Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
Customer Review: Versatility on the Cheap
Summary: 5 Stars
No one lens accomplishes every photographic objective. Canon makes each lens at every price point well-suited to various tasks, but with limitations that can only be overcome by graduating to the next higher priced but similar item. A case in point: the wide-angle zooms.
The 17-40mm f/4 is one of Canon's best deals in L-series glass. You have to spend twice as much to get a lens of similar quality, but just one stop faster. Does this make the more-expensive EF 16-35 f/2.8L a ripoff? Not for its own specific use: the extra stop gives you the speed to shoot in more indoor situations. Not all photographers need this. When indoors, we're often taking pictures of people, which are better suited to lengths around 50-100mm. To capture sweeping panoramas of parlors for Architectural Digest (or Coldwell Banker) the f/2.8 is the better lens and worth the step up in price, though in many cases you could use the f/4 lens with a tripod. All this means is that the f/2.8 is priced for professional specialists whereas the f/4 is for more general use. My bigger point is that Canon has its whole lineup positioned: the differences across lenses are specific and appropriately priced, which is good news for the consumer. It's hard to make a mistake buying homegrown Canon lenses, especially L-series lenses. You just have to figure out which set of two or three suits your range of uses.
The 17-40mm is a steal for people who need a walkaround lens for travel and outdoor photography. The shorter focal lengths of the zoom are great on a digital body, with nice reach and minimal distortion; just an ability to grab up landscape and wide situations end-to-end, even when standing close. The focal lengths around 40mm are tight enough for portraits and other local detail. Colors are strong and convincing; contrast deep and impactful. The lens itself is small enough and light enough to grab-and-go, but nicely machined, with solid fit and finish. It has an instantly recognizable profile, with the added bonus of the red ring.
This lens, plus a 70-200mm f/2.8 telescope and a nice fast fixed lens in the range betwixt are all you need. On vacation, and in most outdoor situations, the 17-40mm alone suffices. It makes a good first L-lens, and a staple in the arsenal.
Customer Review: Wonderful step into the L world!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this lens to accompany my new 50D. The first thing I will note is the amazing improvement upon image quality when moving from the 18-55mm IS kit lens to this one. As there is quite a bit of difference in build quality as well as price range, that should come as no surprise.
If you are shooting with a crop body camera, Rebel/XXXD or xxD body. The extra range on the short end of this lens becomes really important when shooting group pictures, landscapes, or your shooting space is really tight. The difference seen between having 17mm at the short end and 24/28mm is really REALLY noticable and allows you to get some landscape and close quarter pictures, you might not have been able to take.
As far as build quality goes, the lens is VERY solid. Metal construction with LD glass elements and very smooth focus USM motor and like butter zoom ring, it all just feels wonderful to use. You will definitely notice a difference if you try to use a lower quality lens.
Optical quality is amazing. As the sensor on the 50D is very dense, it becomes easy to see the flaws in lower quality glass. This is not the case with the 17-40L. Though I would have like to be able to get the extra f stop that comes with the 16-35mm 2.8L , the decrease in weight and the HUGE decrease in price makes the 17-40L a better deal for me. After all, the bokeh becomes the only reason that the fstop is so important(i wouldn't discredit this because smooth bokeh makes portaits great) , as the difference between f4 and f2.8 is going from about ISO 200 to ISO 400, and with the dramatic increases in high ISO perfomance, it is likely you will not greatly notice the difference. If lighting is THAT bad, you should really be using a fast prime, such as the 50mm 1.4 or an external flash.
The EF mount makes it easy for one to make a switch to full frame camera in the future and will leave you with a very useful ULTRA-WIDE lens on FF cameras.
Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase, and if given the opportunity to purchase again, I would happily do so. In the future I plan on paring this lens with a 70-200 f4 L which I understand is one of the best priced and best value canon lenses made.
Customer Review: My ideal everyday lens
Summary: 5 Stars
I looked into buying this lens mainly because of my focus on outside landscape photography, but also as a successor to the 18-55mm lens that came with my rebel xsi. So far I've been using it both outside while walking around Seattle and indoor areas with the speedlite 430ex II.
Because I already invested in 77mm filters for my 10-20mm Sigma lens I was able to use the polarizer for either of them depending if I wanted a wide angle or regular picture. Just remember that having this lens on a camera with a cropped sensor does cut down on the lens's wide angle ability. Since I plan on upgrading to a full frame camera this wasn't really a drawback for me. The lens does a awesome job capturing images in all kinds of lighting and varying compositions without any flare or vignetting along the edges, which is to be expected of something as a L lens. When focusing it's very quick and quite, also a nice perk is its ability to zoom without having to extend out of the tube. This ensures there isn't going to be any sand or dirt getting caught up on part exposed during extensions, there are a few occasions where I spent cleaning out the particles from my Sigma lens because of this.
