they are both nice picks, but I have primes 24mm 2.8 / 28mm 2.8 / 35mm 2.8 / 50mm 1.4 / 105mm 2.4 / so any money I would invest would be one nice wide prime.
If I had the cash now I would get a 5D, so after 6 months of testing I will know if I will keep the 7D or not.
 
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Yes, but that is an ef-s lens and pretty pricy. If you have those primes, you could just get the 5Dii and you would have plenty on the wide end, since getting something nice enough for what you want is going to probably cost you the difference between the two bodies.
 
saneproductions said:
Yes, but that is an ef-s lens and pretty pricy. If you have those primes, you could just get the 5Dii and you would have plenty on the wide end, since getting something nice enough for what you want is going to probably cost you the difference between the two bodies.
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Thanks for the reality check, your right.
At the end of the day, searching for an expensive wide EF-S lens to match a camera body I don't own yet, is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. What was I thinking?

I like to work wide most of the time and manually all of the time, so a 5D with fast manual primes will serve me best.

The only lens I will need is a 20mm or 21mm prime to complete my set. At this point I will probably look for a Nikon or Zuiko for my budget. The short flange length on Canon will really be a hazard to move them to other cameras sooner later. Also not having any Canon glass I never realized there is no aperture ring, that's not very useful to me.
 
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