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Upgrade to 15-85 USM from 18-55 STM?

Started Jun 30, 2014 | Discussions thread
technic Veteran Member • Posts: 8,932
Re: Upgrade to 15-85 USM from 18-55 STM?

wanner wrote:

I'm thinking about upgrading from my 18-55 STM kitlens and have been looking at the 15-85 USM as a general walking around lens to go with my 700D/T5i.
What has me interested is the extra sharpness, its wider and more reach.

What are your thoughts?
Is the 15-85 worth the money to upgrade from 18-55 STM or are there better alternatives?

I previously had the 18-55IS (the STM version is even better) and now use the 15-85. I don't think you are going to get extra sharpness with the 15-85; however, the 15-85 has better contrast/color, much more useful reach for 'walkaround' and much better mechanical quality. So don't pay the huge upgrade fee for extra sharpness, but zoom reach and other qualities are difficult to put a value on.

If you want good reach (from 24mm equiv. to tele) I don't think there are serious APS-C alternatives for the 15-85IS. If you want first of all better optical quality and can compromise on focal length range, there are many other options e.g. Sigma 2.8/17-50, Canon 2.8/17-55 and Sigma 18-35.

edit: Just realized that the 17-55/2.8 or similar is probably more suited to my needs

the main 2.8/17-55 advantage is that it is brighter (especially at the long end) and has very good quality even wide open. So it is a good choice if you often work in low light conditions (e.g. indoors without flash) and/or want better DOF control.

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