New 24-105mm f/4L IS -- How's it look (sharpness)

[DerekSalem]

Ok just got my UU12-labeled 24-105 (meaning made in December 2006) from eBay and wanted to check out how sharp it was. I was testing it against my 70-200mm f/4L IS and it was a *little* less sharp, but not too much.

Does this look good for this lens? Lemme know what you think about it
Original shot with exif data included

100% crop

 

[Derrel]

So, that's a stack of dinner plates, right?

I dunno...this shot really isn't a good subject to help us gauge sharpness. My 24-105 is not so hot at 24mm...it is better at the mid-focal lengths, but this subject has no fine details across the frame, and the light level is low...it's just really hard to tell how "sharp" the lens is from the subject matter you're shooting.,

 

[DerekSalem]

So, that's a stack of dinner plates, right?

I dunno...this shot really isn't a good subject to help us gauge sharpness. My 24-105 is not so hot at 24mm...it is better at the mid-focal lengths, but this subject has no fine details across the frame, and the light level is low...it's just really hard to tell how "sharp" the lens is from the subject matter you're shooting.,

For a reason still unknown to me I actually didn't even think about this until I made this topic. I realized it was a bad subject and was thinking about something else to shoot when you replied.

Without an off-camera flash any ideas on what to shoot?

 

[MohaimenK]

Great choice! I use that also for general purpose...

 

[Derrel]

Well, "real-world" subjects are good Derek...I dunno....newspapers pinned or taped to a wall at around 10 feet are "traditional" test targets, I guess because newspapers show various image flaws, like soft corners, or decentering of the elements. Brick walls are another traditional test subject, since they do not move, and have straight lines that will show the distortion the 24-105 has on the wide-angle end. The thing is, really close-up shots are not the forte of the lens...it's not a very good close-range lens. What yuo want to look for is a decentered lens, one that has been abused or knocked out of alignment; see if one side of the image is "wonky"...see if one of the four corners is bad...it could be....

My 24-105-L has some color fringing at the short end of the range...so images have a slight fringe of color,which really shows up on black type on brilliant white paper, or on bright-day subjects in sunlight that have clear, strongly-defined edges.

Daylight's fading fast here in North America right now...

 

[DerekSalem]

Well I took another shot that I thought might just show any kind of detail. Obviously it's of a necklace that was on my coffee table, but like I said I had no ideas really. All of the EXIF data should be included, but it was taken with built-in flash at 1/250s, f/8, and ISO400.

All is straight out of camera.

100% crop:

 

[Derrel]

Well, think "flat target". Try this: tape three $20 bills flat to a wall. More if you happen to have them handy, like say a block of nine $20 bills. Tape them to a wall and set the camera up on a tripod, good and level and perpendicular to the wall. Then use the built-in flash to shoot a few shots of them. Then, PM me, get my address, and then send me the $20 bills, in a plain, white envelope marked "open immediately". Then, after you have mailed the envelope off, post the photos on-line and let us know where they are hosted. Once they are posted on-line, and after the envelope arrives here, I will look at the posted pictures and give you a really thorough,careful C&C on the lens's performance.

Deal?

 

[DerekSalem]

Alright shot a few more. Just picked this one because it seemed to be the most centered. Once again, straight out of the camera. This time at 1/200s, f/11, ISO400. Lemme know what you think.

Original shot (down-sized to 900x600 for bandwidth. If you want to see a bigger shot I can upload it to Flickr or something):

100% crop close to center:

100% crop at the edge:

 

[DerekSalem]

It really doesn't bother me, but I realized after posting these pictures are great for finding the area I live in =P It's one section of The Post (free Cleveland paper).

If you happen to purchase any of these houses, I should be granted a finders fee.

 

[Derrel]

Edge sharpness and center sharpness at f/11 seem pretty close to on-par. Do all four corners of the image look good, and comparably sharp? I see that the center crop looks a little bit better than the edge crop, but, you know, not too bad, really. I've tested some pretty crummy zooms this way; the WORST zoom LENS I EVER OWNED was a Nikon 35-135mm AiS manual focus lens. Man, it had the proverbial Coke-bottle corners....Lordy, it was a stinker. Not surprisingly, I bought it from a friend, who had bought it from a friend, who had also bought it from a friend...know what I mean????

 

[DerekSalem]

Ya, all four corners look comparatively sharp. It looks completely fine for me I just wanted to see what everyone else thought about it. Knowing that a lot of people own this lens I figured I had a fairly large audience to judge my copy against. Guess it's about how I was thinking!