Comments on: Canon 24-70 f/4 IS Resolution Tests

By: Andrey

Andrey — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:44:20 +0000

Nice review!

By: John

John — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:45:32 +0000

Ive shot with Tamron lenses in the past with success. They are lenses which are workable. However, as noted in many reviews out there their focus system has issues. First its slower than the Canons. Second it is not always accurate or predictable. Another issue with the Tamron is bokeh which is different from the Canon.

These issues probably will not matter to most photographers but in the high demanding wedding field I will settle for Canon only lenses. Not saying Tamron is a bad lens but when you have your reputation on the line you need all the advantage you can get. If the bokeh doesnt look right or the focus doesnt seem right an angry couple can just go file a lawsuit or trash you out in an unfavorable review.

By: steve

steve — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:52:42 +0000

Very interesting. This kind of data really helps the decision. I am the ideal person for the 24-70 F4 IS. Here is why.
- I find the stabilization is worth more than just 1 stop. You really can hand hold many more photos successfully. I need IS basically.
- I also find that letting a lens stop down to f2.8 is worse than f4 and a bumped up stop to the ISO. Thats only if you have more ISO to spare. As it turns out, I usually do. I shoot daylight handheld and only when I shoot in shadows do I hit my max aperture.

I am very impressed that the sharpness is better with the F4 IS than with the Tamron at f2.8 AND f4. That is a huge deal. Usually you need to stop down 1 stop to get to a better quality, but this f4 lens is better wide than the tamron. When things get much darker, I am on a tripod and can get to f5.6 or f8.

I think by f8, you would not know the difference in these lenses, they are all very good. I have been shooting with the f4 24-105 for a very long time and I am also surprised to see that it resolved better than the 24-70 mk1 which I never heard anyone comment on before, so thats interesting.

By: JonJon

JonJon — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:30:12 +0000

the traumflieger guys claim to do the worldwide most ACCURATE tests if you read the website.

well…. to me it´s seems as they do a comedy show?!

a testchart and imagelab software .. well i have that at home too.

but im not so bold to say my test are the most accurate in the world.

By: Roger Cicala

Roger Cicala — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 23:11:21 +0000

Hi Pat,

No, I’m afraid we don’t. The table feature we have wouldn’t hold it all.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:12:00 +0000

Roger,
Do you have a page on the site that shows the resolution data for all the lenses you’ve tested? I’m interested in that!

By: Roger Cicala

Roger Cicala — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 18:01:40 +0000

Hi Don,

I wish I did, and I’ve actually given it a lot of thought. I would assume a 3 per second tremor would be most useful, since that’s the human neromuscular sweet spot for tremor, but I’m not sure of the variation or magnitude in each of the 5 planes (since we’d want to compare 3 and 5 axis IS systems, too). Imaging Resource has a tool they use, but I think it’s still rather crude.

Right now the best I’ve come up with is the “Roger drinks two cups of coffee and tests the IS system” but I don’t think it’s very reproducible

By: Don

Don — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 17:56:57 +0000

Roger,

Forgive me if this has already been covered but do you have a standardized (mechanical)hand held motion equivalent test that can evaluate the IS performance parameters of the lens under test. Such a test can be used to compare non IS lens performance under motion conditions. It should be simple to design test platform for single, dual and three axis testing.

For those who shoot on a tripod IS is useless but for those hand holding such tests would be of interest for comparisons. I assume that the best performing lens, without IS, would appear near useless in comparison to a IS lens operating within its useful range.

Don

By: Uli

Uli — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:38:37 +0000

Forget Traumflieger
Some comments mentioned “Traumflieger” and the up to 15 minutes inflated clip of EF 24-70 4 IS and asked for the translation from the German. I am German and watched this clip – a total waste of time. I will nothing translate, it is too sad… 15 Minutes long murmured those Traumflieger-Guys some irrelevant talk about Macro-snapshots of fungi and other Murcksquatsch. They change with dumb hands some lenses, for example the 100 Macro and talked in an diffuse and diffractive way about this and that.
If the informational lack of quality of that dipweed-made clip is representative for their judgements, then you can trust more some playing with dices. I am very angry about that stupid clip and feel offended of that compatriot. Unfortunately I have not the power to expatriate them to restore German honor, so I only can excuse me for this Blödsinn. Yours Uli

By: Roger Cicala

Roger Cicala — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:07:23 +0000

AC you can buy an Imatest set up if you want – although it has a significant learning curve.
The problem is your Imatest results and mine will be slightly different since lighting, test charts, shooting distance, camera used, etc. all are variables.

In general I recommend just doing some good testing at home: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2010/11/how-to-test-a-lens