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Sigma 20-40mm/24-70mm or Canon 24-85mm?

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dobiesj90859

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If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
 
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
Which would you choose? What type of lens do you need? A fast zoom, a long zoom, and wide angle? Once you figure out what type of range you need, then do a search of the forum, you will find all of the info you need. There are a lot of people that use and really like the 24-70 and the 24-85. I have and use the latter as my everyday lens.
--
Jeffrey Lazo
-Check out my D60 Galleries-
http://homepage.mac.com/lazoj
[email protected]
 
I'm trying to pick between the 24-70 and 24-85 right now. I think weight is going to be the deciding factor for me. The 24-70 is a monster, and it just seems like the 24-85 would make a good lens you wouldn't be too worried about leaving on the camera for a long walk.

I was also swayed a bit by the resolution charts taken with the D60 of both the 28-70 and the 24-85 at imagingresource.com. The 24-85 actually seemed sharper and at least had more contrast at F8. Of course, the 28-70 crushed it at larger aperatures. But again, there is that weight.

Jason
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
 
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
--Had the Canon 24-85 whilst waiting for my Sigma 24-70 to arrive a couple of weeks ago. Canon was great, 1st sigma 24-70 was faulty so sent it back. In the meantime did some shots to compare with the 2nd Sigma. Rec's the Sigma Friday and did the comparison shots. Not good, the Canon has a definated edge at all apatures. The Sigma is soft and images exhibit a bit of halo or blooming. If, however I did not have the Canon to compare, I might assume that the results from the Sigma were good, just in need of a lot of Unsharp mask etc.

Will post the side by side enlarged crops of the test images Monday pm (after I return the Sigma and buy the Canon 24-85).

Arthur.
 
Pick the sharpest. Look at http://www.photodo.com to see which one is the best. Of course weight etc matters. And of course what you have already. If you have nothing, I wouldn't pick any of those. Instead, I'd take 28-135 IS. It's sharper that 24-85 at all focal lenghts (except 24), has the IS, and 135. A bit heavier but not much.

--
Jouko
http://www.pbase.com/ruuskan
 
They're missing from Photodo.com, which is why you see all these posts about them I suppose.
jr said:
Pick the sharpest. Look at http://www.photodo.com to see which one is the
best. Of course weight etc matters. And of course what you have
already. If you have nothing, I wouldn't pick any of those.
Instead, I'd take 28-135 IS. It's sharper that 24-85 at all focal
lenghts (except 24), has the IS, and 135. A bit heavier but not
much.

--
Jouko
http://www.pbase.com/ruuskan
Click to expand...
 
Hard to say, since I don't own any of the lenses mentioned. I need a standard zoom type of lens, which all of the ones listed are - the 20-40mm isn't a wide lens on a D30/D60 (32mm-64mm isn't really a wide range). I'm most interested in the photo quality of the lens and not the aperture speed, which is why I listed the 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 (not the fastest out of the bunch).

I've read a lot of user comments/reviews about each lens listed, except for the 20-40mm, but wanted to hear from people that had a chance to compared two or more of these lenses.

Jeff D.
Jeffrey said:
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
Which would you choose? What type of lens do you need? A fast
zoom, a long zoom, and wide angle? Once you figure out what type
of range you need, then do a search of the forum, you will find all
of the info you need. There are a lot of people that use and
really like the 24-70 and the 24-85. I have and use the latter as
my everyday lens.
--
Jeffrey Lazo
-Check out my D60 Galleries-
http://homepage.mac.com/lazoj
[email protected]
Click to expand...
 
I've read similar info about the 24-85. But as for resolution charts, they only tell you what the lens can "pick-up", so to speak. They don't tell you how an image will look - flare, boken, build consistency (is every lens equal in quality), etc.. All that comes into play in the "real" world and not on test charts.

Jeff D.
Jason Hutchinson said:
I was also swayed a bit by the resolution charts taken with the D60
of both the 28-70 and the 24-85 at imagingresource.com. The 24-85
actually seemed sharper and at least had more contrast at F8. Of
course, the 28-70 crushed it at larger aperatures. But again,
there is that weight.

Jason
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Interesting... I assumed there would be very little difference at F8 between all the lenses listed. Just to make sure, the Sigma 24-70mm you tested was the F2.8 version - right? I've heard of image quality issues with their older 24-70mm lens (not a F2.8). It would be great if you could post some samples from each lens.

