Canon EFS 18-200mm - got mine today

[diane_stredicke]

Received my 18-200mm IS today. Very impressed. Build quality more similar to 17-55 than 55-250. Feels solid.

Took a bunch of pictures and I have to say the quality was pretty darn good.

[tdigi]

Wow Diane do you buy every lens? How is the focus speed, I know its not USM.?

 

How does it compare to the 24-105?

[diane_stredicke]

I know. I'm a nut. But I always make sure I get a great deal. This was an impulse buy off Ebay with the 30% live.com discount. So I figure, if I don't decide to keep it, I don't lose anything -- and I get the opportunity to play around with the lens.

 

I don't think you can compare it to the 24-105. It's just a different lens. Not L in anyway. But - it would be a great travel lens if you could only take one lens, or this lens, and a faster prime like the 30mm 1.4 or 50mm 1.8 or 1.4. It stays pretty sharp at 200 and 17 (though I think it is almost sharper at 200). All of the photos I took today with some PP would work. Amazingly it does very well indoors with available light. That is the IS I suppose.

 

Build wise it is more like the 17-55, not the 24-105 - though without the USM. However, it focuses amazingly fast even in low light. So if you were to compare it to anything, obviously you'd have to compare it to the Sigma and Tamron superzooms. I have tried both the Sigma and the Tamron. This is a much nice lens - feel wise. The Sigma and the Tamron image stabilizers are noisy as is their focusing.

[JDMvW]

How convenient do you find it in terms of size, weight?

[tdigi]

Thanks Diane, I kinda look at my 24-105 like a hyperzoom but I really miss out on the wide end with it. I must say I had no

interest in the lens at first but if the quality is good it does make a nice do it all lens for travel.

 

Thanks for the update.

[photodiscoveries]

Got mine as well today. Dank and cloudy here, but it did quite well on the tests shots. I love the contrast it creates. Surprisingly good

on some flower shots at about 100 mm. Seems a tad soft at 200, but for a walk around travel lens it looks close to perfect. I am going

to China tomorrow morning and needed to cut down on the weight, so I am taking this and my 10-22 with my 40 D. Also the 50 mm f1.8.

The only disappointment is that Canon, even in this expensive lens does not include a protective pouch and more importantly a lens

hood. With this lens, the hood is critical, so this evening I must drive over 50 miles (one way) to a camera store that has a hood in

stock. Not at all happy. Of course, if I had read more closely, I would have known this and ordered the hood at the time I placed the

order. But, I guess I assumed a $700 lens would include something critical to it's use.

 

John

[anesh]

Does this lens rotate when focusing.

[diane_stredicke]

JDM,

 

For travel you can't do better if you want wide to 200mm zoom. It isn't light, but it isn't heavy either. A nice balance on my XSi. It is a weee bit smaller than the 17-55.

[photohns]

Do you think this is alot better than the 17-85? This is the only other lens that has a wider angle and ability to

zoom over 55mm. Any one know how many stops the IS is supposed to be?

[diane_stredicke]

Hans,

 

I would not say it is better than the 17-85. The 17-85 has USM and is also probably a wee bit sharper. But the 18-200 obviously has reach without going to soft. I would say the distortion at the 17 and 18 ends are about the same.

[photohns]

Thanks for the info Diane

[Landrum Kelly]

"Does this lens rotate when focusing."

 

According to a preview on dpreview.com, it does not.

 

--Lannie

[diane_stredicke]

No. The focus ring does and the lens (inside) goes back and forward, but no rotation.

[dogbert]

This must be a first for Canon. A non-USM design with rear focussing, but no decoupling of the focus ring. It sounds similar to some Sigma and Tamron designs.

[jtmm]

I bought one on October 15th, which arrived on the 16th, with a Canon 50D.

 

I have noted, and complained to Canon, that if you point the lens downwards, for instance to take a macro-photo of an item on the floor, and if the lens zoom is set to just below maximum wide angle - say 20mm on the ring adjuster - the whole lens slides out slowly to almost the 180mm mark, under its own weight, without touching the zoom adjusting ring! They have told me to return it to where I ordered it from, for a replacement. But if the replacement does the same, I am not sure I want such a lens!

 

Would someone who has one in their possession try this out, and let me know if mine is a one-off defective unit, or whether this problem applies to theirs as well?