Strong Points:
-Ultra sonic motors are super quite and quick in focusing.
-Glass elements do a great job cutting back any potential flaring or vignetting.
-Lens Housing is self contained helping to prevent any dirt or sand from getting to the lens's sensitive insides.
Weak Points:
-Be aware that f/4 is going to make you either use a higher ISO or longer shutter speeds while in low light conditions. This isn't even a concern for me since the speedlite 430ex II does a great job helping this lens maintain proper exposure in indoor activities.
-If using on a cropped sensor such as Canon's Rebel family this lens may not be wide angle lens you are looking for. I already knew what was going on long before buying this lens, this is still a great L lens what will be with me when I do get around to purchasing a full frame camera. I found myself using this lens for taking everyday pictures and scenes that doesn't require ultra wide view to capture.
Customer Review: One of the cheapest of Canon's Ls, but with all the quality
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're using a DSLR compatible with EF-S lenses, Canon already has the 17-55 and 17-85/IS, but there's still plenty of reason to go for this L lens. It's an investment in the future (assuming 1.3x or full-frame crop cameras get cheaper sometime soon), and Canon's top-line lenses hold their resale value extremely well. But the biggest reason is simply quality.
Those other lenses are pretty good, but just can't quite match the wonderful color, contrast and sharpness of the 17-40 across its range. There's a touch of barrel / pincushion distortion at the ends, but barely noticeable and easily remedied.
The range is incredibly useful, whether as a 17-40 on a full-frame, 22-52 on a 1.3x, or 27-64 on a 1.6x crop camera like the Digital Rebel or 20D. On the latter, it's merely wide rather than ultrawide, but if you've been walking around with something that bottoms out at 24 or 28mm, you'll probably be surprised at how much you missed that wide angle. Yes, the long end doesn't go very long, but in my opinion the range you gain at the wide end is more valuable.
Focusing is fast and quiet, with full-time manual focusing ability (even in autofocus mode), and build quality is excellent. It feels very solid and weighty, but not at all heavy. It includes a gel holder in the rear, but can take 77mm front filters as well (and the manual recommends one in order to complete weather-sealing in the front).
I'm not really a fan of Canon's finish for black L lenses, but it looks quite impressive, and has the famous red ring of an L at the end. The big, oddly-shaped petal hood is a bit unwieldy, and has to be stored separately from the lens if you want to fit it easily into most camera bags.
An alternative would be to go with primes, which can be faster, cheaper, and even sharper, but not so much at the wider end, where they tend to be weighty and involve some major tradeoff (not the least of which is that, of course, you'll need at least a couple to cover this range). If you want a high-quality one-lens solution to walk around with, particularly for travel photography, this is it.
Customer Review: The Canon 10-22mm EF-S wide angle zoom or the 17-40mm EF "L" zoom?
Summary: 5 Stars
The Canon 10-22mm EF-S wide angle zoom or the 17-40mm EF "L" zoom? I deliberated this decision for over a month, having physically tested both lenses on my 350D crop frame DSLR at local camera shops and spending a near ridiculous amount of time reading through indispensable online reviews such as this one. With the price for each being roughly the same, the decision came down to the 10-22's ultra-wide capability vs. the 17-40's build quality.
I ended up choosing the 17-40 and here's why:
-Incredible optics and sharpness. If you're like me and have never owned an "L" series lens before, you'll be able to see the difference in optical construction quality before you ever snap a digital shot. It's evident in the viewfinder just how precise this lens is.
-Longevity: I'm the kind of guy who likes high quality equipment and can see myself upgrading to a full-frame sensor camera body sooner rather than later.
-Wide vs. Ultra-wide: You'll often read warnings of the difficulty in framing sub-20mm ultra-wide compositions. It's a valid point. Only certain scenarios lend themselves to 180 degree framing but most of the time you'll be challenged to keep all of the uninteresting junk out of the frame. I was a little worried about 17-40mm's 27-54mm conversion when used on a crop frame. Would it be wide enough? Answer, yes. 27mm is plenty wide for most applications and with the crop factor, I get almost zero barrel distortion at the widest edges. In my estimation, the 10-22 is more of an effect lens whereas the 17-40 is much more of an everyday multi-purpose working lens.
In summary, if the focal length range of the 17-40 doesn't overlap too much over your current lens kit and you favor high-quality wide over good quality ultra-wide, then this lens is right for you.
*NOTE: If the 17-40's inclusion of a lens hood is influencing your decision in anyway over the 10-22, don't let it be. The hood is basically a pain in the rear due to it's ridiculous size and shape. Difficult to pack and you'd probably be better served just picking up a 77mm protection filter.