Thanks,

Jeff D.
arthur.sukhbir said:
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
--Had the Canon 24-85 whilst waiting for my Sigma 24-70 to arrive a
couple of weeks ago. Canon was great, 1st sigma 24-70 was faulty so
sent it back. In the meantime did some shots to compare with the
2nd Sigma. Rec's the Sigma Friday and did the comparison shots. Not
good, the Canon has a definated edge at all apatures. The Sigma is
soft and images exhibit a bit of halo or blooming. If, however I
did not have the Canon to compare, I might assume that the results
from the Sigma were good, just in need of a lot of Unsharp mask etc.
Will post the side by side enlarged crops of the test images Monday
pm (after I return the Sigma and buy the Canon 24-85).

Arthur.
Click to expand...
 
The 28-135 IS is a fine lens. But if I went that long to start (28mm isn't really that wide on a D30/D60 - 45mm) I would get the 28-70mm F2.8L. Unfortunately, Canon doesn't really have a lot to offer in the low 20mm range for zooms. That's why I listed lenses that start in the 20-24mm range (32-39mm range on a D30/D60). I would consider the 16-35mm L but that's wider then I really need, not to mention most people say the lens is soft (not that bad but softer vs other non-wide lenses).

Jeff D.
jr said:
Pick the sharpest. Look at http://www.photodo.com to see which one is the
best. Of course weight etc matters. And of course what you have
already. If you have nothing, I wouldn't pick any of those.
Instead, I'd take 28-135 IS. It's sharper that 24-85 at all focal
lenghts (except 24), has the IS, and 135. A bit heavier but not
much.

--
Jouko
http://www.pbase.com/ruuskan
Click to expand...
 
I am considering a D30 for a backup. I am wondering how this lens will work. Somebody told me USM does not work on a D30. Any feedback to help?

Thanks,
--
John Ellis
 
But surely it will be you using the lens and not me, so at least tell us what sort of photography you want to use your new lens for?
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
--
Canon 20D + Canon 24-105 f4 IS L
Canon 550EX Speedlite
Olympus C-720
 
dobiesj said:
If you had to pick one of these lenses which would you choose?

Sigma 20-40mm F2.8
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8
Canon 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 USM

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
I don't own neither one, but from the list I see that the Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 seems to be the best for both worlds.
  • 24-70mm is pretty good zoom range for walk around len that the 20-40 doesn't have
  • f2.8 is good for low-light that the Canon 24-85mm f3.5 doesn't have.
Also, you may want to check with http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/ for end users feedbacks. Just go with fair judgement and ignore the hatred then we should have good balance.
 
dobiesj said:
Hard to say, since I don't own any of the lenses mentioned. I need
a standard zoom type of lens, which all of the ones listed are -
the 20-40mm isn't a wide lens on a D30/D60 (32mm-64mm isn't really
a wide range). I'm most interested in the photo quality of the
lens and not the aperture speed, which is why I listed the 24-85mm
F3.5-4.5 (not the fastest out of the bunch).

I've read a lot of user comments/reviews about each lens listed,
except for the 20-40mm, but wanted to hear from people that had a
chance to compared two or more of these lenses.

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
OK, I just looked at the review from http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/ and the Sigma 20-40mm f2.8 doesn't have very good score (5.6) and the Sigma 24-70 f2.8 gets 8.1 (with one overdozed so it's probably around 8.3 - 8.4 or so).
 
dobiesj said:
The 28-135 IS is a fine lens. But if I went that long to start
(28mm isn't really that wide on a D30/D60 - 45mm) I would get the
28-70mm F2.8L. Unfortunately, Canon doesn't really have a lot to
offer in the low 20mm range for zooms. That's why I listed lenses
that start in the 20-24mm range (32-39mm range on a D30/D60). I
would consider the 16-35mm L but that's wider then I really need,
not to mention most people say the lens is soft (not that bad but
softer vs other non-wide lenses).

Jeff D.
Click to expand...
Well, I got the cheap 18-125mm DC f3.5 when I first got the 20D, but haven't had the chance to test it out yet ;). I guess with low f-stop it won't be so bad or should be usuable.

Again, it gets some overdozed feedback. I mean the Camera owners should have known the quality vs price before sticking the len to their cameras, and should take an aspirin before writing the feedback to lower the value of the good board.
 
I've got both the Sigmas and they are both excellent. Make sure that the 20-40 is the latest one (the DG one, because there was some variance in quality of the earlier version). I have the 20-40 for architectural work on 1DsII or 5D when I don't want to use the Sigma 12-24; I think maybe it's rather a "niche" lens. Of the two (if you only want one) I would recommend the 24-70, not because of optical quality as I think the 20-40 is a shade better at the wide end but because it is a much more useful range.

--
Nick Spurrrier
 
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