Howdy You Again everyone and today by Popular demand I'll be retesting a big Beautiful and beloved old Canon lens on A modern camera the Canon EFS 17 to 55 Mm f2.8 is USM astonishingly despite its Design being over 17 years old now Canon Are still selling new copies of this Lens for very high price of $880 or £830 here in the UK you can Easily find a good copy of this lens on EBay for onethird of that price though And the other reason why people might Still be interested is that it is still The only official Canon fast standard Zoom lens for any of their apsc cameras With image stabilization making it extra Useful on top of that even today you Will often see video makers and TV Crews With top-of-the-line Sony super 35 Cameras using this old lens for their Run and gun shooting but if it hadn't Been for my subscribers requesting it Again and again in comment sections I Wasn't actually planning on retesting This one in fact I was slightly nervous To do so for a couple of reasons firstly Although the lens's Optics were Excellent for its time back in 2006 I Know it probably wouldn't test all that Well on any modern camera let alone my Canon EOS R7 whose demanding 32.5 megap Sensor is the stuff of Night Terrors for Even the sharpest of camera lenses and That thought made me sad because well
This big old lens has absolutely massive Nostalgia value for me and I didn't want To risk spoiling my happy memories of it I remember working as an English teacher In South Korea and eagerly saving up my Pennies or Korean one to March into City 7 in Chang one and pick up one of these Beautiful things then take it everywhere With me for casual photography and video Making that's the first first reason why I was hesitant the second is that I Can't afford to buy a new copy of this Lens and it's actually quite tricky to Find a good secondhand working copy of It because they tended to be Workhorse Lenses for more professional Shooters And so used copies of it tend to be Pretty beat up often having dust inside Them or malfunctioning image Stabilization systems I was quite lucky To get a good deal on this particular Copy of the lens which is in virtually New condition and was under 300 well the first thing you notice About the lens's build quality is that It is Big although at 645 G or a little Under 1 and2 lb it's not actually too Heavy there's quite a lot of plastic in Its construction it's based on a metal Lens mount without any visible weather Ceiling and with the old obnoxious Plastic extension band that Canon put Around their EFS lenses to stop you Mounting them onto full-frame cameras if
You're adapting this lens onto to a Mirrorless camera though then it's no Problem then come switches for image Stabilization and autofocus the image Stabilization is a little old school on This lens it makes a quiet woring sound In action which will be audible if You're shooting video with a camera's Onboard microphone however as you can See in use it's still fairly effective Even when shooting at 55 mm and on a Windy day then comes the focus ring it's Not the best it turns only average Smoothly and only about 90° it's Mechanically connected to the USM Focus Motor but on a clutch system which means You can turn that Focus ring at any time And it doesn't have hard stops the USM Autofocus motor as you'd imagine is Lovely and fast emitting only a very Quiet whooing sound on my old digital SLR cameras I remember it wasn't Amazingly accurate when shooting through The viewfinder however when shooting on A modern mirrorless camera with an Adapter there contrast based systems Ensure good accuracy all the time here You can see that whether you're zoomed In or zoomed out the lens struggles with Fairly heavy focused breathing it's Really surprisingly strong here next Comes the lens is rather chunky Rubberized Zoom ring it only turns Averagely smoothly and not very evenly
With just a touch of stickiness to it I'm afraid so I wish Canon would have Damped it a bit more but it does work Okay some video makers might be Interested to know if this lens is par Focal well let's zoom into this footage To take a look we're starting at 55 mm Where the image is sharp but as we Slowly zoom out we do see the focus Point moving a bit out and I have to Manually readjust it so it's not quite Par focal here the lens has a large 77 Mm front filter thread it doesn't come With a hood but quite deep ones are Available and sold separately overall The land is quick and easy to use Although it does have one or two quirks Which mostly just reflect the lens's old Design and although the lens will Certainly take up some room in your kit Bag at least it's not too heavy on the Arms okay here comes the moment I've Been dreading image quality this is Where my 32.5 megap Canon eosr 7 has the Potential to eat this poor thing for Breakfast or will it in camera Corrections are turned on for these Tests at 17 mm and 2.8 we see quite good Sharpness although contrast is a little Low with a very light Haze to be seen Around contrasting edges over in the Corners that Haze gets a little worse But impressively image resolution Remains really high the lens is capable
