I have been a cheapskate with my lenses, owning only a 50/1.8; 35-80/4-5.6 (came with my previous body); and a 75-300. After doing some comparisons between the 50 and 35-80, I decided that I needed a new lens. Being a cheapskate, I got the 28-105/3.5-4.5 II. (Still spent less on lenses than the typical L series lens). While I haven't done any direct comparisons yet, I do have some initial thoughts.
* USM really doesn't seem that special. Yes, it is quieter than the 50/1.8, but it is no faster in achieving focus. * However, the manual focus ring acutally feels good. The other lenses I own have really crappy manual focus modes. With FTM and CF4, I can just leave the lens in AF mode when I want and manually focus if I find a good situation for it. * The general build quality of the lens seems to be much better than the other lenses I own. However, it is a little more difficult to mount onto the camera. Since it does mount, I don't think it is any problem, but it does require more force to get it on the camera. * With all the talk about the low-light focusing ability of the Elan 7/7e, I must say that I took some shots at a party this weekend. The lights were really low and it would have been impossible to manually focus in that light. With the 420EX on the camera, I was able to acheive focus with no more trouble than I would have had in daylight. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take off the flash to test the low-light focusing ability to make a direct comparison. My guess, though is that I would not have been able to focus without the blinking AF assist. The shoe-mounted flash is a great addition to the camera for that type of situation. * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
