that_fox's reviews

  • Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Fantastic IQ, build quality, good standard zoom, weather sealed, cheap
    Makes the XTi/400D a bit unbalanced, none other than that

    I got this lens a couple weeks back and since then it has been an absolute joy to use. The IQ is great, landscape shots with this lens have good colour and sharpness. I really like how wide this lens is, even on my crop camera, plus it makes a great walk-around lens. I find the reach for a standard zoom to be quite adequate and for the price fantastic.

    The only problem I've run into is that when this lens is used on my XTi/400D it makes it unbalanced. While this may not sound too bad, when using this lens for a couple hours it makes my right hand hurt. This is wholly attributed to the camera's grip however, I just wanted it to be known. Despite this I would absolutely recommend this to an XTi/400D owner just for it's image quality alone. This is not my first L lens and it most certainly won't be my last!

    reviewed February 16th, 2008 (purchased for $650)

  • Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Excellent IQ, cheap, great build quality, got my best shot ever with this lens
    A bit short for what I do (wildlife), no tripod ring, Æ’/4

    I purchased this lens months ago and since then have been rewarded with many great images with it. The image quality is unmatched, superbly sharp even at 200mm. I got one spectacular shot with this lens that has received thousands upon thousands of positive remarks. That shot wouldn't have had the same great praise with anything less than the great IQ of this lens.

    I do wish that this lens came with a tripod ring however. I find that this lens causes the camera to not be rock steady on a tripod when using the camera's tripod mount. I also wish that this lens was ƒ/2.8, but at this price I can't complain at all. I very highly recommend this lens, but beware it will get you addicted the L lenses.

    reviewed February 16th, 2008 (purchased for $550)

  • Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM

    4 out of 10 points and not recommended
    Cheap, good focal range
    IQ mediocre at best, build quality, slow

    This lens is probably the first one that most people start with on their new dSLR and it is just not good enough. The build quality is terrible, it just screams terribly cheap with the image quality not being much better. This is the reason why I tell people to pick the body only configuration of their XTi or XT and get the very good Tamron 28-75 instead. The Tamron can be had for under $300 used and it just wipes this lens out in every category. I didn't know any better when I bought my first dSLR, but I won't make the same mistake twice.

    reviewed February 16th, 2008