Lens tests

I did a comparison of all my lenses that I have and the new 17-55 F2.8 is FAR superior than anything I have, even my base 50mm F1.8 which I considered as my ideal.

The setup:

Camera on tripod @ ISO100, AF point is in a specific section and the light source is a single 60w (equiv) CFL (temp around 2800). It's probably not the ideal setup but it would show the most ideal scenario under the same light source.

Camera is the Rebel XT set on priority in RAW mode. Images are edited using GIMP and UFRaw

Surprisingly the 28-200 is actually almost as good as my 50mm, but since it's lowest aperture is 3.5 it doesn't work well in low light. The kit 18-55 that came with my original Rebel performed about as well as can be expected for a $80 lens, no spectacular details but sharp enough.

You may need to click on the image to see the detail but the top left (17-55) has a very crisp detail of the rug. In general the crop window is near the bottom middle of the full frame and is not greater than 100% zoom.

All lenses have a sweet spot and it's possible that the 28-200 has a much better one (for instance I know macro is around 130mm and I can be very close -- 72mm cap can over fill the frame). But as far as this test goes it compares the avg range of the set I have.

My new lens

A few days ago I decided it's time to get a new lens for my dSLR. It's been quite some time (since the original Canon Rebel 6.3mp came out) since I got a lens. My 28-200 is a great lens but lacked the crisp quality indoor and low-light shots. When outdoor I will probably default to that but recently I've been inside quite a bit when I take my pictures.

So you may be saying.. for crying out loud, what did you get?? Thought I would write a boring entry again huh? :) OK, so what I got is a new Canon 17-55 F2.8 IS from B&H. It's about 1" longer than my 28-200, heavier and wider (77mm window instead of 72mm) but it's amazing -- and puts the kit 18-55 to shame. My first picture is of course Sam, our cat.

Image is slightly cropped but that's it. The only thing blurry from this 1/15 shot is the whiskers from him moving. IS is awesome!

So now when I want to get some very nice shots I don't need to snap on my 50mm f1.8 anymore :) Down side to this new lens is that I need a new camera bag!