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.

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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	0.28	0.45	£339
CANON	EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM	IFS	USM	Y	Y	N	PP	0.3	0.7	£1,649
CANON	EF 90-300mm f4.5-5.6 USM		Micro USM	Y	Y	N	RR	0.25	1.5	£149
CANON	EF 90-300mm f4.5-5.6		MM	Y	Y	N	RR	0.25	1.5	£119
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/2.8 L USM	IFS	USM	Y	Y	N	RR	0.16	1.5	£899
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/2.8 L USM IMAGE STABILISER	IFS	USM	N	Y	N	RR	0.17	1.4	£1,370
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/4 L USM	IFS	USM	Y	Y	N	RR	0.21	1.2	£599
CANON	EF 24 70 mm f/2.8 L USM	FFM	USM	Y	Y	Y	RR	0.29	0.38	£930
CANON	EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6	OLE	MM	N	N	N	REFE	0.28	0.28	#N/A
CANON	EF 17-40mm f/4L USM		USM	Y	Y	N	RR	0.24	0.28	£529
CANON	EF 16 35 mm f/2.8 L USM	IFS	USM	Y?	Y	N	RR	0.22	0.28	£999
CANON	EF-S 10 22 mm f/3.5-4.5 USM	IFS	USM	Y	Y	N	FR	0.17	0.24	£555
CANON	EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS	IFS	USM	Y	Y	N	FR	0.20	0.35	£499

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MTF Study

In this section plots are presented for the lenses and reference lenses in several focal length groups for maximum aperture and f8,10 and 30 lp/mm.

The Canon MTF plots are computer models and do not include production tolerances. In comparing zooms and primes it should be remembered that zooms, and in particular wide range zooms will have more degrees of freedom and thus suffer from production tolerance issues more resulting in a reduced MTF performance compared to the prime. The same can probably be said comparing L zooms to non-L zooms.

Conclusions

Make	Model	28mm	55mm	85mm/90mm	100mm	200mm	300mm	400mm
CANON	EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM	N/A	N/A	N/A	Good	Avg	Good	Avg
CANON	EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM	N/A	N/A	N/A	Avg	Avg	Poor	N/A
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III	N/A	N/A	Good	Good	Avg	Poor	N/A
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM	N/A	N/A	Good	Good	Avg	Poor	N/A
CANON	EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM	N/A	N/A	Good	Good	Avg	Poor	N/A
CANON	EF 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II	N/A	N/A	Good	Avg	Avg	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM	N/A	N/A	Poor	Poor	Avg	Good	N/A
CANON	EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM	N/A	Good	Poor	Poor	Avg	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM	Avg	Avg	Poor	Poor	Avg	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM	Good	Avg	Poor	Poor	Good	Avg	N/A
CANON	EF 90-300mm f4.5-5.6 USM	N/A	N/A	Avg	Avg	Avg	Poor	N/A
CANON	EF 90-300mm f4.5-5.6	N/A	N/A	Avg	Avg	Avg	Poor	N/A
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/2.8 L USM	N/A	N/A	V Good	V Good	V Good	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/2.8 L USM IMAGE STABILISER	N/A	N/A	V Good	V Good	V Good	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 70 200 mm f/4 L USM	N/A	N/A	V Good	V Good	V Good	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 24 70 mm f/2.8 L USM	V Good	V Good	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6	Good	Good	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 17-40mm f/4L USM	V Good	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF 16 35 mm f/2.8 L USM	Avg	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF-S 10 22 mm f/3.5-4.5 USM	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CANON	EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS	Good	Good	Avg	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

The above table gives an indication of the relative MTF performance of the various lenses. It seem fairly clear there are no obvious across the board winners.

This limited zoom range L series lenses clearly are good but do have a limited zoom range as well as being heavy.

The EF-S 17-85mm performed quite well and has a good zoom range or the shorter end of the focal length range.

Most of the wide range zooms performed good to average at the wide end degrading to poor at the long end. An exception to this rule was the 70-300mm which was good at the long end but poor at the wide end.

The 100-400mm scored average to good at all focal lengths.

However, it needs to be noted that 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 with problems of this construction.

Despite the variable performance the EF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 USM provides a 7X zoom in only 500g package at a modest price and might fit the bill for a compromise lens for occasional use where a wide zoom range is needed. The lens is light enough to be packed as an “in case” option.

The EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM provides a 10.7X zoom but is heavy and expensive (1.6Kg £1600) with fair to middling performance. This might be a good choice for an essential situation where a really wide range zoom is needed.

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Last Updated 05/06/2008

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