Resurected Lens

I come across all these old posts about lenses that are now available on various sites for sale. Some, when the lenses first came out make them sound as though they were a pile of rubbish compared to lenses that cost 20 times more, well, I got this lens attached to an old "EF-M" film camera, the shutter was destroyed beyond repair, the lens was absolutely filthily, dirt, grease, and stuck on UV filter.

That, was to me the shining light of getting a lens in pristine condition. This lens had never been taken off the original camera, the UV filter was absolutely filthy,  probably because the camera had not been used for years.

The shutter in the camera was, well, destroyed, it was not repairable but all I was interested in was the lens. It had a poor review when it first appeared on the scene, but, reviews are based on personal preferences, just like the one I'm giving here.

I attached this lens on my 600D, it worked, focused, stopped down the aperture, did what every Canon ES lens was supposed to do. I was shocked when the  lens focused for the first time, no hunting, it just locked onto the area I was focusing on, this is after around 10 years of non usage. It's a brilliant little lens, sharp, I don't pixel peep, light, and cost me nothing, so many lenses lying around with a bad press when they first appeared on the "Scene" but now provide outstanding results. Shame on those that passed it by, I have one and it's not for sale.

NOTE: This is a test post to actually find out if anyone actually reads these articles anymore, I did, I just needed to know if there were others out there that read these older articles, I still own and use the lens by the way,

Dave

Save your money...that one is not so good.

As far as I can recall, the 35-80 lens under discussion here was sold as a kit lens, along with the cheaper film bodies of that time.  In the film era, people did not pixel peep to the extent that they do these days, so it was considered a reasonable lens.  On a high resolution digital camera today, it will probably not perform too well.

After many years using Olympus film cameras, I switched to Canon in 1996.  My first standard zoom lens was the 28-105 f3.5/4.5 lens which I considered to be quite good at the time.  I traded this in on a 28-135 lens which was much better and had image stabilization (a first for me).  This was then traded in on a 24-105 f4L IS lens which I still have today.

I cannot comment first hand about the 35-80 lens, but I bought an older 24-85 f3.5/4.5 lens to use along with one of my older bodies (10D or 40D) on occasions when I go walking on the beach.  I do not like to use my L series lenses in situations where they may be subjected to sea spray or wind-blown sand.  This 24-85 lens actually performs very well.

So, yes there is still life left in old lenses.

Tony