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Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?

Started 3 months ago | Questions
cargani New Member • Posts: 13
Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?
1

I'm an amateur, about to buy Canon R10 to replace my 60D.

I own a couple of low quality EF lenses, as well as a Canon EF-S 15-85, and intend to buy an ES-R adaptor, but I'm temped to buy an R lens solely for weight consideration.

I wonder if the drawbacks of transitioning to RF lens (the expense, loss of wide angle, quality?) worth the weight and extra zoom benefit?

Thanks!

ANSWER:
Canon EOS R10 Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM
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Dareshooter Veteran Member • Posts: 5,842
Re: Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?
1

The I8-150 and the RFS 16mm might be worth considering if your budget allows. Hope you have a great day πŸŽ„ πŸ˜€

drsnoopy Senior Member • Posts: 1,216
Re: Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?
2

The EF-S 15-85 has reasonably good image quality, but I could never get on with the awful zoom creep.  With the adapter it would be quite a lot larger than the RF 18-150.  The RF 18-150 is getting really good reports across the spectrum from respected reviewers to interested users, it’s small, light and has a much longer focal length range, just giving up the 15-18mm (24 to 29mm wide angle equivalent) range.  If you want wider, consider adapting the EF-S 10-18mm which is very good and really wide.  I used to travel with an 18-135 and 10-18 on my 80D, and found it a great combination.

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MikeJ9116 Veteran Member • Posts: 6,955
Re: Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?
3

cargani wrote:

I'm an amateur, about to buy Canon R10 to replace my 60D.

I own a couple of low quality EF lenses, as well as a Canon EF-S 15-85, and intend to buy an ES-R adaptor, but I'm temped to buy an R lens solely for weight consideration.

I wonder if the drawbacks of transitioning to RF lens (the expense, loss of wide angle, quality?) worth the weight and extra zoom benefit?

Thanks!

I have used the 15-85mm for a number of years and find the 15mm wide end to be much more useful than 18mm.  Having 3mm extra wide on the wide end is much more useful than 3mm on the long end.  For a one lens solution the 15-85mm is hard to beat for APS-C cameras.  The only reasonable replacement for it on APS-C is to add the EF-S 10-18mm to a standard 18mm wide end zoom.  Maybe there will be a similar RF-S wide end lens in the future but right now the EF-S 10-18mm is the only viable option, IMO.  Plus, it is small and lightweight even will the EF to RF adapter installed.

pcassel Senior Member • Posts: 2,244
Re: Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?
1

cargani wrote:

I'm an amateur, about to buy Canon R10 to replace my 60D.

I own a couple of low quality EF lenses, as well as a Canon EF-S 15-85, and intend to buy an ES-R adaptor, but I'm temped to buy an R lens solely for weight consideration.

I wonder if the drawbacks of transitioning to RF lens (the expense, loss of wide angle, quality?) worth the weight and extra zoom benefit?

Thanks!

I got the 18-150 as part of my R7 kit. I like it much more than I anticipated I would. I was troubled by the lack of wide so following advice here, I also purchased the EF-S 10-22 for a dirt cheap price at one of the famous used dealers. I consider my short and mid-long range now fully covered.

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RDM5546
RDM5546 Senior Member • Posts: 3,654
Re: Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?
2

pcassel wrote:

cargani wrote:

I'm an amateur, about to buy Canon R10 to replace my 60D.

I own a couple of low quality EF lenses, as well as a Canon EF-S 15-85, and intend to buy an ES-R adaptor, but I'm temped to buy an R lens solely for weight consideration.

I wonder if the drawbacks of transitioning to RF lens (the expense, loss of wide angle, quality?) worth the weight and extra zoom benefit?

Thanks!

I got the 18-150 as part of my R7 kit. I like it much more than I anticipated I would. I was troubled by the lack of wide so following advice here, I also purchased the EF-S 10-22 for a dirt cheap price at one of the famous used dealers. I consider my short and mid-long range now fully covered.

I have both the EF-S 15-85 and the RF18-150. I got the RF18-150 with the R7 to get quick delivery of the R7. I had low expectations for the R18-150 and did expect I would do any thing but sell it after I saw how well it worked.

It came as a surprise for me that both lenses can be used to make great images. The EF-S 15-85 with RF adapters is bigger and heavier though. I did not realize how I felt about the EF-S 15-85 until used it side by side with other lens. After the EF-S has more coverage at the low end and the 15-18mm FL range is very important I thought. Then I shot some chart tests of the two lenses side by side. Both of the lenses wide open at 18mm were soft in corners. This was much softer than at 18mm!! The EF-S was worse in the corners at 18mm!!! Stopping down only helped the corners a little. I liked the RF18-150 much more over the 18-86 range covered by the EF-S 15-85. My copy of the EF-S wide open at 15mm was even softer in the corners!! I fell out of love with the EF-S beginning. The soft corners wide open at the 15-24 mm range, the large size and more weight sold me on making the RF18-150mm my preferred walkaround lens.

If your budget can afford on I recommend the RF-S 18-150. I have been very please with the performance and I have not used the EF-S lens on the R7 beyond these comparison tests. I love the low weight and better corner performance at 18mm. It sits on the shelf and I probably will sell it. I used to use it with the 70D but the R7 in my main APS-C sensor camera now.

Because the 18-150 is not wide enough for me. I should note that recent bought the EF-S 10-18mm lens for wide angle use. This lens was very inexpensive (used) and it is small and light with pretty nice IQ. I happy using this adapted EF-S 10-18 along with the RF-S 18-150mm. The FL range coverage is very nice.

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Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1L IS USM Canon G5 X II Canon EOS 70D Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon EOS 5D Mark IV +47 more
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Andreas Berglund
Andreas Berglund Contributing Member • Posts: 894
Re: Keep my Canon EF-S 15-85 or buy RF 18-150?
1

I have the R7 with the 18-150 and the adapted EF-S 10-18. It is superlight and provides an excellent range. 18 is not wide enough in city landscapes, so there is a fair amount of switching that has to be done between these two lenses, to cover your range. IQ is very good, but its not L glass, AF is very fast.  I consider it a great choice for a 2 lens kit for travelling.

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Andréas Berglund
delapsus resurgam

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Nikon D2X Canon EOS M5 Canon EOS R5 Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm F4G ED VR +26 more
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