alan jones's reviews

  • Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Extremely Sharp,versatile 24mm-136mm equivilent zoom,well built
    none (yes constant F4 would have been better)

    Anyway my findings (jpegs not raw)...i am fortunate to have a 5Dmk2 +24-105 F4 along with the 50D ( a great camera too )
    and the new 15-85 EFS to compare we used to use a 17-40l on the 50D and was always happy with the results BUT the EFS 15-85 surprisingly is better !! it produces a sharper picture over its whole range which i didnt expect so now when i put the 5d2 image and the 50D together on the scene they are both equally sharp its only when you zoom you see the 5d2 is a superior image so a fine performance YES i am aware its not 2.8 or even 4 has wide angle distortion (so does the 24-105 and the 24-70 2.8 i used to own) As we are primarily Landscape and nature photographers we are always F8 and higher users mostly ....the 24-136 zoom range is extremely useful as is the 4 stop image stableiser..especially for my wife who sometimes forgets shutter speed !! so i highly recommend this lens for its high image quality (on a par to 17-55 2.8)

    reviewed January 4th, 2010 (purchased for $847)

  • Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD SP

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    sharp at 600 F8 even wide open OK equal to the 100-400L mk 1
    for the price none

    Hi Ive only written this as i would kindly suggest that SLR gear did not have a good copy of the Tamron 150-600 as sharpness is very good on my copy i use it on a 7D2 so my commment are on a crop sensor which avoids the softer edges of the lens and its excellently hand holdable at 960mm easily !! I have tested mine against the canon 100-400L mk1 and it matches it easily my wife uses a 7d2 and a canon 100-400L mk2 lens which is a brilliant lens and it does outperform the tamron at 150-400MM but only slightly the main differences between the two is the canon has better colour and contrast and very very slightly sharper (on7d2 dont forget) i add colour and contrast to my 150-600!! when using the MK2 with a 1.4x T/C the Tamron wins very slightly at 560-600MM i am very happy with my Tamron For the record the 100-400 L mk1 does not performs well with a 1.4tc its soft conversely the Canon 100-400 MK 2 performs excellently with the 1.4x t/c mk3 night and day difference between the 2 L lenses Hope this helps someone

    reviewed January 26th, 2016 (purchased for $1,342)