C100: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

[Roli]

Hi guys

Recently I bought an EF-S 15-85mm lens, mainly as a general purpose lens for my 7D.
I couldn't find much information about how it performs on a C100 before buying it, so I decided to write a short post and share my thoughts.



I found the mechanical quality quite nice for a non L-class lens. The manual focusing ring is a bit narrow, but it turns nice and smooth. The zoom ring also turns very smooth. The optical quality is also very good, and it has a usable macro range (closeup 35cm). The image stabilizer is quite amazing. The barrel extends a fair bit though when zoomed to 85mm:

@15mm:


@85mm:



There are two main things that bother me with this lens when used on the C100:

• noticeable vignetting
• fairly slow with f/5.6 above 60mm

I made two short video clips and hope they give you a rough idea what to expect from this lens (and what not :happy:
http://vimeo.com/89807170 (real life test)
http://vimeo.com/89856629 (vignetting)


So as a summary:
Would I buy this lens again? YES
Would I buy this lens again if I planned to use it on a C100 exclusively? I'm not shure... probably not.

But if you have a chance to try it out, I would strongly encourage you to do so.


- Roli

 

[mtnski]

Have you enabled ef-s mode in the C100? This may overcome the vignetting issue.

 

[Roli]

Have you enabled ef-s mode in the C100? This may overcome the vignetting issue.

Yes, I have enabled "EF-S Lens" and "Peripheral Illumination Correction" yet the vignetting is still visible (see vimeo link above concerning vignetting).
As you can see in the clip those two parameters help a lot, but the vignetting is still noticeable. It is even noticeable on the 7D under some circumstances, but still photos are easy to correct .