Sunday 29 May 2011

Canon Lens Review - Canon 85 f1.8, Canon 24-105 f4 L and Canon 70-200L IS f2.8 Comparison on Canon 5DII

Following on from the comparison of the Canon 70-200L IS f2.8 with the cheap Canon 35-80 f4-5.6 lens while I was at the studio today with model Amy I thought it would be interesting to compare the optical quality of the Canon 85 f1.8, Canon 24-105 f4 L and Canon 70-200L IS f2.8 using the Canon 5D Mark2 as it has a large sensor and is far more unforgiving of poor lenses.

All photos  were shot at f8, 1/160 sec at ISO 100 at 85mm or approximate focal length.


First up was the Canon 85 f1.8 lens. Although this is not an L series lens it is a prime that is very well regarded for portrait shoots on the Canon full frame cameras such as the 5D, 5DII or Canon 1Ds.

Canon 85 f1.8 lens review
Canon 85 f1.8 lens review -crop



The next was Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS. A classic lens from Canon that is one of the sharpest and most versatile lenses in their range of zooms, but how will it compare against the Canon 85mm f1.8 prime?
Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS
Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS - crop
Finally the the Canon 24-105 L f4 lens that is packaged with the Canon 5D2 camera. It is a versatile lens with a useful focal range but the image quality isn't always as good as some other lenses.
Canon 24-105 L f4 lens - crop




Canon 24-105 L f4 lens review






















The biggest surprise to me when comparing the images from the three lenses is that there is a lot more difference in image tone and contrast than I was expecting - all other parameters were identical so the lens was the only factor that changed. The Canon 24-105 L f4 lens appears to give a much more red tone than the other lenses and the Canon 70-200 IS and Canon 85 f1.8 are very similar to each other.