eric_lawson1

I purchased the 24-105L late last month and had the same problem. Compared to my old Tamron 28-75 same as you I was disappointed. The lens even seemed slightly hit & miss when stopped down and since I was fairly sure it wasnt user error I took it to Canon in Irvine, Ca for calibration. They kept it for nearly two weeks but now it is perfect and I don?t think twice about shooting wide open. I cant tell the F8 shots from the F4 ones except for the background blur difference. I have a friend with the 24-70L and his is just like my 24-105L in this respect so you may consider getting it calibrated if you are fairly certain it is not user error.

The good folks here have a lot of experience and I am convinced can be of tremendous help but without posting some examples and possibly more information like raw, jpeg, scenario... there really all just educated guesses. Its really fairly pointless then!

Ahh yes the great 5D (point and shoot) Canon should have named it the SD5 and removed all but the green box. I know, then they should put some nice little point and shoot kit lens on it like the 24-70L. They could sell them at Best Buy!

I just had my 24-105L calibrated for that exact reason and WOW what a difference it made. Cant believe how much of a difference it made in the lens, it is absolutely perfect now even wide open. It was under warranty though so no cost info.

My 70-300 "non DO" did almost the exact same thing just the other day. It did it on my wifes brand new XTi so I thought it was an incompatibility that Canon needed to work out in a firmware update but then it did the same thing on my 30D. I took it to Canons Irvine repair facility and as soon as I connected it to the camera it started screwing up. They seemed to know exactly what it was like they had seen that problem in the past more than once. Mine would alternate between 00 and the actual aperture though about twice a second and made noises like it was trying to close focus. It should be back from Canon Monday or Tuesday. BTW this lens was just at Canon a month ago for the portrait orientation recall issue but worked flawlessly when I got it back from that.

DO or non DO?

You need to get out of the green box mode to start with. That will be the biggest thing, I like to use Aperture Priority or straight Manual mode for stuff like this and once you lean a little about those all will be better. Next you may want to switch to center focus point only and then learn to read the histogram. That?s a lot of ground to cover so it will take a lot of time shooting to build your skills. One other thing, you have a good lens, I?m not sure how appropriate it is for a car show but don?t shoot with it wide open. Stop it down a little bit at least. How long do you have to practice before the show?

I have a 30D, XTi, and a 580 flash. You are correct "sort of". I did a quick test and the 30D seems perfect with no exposure compensation. the histogram agrees but with the XTi it appears to be 2/3 of a stop underexposed. Possibly as high as 1 full stop but absolutely no more than that. All taken with the exact same conditions but not totally scientific none the less "it was meant to just be a quick test".

 

Our XTi does another strange thing, it makes the AF on my 70-300IS (non do) freak out as soon as I attach it. Doesn?t matter if the lens is in AF or MF. Does not matter if the IS is on or of. Does not matter if the camera is on or of when you put the lens on. I'm sure these little things will be addressed with the first firmware update.

 

I'm not complaining thought because this camera ROCKS! and I'm sure these little annoyances will be fixed on short order.

I have all three and in my opinion the higher level auto focus system is WAY better in anything but the easiest conditions. The first thing I noticed on my 30D and my wife?s XTi is how much better the AF is than our old XT. The XTi makes wonderful images with the new AF and the extra 2 mega pixels. Definitely worth the few extra dollars over the XT.

Just got a XTi for my wife and it is AWESOME. I have a 30D and we just sold the XT the wife used to have. The two Rebels are a bit to small for my hands but work perfect for my wife. The 30D is a bit more advanced and substantial "built WAY stronger". The wheel on the back is something I would have a hard time not having if I were to have to revert to the Rebel but as some have said that depends on your style of shooting. The bump in mega pixels in the XTi is pretty small in real life so definitely don?t make that to huge of a consideration. Like others have said here, get good glass! Good luck.

My point is simply that the OP should continue doing exactly what he is doing "research". It's important to get information from all sides of the house when it comes to lenses. Prime guys who don?t mind changing lenses to much for some better quality and zoom guys who know the obvious benefits "and deficits" there need to chime in so folks know both sides of the story. This is good and I?m not knocking prime guys because I know they have their place for me as well. The thing is it is all information and what is right for me may not be right for you "or even the OP.

Be careful, not everyone is a fan of zooms. Primes have their place but would that really work for your staff as a regular lens? I have the Tamron 28-75 2.8 and it "in my opinion" would be perfect for your needs as long as you get a good copy. My 24-105 L would be better but not in your price range this time.

Is this a dynamic range issue where our cameras can only produce 5 stops and our eyes/brains can produce much more?

The newer generation of IS offers tripod detection and is supposed to stabilize only in the vertical (in landscape orientation)

 

I'm not sure I understand this. You are only talking about when mounted on a tripod for the landscape only stabilization right? I hope you are not saying that with my 24-105L the stabilization is only effective in landscape orientation. ?

