Great range, poor performance

halfwaythere wrote:

Erik van den Elsen wrote:

I bought this lens together with the EOS 7D. The combination of camera and lens range worked great; 15-85mm is equivalent to 24-135mm. This is the range you need in 90% of travel photography. The image stabilisation works very effectively, but what annoyed me more and more in the course of time were the soft images and the low speed of the lens.

Perhaps I just had a bad copy, but at a certain point I preferred my Sony RX-100 (with a much smaller sensor) over the EF-S 15-85 lens, because the images were simply sharper and had more brilliance. That was the point I decided to sell the 15-85. It's a shame because there are hardly any good lenses with this range. I know, it isn't an L-lens, but still fairly high priced.

Conclusion: If you go for the range and IS, this is a super performer. If you go for IQ, don't buy it, you will be disappointed.

Every user review should end with: My copy of this lens.... .

Quite. Have to say I was very pleasantly surprised with my copy, and the following applies just to it. I bought the 7D body-only purely for sport and wildlife what seems like half a lifetime ago. I was so impressed with it when used as a back-up to my 5D II that I picked up a 15-85 to use as an alternative to the 5D II/24-105 L combo for a little less weight, and also to give me other options when sport or wildlife was my main focus. It's certainly a very attractive range, and resolution in the real world is effectively as good as the 17-55 f2.8 - this is actually a pretty sharp lens, albeit slightly softer at the edges at 85mm. It has a fair bit of distortion and vignetting is quite serious anything like wide open. And yes, it's fairly slow. But all in all, it's by far the best one-lens option for me for APS-C, as it has a meaninful wideangle, actually has very good IQ, and is neither too expensive nor too heavy. Perfect? No, but the perfect lens doesn't exist.

I compared the 15-85 to my Sigma 18-35 ART lens on my 7D which is super sharp. As long as you stick to the wider end and no higher than F5.6 the images compare well. At 100% I can see the slightly softer image from the 15-85 but they are not blurry by any means. Full frame its hard to aee any difference. Even 85mm F5.6 compares well. I rather use it over my Sigma because of its very useful focal range as a walk around lens. Plus its very sharp at 15mm even at F3.5. Unlike other Canon kit lenses when shooting wide open. I grab the Sigma when I want a faster lens or for the most resolution when I need it. The focal range is just too small to use as a walk around lens. The 15-85 is a fun focal range and the lens is relatively small when set to 15mm. Easy to walk around with it. Balance is nice on my 7D too.

I really don't find the images soft. My 18-135 IS is soft wide open compared to the 15-85. The 18-135 is pretty good at F8 though. My fast Sigma lenses beat both of the Canons but they are big and heavy.