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Wide Range Zoom Options

Table of Content

Introduction

In this section I want to look at the performance tradeoffs for wide range zoom lenses. The general approach will be to compare the interpolated performance at various focal lengths with an equivalent prime and zooms from the main lens study. Here the plots used will be the average of the saggital and meridional MTFs to provide a less stringent estimate of the lens relative performance. The idea is to find a zoom lens that, although not providing the best performance, is not too band and has a sufficiently wide zoom range to be useful.

Overview

The below two part table provides an overview of the lenses in this section.

Points to note are that the cheaper lenses often have rotating and extending front elements and no focus distance indication.

The EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM and EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM are push-pull zoom actions. Users of DSLRs have noted that the action tends to pump air through the mirror box increasing the rate of sensor dust contamination.

Make	Model	Min f	Max f	Zoom Range	Dia mm	Length mm	Volume mm^3	Mass g	Filter Size	FE Rotation
CANON	EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM	100	400	4.0	92.0	189.0	1256398	1380	77mm
CANON	EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM	100	300	3.0	73.0	121.5	508524	540	58mm
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III	75	300	4.0	71.0	122.0	483021	480	58mm	Y
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM	75	300	4.0	71.0	122.0	483021	480	58mm	Y
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM	75	300	4.0	78.5	137.2	664023	650	58mm	Y
CANON	EF 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II	80	200	2.5	69.0	78.5	293534	250	52mm	Y
CANON	EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM	70	300	4.3	82.5	99.9	534027	720	58mm	N
CANON	EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM	55	200	3.6	70.4	97.3	378746	310	52mm	Y
CANON	EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM	28	200	7.1	78.4	86.6	418061	500	72mm
CANON	EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM	28	300	10.7	92.0	184.0	1223160	1670	77mm
CANON	EF 90-300mm f4.5-5.6 USM	90	300	3.3	71.0	114.7	454119	420	58mm
CANON	EF 90-300mm f4.5-5.6	90	300	3.3	71.0	114.7	454119	420	58mm
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/2.8 L USM	70	200	2.9	84.6	193.6	1342324	1310	77mm
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/2.8 L USM IMAGE STABILISER	70	200	2.9	86.2	197.0	1149663	1470	77mm
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/4 L USM	70	200	2.9	76.0	172.0	780271	705	67mm	N
CANON	EF 24 70 mm f/2.8 L USM	24	70	2.9	83.2	123.5	671434	950	77mm
CANON	EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6	18	55	3.1	69.0	66.2	247540	190	58mm
CANON	EF 17-40mm f/4L USM	17	40	2.4	83.5	96.8	530076	500	77mm	N
CANON	EF 16 35 mm f/2.8 L USM	16	35	2.2	83.5	103.0	564027	600	77mm
CANON	EF-S 10 22 mm f/3.5-4.5 USM	10	22	2.2	83.5	89.8	491744	385	77mm
CANON	EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS	17	85	5.0	78.5	92.0	445263	475	67mm	N

Make	Model	Focusing	AF Actuator	FTMF	Distance Scale	DOF Scale	Zoom Control	Max Mag	Closest Focus M	Price
CANON	EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM	LE	USM	Y	Y	N	PP	0.2	1.8	£1,149
CANON	EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM	RFS	USM	Y	Y	N	FR	0;2	1.5	£239
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III	FGRE	MM	N	N	N	RR	0.25	1.5	£128
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM	FGRE	Micro USM	N	N	N	RR	0.25	1.5	£169
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM	FGRE	Micro USM	N	N	N	RR	0.26	1.5	£360
CANON	EF 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II	FGRE	MM	N	N	N	R	0.16	1.5	£129
CANON	EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM	RFS	USM	Y	Y	N	RR	0.19	1.4	£849
CANON	EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM	FGRE	Micro USM	N	N	N	R	0.21	1.2	£189
CANON	EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM	IFS	Micro USM	N	N	N	R