Of lots of detail at the widest angle Here which is arguably where it's most Important stop down to F4 and contrast Leaps up to becoming very good in the Corners really showing off that good Sharpness and back in in the middle Image quality now looks great at f5.6 The situation is exactly the same in the Middle and over in the corners at f8 Though defraction is already beginning To kick in robbing us of a little Sharpness and f11 and F-16 look softer Again still that is being caused by the High resolution sensor here not the Lens's Optics let's zoom in halfway to 35 mm now at f2.8 it's the same story Again we see very good sharpness but low Contrast the image Corners see a touch Of softness emerging but contrast isn't As bad as it was at 17 mm now at F4 Though we again see a big Improvement in Contrast in the corners and back in the Middle f5.6 looks perfect in the middle Now and over in the corners there's a Big Improvement in sharpness there Leaving us with excellent quality from Corner to corner again though stop down To f11 or F16 and everything just gets Much softer due to defraction okay let's Zoom all the way into 55 mm at f/2.8 the Picture quality is still very good Although sharpness is a little lower While contrast a little higher Corner Image quality for the first time becomes
Noticeably weak stop down to F4 and Those Corners see way more contrast but Sharpness is still a little low there However the middle of the image is now Looking excellent f5.6 looks about the Same in the middle and well about the Same in the corners too F8 sees a touch more sharpness there and F11 looks about the same but F16 as You'd expect is looking soft due to Defraction anyway overall I was Pleasantly surprised by this lens's Capabilities okay it's never pin sharp But overall it's performing well enough For such an old fast standard zoom on Such a ridiculously new demanding image Sensor probably the most noticeable Issue is low contrast at f2.8 but this Can be remedied somewhat in editing so Yeah I'm fairly pleased with this lens Actually and on a 24 map sensor it Should look great okay let's turn off Those in camera Corrections now and take A look at Distortion and vignetting back In the days this lens came out cameras Could not correct Distortion properly Which forced Canon to fix the problems Optically and as you can see here even At 17 mm we only see a moderate Barrel Distortion although the corners look a Bit dark at f 2.8 at F4 and f5.6 they Brighten up at 21 mm the Distortion Straightens out but even if you zoom all The way into 55 mm pin cushion
Distortion is only mild and we don't Really see much vignetting at f2.8 Either so compared with modern lenses Which rely so heavily on in camera Corrections well most of them do anyway This is actually an excellent Performance for a standard zoom lens This lens can focus down to about 30 5 Cm which is fairly impressive the lens Seems to hate shooting this closely Though especially at f/2.8 stop down to F4 for more contrast closeup and f5.6 For decent sharpness to emerge Also Let's see how the lens performs against Bright Lights now at wide angles it's Not great but not disastrous we are Definitely seeing quite a few flaring Artifacts although nothing is too Obnoxious zoom into 55 mm and the Situation rapidly deteriorates With rather strong flaring when bright Points of light are right there in the Picture while we're working in the dark Let's take a look at coma levels and Sun Stars at f2.8 we are definitely catching Some coma smearing on bright points of Light in the image Corners stop down to F4 though and it quickly goes away let's Zoom out and look for sun stars then at F4 there are some very gentle ones to be Seen at f8 they get a bit bigger and at F11 and F16 they are strong but but not Very well defined next bcka the lens has A funny kind of bcka pattern which I
Have always liked although it's not Perfectly smooth outer Focus highlights Have a slightly heavy Edge to them but Without any outlining which gives a bold But never ugly out of focus background And finally related to Baka comes Longitudinal chromatic aberration at F2.8 a touch of color finging on bcka Highlights is noticeable but only mild At f it's still there slightly but at F5.6 it's gone overall well in my Opinion this lens is to the world of Canon photographers what the F-14 tom Cat is to the world of military Aviation Nerds like me an older model Now Outclassed by some that have come after It but still something that's Nostalgically loved by almost everyone Who's used it before and perfectly Capable of amazing feats when in the Right hands I was particularly pleased That it's sharpness is still quite Acceptable it's Boger bold but Pleasant And its low Distortion is something you Particularly don't get to enjoy on Modern lenses its build quality is a bit Old-fashioned now and it's bulky but at Least it's not heavy and it does have Image stabilization that's useful it's Just a lovely lovely lens still and I Can see why it's still cherished by Video makers today and you can find a Decent copy on eBay for £300 or $300 or Less at that kind of price the lens
Definitely still comes Recommended okay everyone that was Officially the third and final time I'm Ever going to test that lens I don't Want its Nostalgia value to depart from Me by pushing things too far if you find These videos helpful and you find Yourself watching them a lot then do Check out my patreon page supporters Over there get all kinds of exclusive Bonus content plus a warm tingly feeling Inside for helping me to keep this Channel going thanks for the support Everyone and ciao for now