Nope, didn�t miss any points, just pisses me off. Sorry kids! "There�s a joke for ya".

If you have worked for your money, established yourself in life, and your bills are paid you do whatever you want. If your a kid and have bills, are not established enough in life yet, and need excuses to get out of doing homework, GROW UP. You were right WORTHLESS "and pointless" POST.

Dan really hits the nail on the head here. Hardest thing for me to learn was that raw DOES look washed out if you do it right. You just have to have a good understanding of workflow and raw conversion to bring it past the saturated and contrasty results of shooting underexposed or .Jpg files. in the end my properly converted raw images look better than any I could get prior to figuring this out. I have spent much time looking at like images that are either .Jpg out of the camera or cooked up in some fashion to get a proper image. The BEST ones are almost always the somewhat longer and more tedious process of (histogram -> expose to the right -> raw -> ACR -> .Tif -> .Jpg) with processing in between.

"Grooms dress" I haven�t been to a wedding like that yet. I don�t shoot weddings and am not any kind of pro but I have had this same problem. Mine got solved when I finally figured out when I read "Real World Camera Raw" I was doing two things wrong, One: I didn�t realize you have to use the 12bit data then convert to 8 bit when saving to JPG after most all of the work is done on the image. Made a big difference when I refined my workflow. Two: I wasn�t using ACR correctly. I didn�t understand the sliders enough in the "Adjust" tab. For one thing was I was afraid to use the brightness and contrast sliders because I thought it was the same as using those in CS2. There not the same and it is OK to use them in the context of ACR. I also like to use the RGB histogram when I am shooting.

I had been considering a 100-400L but if it's quality is only as good a the 70-300DO you can count me out. I'm not sure about the "mixed results" when it comes to the DO but nearly everything I have ever read puts it right up there with the best of mediocrity you can spent a lot of money on. I have a non DO 70-300 and after just having it repaired by canon "Recall issue" I canﾒt believe how good it is. It's not the fastest lens in the world but it could be one of the sharpest. It's also fairly light and just plain works awesome. Even before the repair it was great, now it is awesome.

I have had this happen to me and I wasn�t taking long exposure type shots. I reformatted the card both times and the problem went away. It was two completely different cards from two completely different manufactures also. Never really figured out what happened but it is scary. Lost about 20 shots each time and they were non critical but what if... Both times I reviewed the shots but when I got the card out of the camera and into the reader there was only the other shots I had left on the card from another shoot that I had not downloaded yet.

Dan, I honestly appreciate your classy response. I agree with most of the points I see you make here and if I could just buy whatever I wanted most of my stuff would be Canon and especially L's but I like being married also. Absolutely no one here including myself would doubt your knowledge and wisdom with regard to our passion so my real concern is only that not everyone can just have L's. I'm afraid of Sigma because of research done here and other forums and such but some people have had luck with them. I myself had a horrid experience with my first Tamron 28-75 because of how spotty their quality control has been over time. But I have also had issues with the canon lenses "admittedly not L's" and right now my main walk around unit is a second copy of the above mentioned Tamron that just blows me away. Compared to a friends 24-70 L I cant tell much difference at all and have swapped back and forth to test. Yes there is a focus speed difference but to my somewhat ﾓbut not completelyﾔ trained eye cant find much else for the added $800.00 At least not enough extra contrast or sharpness or saturation to justify it.

 

What Iﾒm saying is people like yourself with the knowledge to assist folks here need to be a little gentle sometimes. You and people like yourself are respected as a mentors here but we canﾒt all have 95% L's ﾓyetﾔ.

 

Eric.

Be careful and consider all input from the wealth of knowledge found here. Most of the folks here offer sage wisdom but don�t listen to any one person no matter how persuasive they may seem. Some folks here would have you believe non Canon and / or all non "L" lenses are made out of recycled beer cans and plexi glass. Like I say, most input here is great but some people are merely justifying their own beliefs and egos by slamming all that is not "L". It is a lie! Of course that�s my reality and that should count as only ONE opinion as well. Good luck in you research.

30D, kit lens, & 50 1.8. That kit lens is great for the price and the 50 is also. I had an XT and liked it but you couldnt rip the 30D from my cold dead fingers "unless you left a 5D laying there in it's place".

Yes, yes, yes, use M mode and take bad pictures "not on purpose though" Look at the bad ones along with the exif and figure out what you did wrong. You wont always be able to tell but most of the time you will. It's a good exercise to learn from and has helped me a lot over time. Looking at the good ones and exif helps as well.

If you have a GOOD local shop I would try a Tamron 28-75. I have one and it is a knockout lens. Problem with these is there has been some copy variance so buying it somewhere you can trust to exchange it if you have a problem is a must. If you get a good one it WILL rival the "L" lenses except it's not built quite as well as them but is WAY lighter and costs 1/3rd the price.