EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM vs. EF 100mm f/2 USM

[Chris7]

(Probably a silly question, but...)

Wondering how the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 100mm and f/4 compares re: sharpness and chromatic aberration to:

Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM @ f/2

Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM @ f/2.8

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Grimace]

Fred Miranda usually has a lot of good information on lenses from users.

Most primes will be sharper and have less CA than most zooms. That said, the 24-205mm is a heck of a lens.

 

[Phrasikleia]

That's the week end of the 24-105. It's a convenience zoom that does very well for its generous range, but the extra range you get with it is a bit soft. Primes will of course be much sharper, as you can see from these SLRgear charts:

All set to f/4:

(Click to enlarge)

They don't have results for the EF 100mm f/2, so I've included the two 100mm macros (original model and new L lens). As one would expect, the new L version of the 100mm macro is by far the sharpest at f/4. (Lower and pinker colors are better. Raised blue means softer. The corners of each rectangular plane are the corners of the frame on an APS-C sensor. If you want to see full-frame, just choose that tab on the SLRgear.com site.)

 

[Chris7]

Thanks Grimace and Phrasikleia.

In different reviews, photozone had some charts of the 24-105 f/4L IS USM at various focal lengths @ f/4, and the EF 85 f/1.8 IS. The the latter seemed to compete well, even at f/1.8. I read elsewhere the EF 100 f/2 USM has similar performance to the EF 85 f/1.8.

So I think this prime would do fine for me.

-Chris

 

[JFreak]

I cannot even think of *how* should one compare these two...

 

[Phrasikleia]

Thanks Grimace and Phrasikleia.

Photozone had some charts comparing the 24-105 f/4L IS USM with the EF 85 f/1.8 IS. The the latter seemed to compete well, even at f/1.8. I read elsewhere the EF 100 f/2 USM has similar performance to the EF 85 f/1.8.

So I think this prime would do fine for me.

-Chris

I used to have the 100 f/2. Such a fun lens! And yes, very sharp. The only reason I sold it was because I bought the 100mm f/2.8L IS. The only negative about the 100/2 is that it exhibits some nasty CA wide open in really high-contrast situations, but that's not unusual for fast primes.