DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

Canon 17-55 f/2.8 or Canon 24-70 L f/2.8 to replace Tamron 17-50 f/2.8

Started Jun 4, 2013 | Discussions thread
buckeyevet
OP buckeyevet Regular Member • Posts: 103
Re: tamron 17-50 is a sharp or sharper than L lenses (although very, very close shooting bit worse)

buckeyevet wrote:

I'm a newbie here, so bear with me...

I'm an amateur photographer, but I want to improve the image quality of my photos.  To that end, in February, I upgraded my old digital Rebel XTi to the 60D.  I am still using my Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 with the 60D body, and getting decent pictures.  (I also have a basic Canon 75-300, and a Canon 50mm macro lens)

But I'm ready to upgrade my workhorse lens.  I just feel that my pictures aren't as sharp and life-like as they should be--especially anything close up.  The Tamron seems to do well enough with landscapes, but seems to lack on indoor day to day family shots, and close-ups.

I shoot mostly landscapes, kids sports, and many family pictures--posed and candid.  I am starting to learn how to use my 60D to it's fullest by finally getting away from shooting auto, and playing more with f-stops and adjusting for exposure etc.

So, my dilemma is this, do I just replace my Tamron with the equivalent Canon lens?  Or do I really, really upgrade to the 24-70 L lens?

Does an L lens really make a difference with image quality?  Does the Canon 60D do justice to the 24-70 lens? (I'm not sure I understand crop-sensor vs. full frame cameras).

So, I'm hunting for opinions....

The tamron 17-50 2.8 is one of the sharpest landscape lenses I've used. I sold my 17-40L after getting it. It was sharper than the 24-105L with ease. etc. So don't get caught up with Canon or L only hype.

That said, I did note that the Tamrons (17-50 and 28-75) did excel at landscape distance and do a bit worse when shot very, very close in. I'm not sure how the 17-55 or 24-70L do at very, very close in.

24mm isn't super wide so make sure that would be wide enough for you, you might be missing the width for some landscape stuff at the least, set your current lens to 24mm and see what you think

at least for regular and landscape distance most people don't think the canon 17-55 is any sharper thanthe tamron 17-50 2.8

Thanks for the info. I'm shooting with the Tamron and Canon this weekend. I rented the Canon to try it out side by side.
--
Jennifer

 buckeyevet's gear list:buckeyevet's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Mark III Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II USM Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM +1 more
Post (hide subjects) Posted by
GKN
Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow