Test of Standard Zoom lenses

For a long time I wanted to get myself a new Standard Zoom lense. But which one to buy? Sigma brought out their highly praised 17-70mm. Tamron had released the 17-50mm Di F/2.8 and then there was still the Canon 17-40mm L lense.

Finally I decided to get myself the Sigma 17-70mm when starting the vacation in Germany.

The shop had all three lenses available:
1) Tamron 17-50 Di F/2.8 (416.- Euro)
2) Sigma 17-70mm (312.- Euro)
3) Canon 17-40mm L (695.- Euro)

Look and feel of all three lenses was okay. The Canon obviously being absolutely outstanding. The Sigma surprisingly well built (also the double tube was very solid - no wobbling whatsoever) and also the Tamron was okay yet I liked it the least for its plasticy feeling.

All three lenses come with its respective lense hood (also the Canon despite some other reports I read once) only the Canon comes with leather bag.

Finally I ended up buying the Sigma Lense as it was solid had the widest range and it was by far the cheapest. But then after the the vacation I had to notice that almost all the pictures were soft and out of focus (back focus) + the left side of the picture was VERY out of focus. Distortion and Vignetting was also quite pronounced! I must admit I took some sample shots in the shop from the Sigma and Tamron but somehow it did not notice the error on my small laptop screen. In all fairness I guess my Sigma sample was simply a bad one. After all the usually good reviews it can't be that the lense is soooo bad in general.

Anyway, after a small back and forth I decided for swapping the Sigma 17-70mm for the Canon 17-40mm L. The shop was very forthcoming and did the swap without any problems.

The Canon lense is great ! Built quality is exquisite, the lense does not extend when zooming/focusing, almost no vignetting and everything beyond F4.5 is VERY sharp even in the corners. Contrast and colours are absolutely great and what I never believed to be possible: The lens picks up every detail in the sky. Gray clouds which usually had ended up as a gray mushy background now show as fine clouds with different shades of gray. Simply amazing !! Slight distortion and CA would be the only minor negative issues if I had to name some.

So I guess it was worth the money. The results are satisfying indeed. Maybe if I had been more lucky with my Sigma lense I would think differently but the way it was it simply did not satify me.

Below a few test shots of the different lenses
75% size - Converted from Raw into jpg without any sharpening etc..
Pictures are about 1,3MB.

Tamron 17-50 Di F/2.8

Tamron 17mm F2.8	Tamron 50mm F8
The Tamron is in fact not such a bad choice. Wide side with F2.8 shows already quite good results even at the borders.

Sigma 17-700mm

Sigma 17mm F2.8	Sigma 17mm F10
Sigma 70mm F4.5	Sigma 70mm F10
The Sigma shows huge distortion and heavy vignetting. The very bad results in sharpness must have been particular bad with my sample.

Canon 17-40m f/4L

Canon 17mm F4	Canon 17mm F6.3
Canon 29mm F4	Canon 29mm F6.3
Canon 40mm F4	Canon 40mm F6.3
The Canon is a little soft at 4.0 throughout the whole focal range. From 4.5 sharpness is good and at around 6,3 excellent. (F22 is max but soft again).

The review of all three lenses is based on hundreds of pictures I took the last weeks. So if I was asked for advice I would say, save some extra money and get the Canon L lense. Whether its worth all the money....? but at least it is the best choice !

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