SLR Geek

Get the entire width of the hangar with just one shot!

Or get the full width of the lagoon!

Auto Focus:

I never cease to be amazed at USM auto focusing, so accurate, so quiet, so fast, so useful with the auto-focus manual focus override without having to turn off the auto focus. I shoot both wild life and weddings both of which require at times the camera be as quiet as possible up to the moment you shoot.

Full frame wide angle:

A good lens on my 40D becomes a wide angle monster on my Canon 5D Mark II. How much difference between a photo identically framed on a cropped sensor camera like the 40D and the full framed 5D Mark II? See interior photos of my daughters Honda Fit below.

17mm on Canon 40D

17mm on Canon 5D Mark II, see what you’re missing?

Soft wide open at F/4 it sharpens up noticeably by F/4.5 and becomes a super wide angle take it all in landscape and interior super sharp monster when stopped down to F/9 on a Canon 5D Mark II. I always carry it with me since I never know when I might see a wide angle shot! You have to work harder to have the you are there feeling when viewing the photos on my iMac as much as the Canon 85mm F/1.2 II L or Canon 100-400 IS L lenses. I keep hoping that Canon will make a wide angle zoom that matches the performance of my Canon 100-400 IS L zoom lens. The 24-70 F/2.8 seems pretty similar in performance as the 17-40 but it’s a little sharper and it’s faster and has more reach. I normally prefer the 17-40 F/4 L over the 24-70 because its wider on the 5D Mark II unless I am shooting weddings and need the speed and reach.

Why not the Canon 16-35 F/2.8?

Because in all the tests I have seen in comparison the 16-35 is: not as sharp, costs $750 more, weighs 140g more, is 14.8mm longer then the 17-40. If you are shooting hand held in the dark and or shooting weddings then the Canon 16-35 F/2.8 may be more the lens for you. In the case of weddings soft is in and the F/2.8 speed is needed for low light hand held. But I usually use a wide angle lens on a tripod for static subjects and there the 17-40 rules!

Auto Vignetting peripheral illumination control:

Auto Lens Vignetting correction works with this lens both in camera with JPEG’s and in RAW using peripheral Illumination control in Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) on the new Canon 50D and Canon 5D Mark II etc.). No more vignetting when shooting wide open!!! When shooting Raw open the file(s) in DPP and click on NR/Lens Lens Aberration Correction / Tune and click on Peripheral illumination. You can adjust the amount under Peripheral Illumination if you don’t like the amount automatically suggested.

How to look through the window:

Always shoot in raw and carefully take your best shot. Go aperture mode and set your F stop to F/9. Use a tripod, mirror lockup and timer or remote release if you can and ISO 50. If you can’t go hand held set your 5D Mark II to auto ISO and stop down to at least F/4.5 and squeeze off several shots of whatever you are shooting. This lens is softer wide open at F/4 and 40mm go wider 24 to 17mm if possible.

Always process your raw photos using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional (DPP). Adjust images to your liking as this lens tends to be soft at the standard settings. Photos taken with this lens respond really well to changes in DPP. Select one, several or all of your images and click on TOOLs and yank the sharpness slider hard over to the right to 8 or 10 if needed. And if that’s not sharp enough click on RGB in the tools menu and slide it sharper as well. Not all photos will need this but you will be shocked how much better a soft photo can look if you do this. This lens produces great color and contrast but if you don’t have enough click on the RAW tab in tools and slide the Saturation over to 3 or even 4 or what ever makes you happy. Just viewing the images on-line? Try saving them to the size of your monitor screen 17inch for a 17 inch screen etc. and 72dpi only. Of course for printing you will want to make it 200 or even 300 DPI and as big as you need to print for your dimensions. Save as a 16 Bit Tiff if you want to print large.

Pros:

Nice lens bag included
Auto Lens Vignetting correction
Quiet and fast USM auto focus
Super high quality L Lens build
Easy to install included lens hood
Buttery smooth zoom and manual focus rings
Great landscape lens that’s super sharp at F/ 9and 17mm
Great right out of the camera contrast, beautiful rich color images
Good walk around lens on a 1.6 cropped sensor camera (Canon 40D/50D), ultra wide monster lens used on a full frame sensor camera I E Canon 5D Mark II.

Cons:

Softer on the narrow end 40mm
Only F4, wish it was F2.8 or even F3.5
Lens Hood is bulky and hard to store
Narrow 17-40 zoom range: 17-70 would have been nicer
Soft wide open in the corners, sharpens a lot just stopping down to F/4.5
Could be sharper on the corners on the narrow end 24mm to 40mm and wide open

Conclusion:

If you want THE sharpest wide angle Canon L lens to use on both cropped and ultra wide for full sized sensor Canon EOS camera bodies this is it. The dual purpose capabilities both as a normal walk around zoom (27mm to 64mm) on cropped sensor 1.6 ratio cameras and ultra wide zoom (17mm to 40mm) on full size sensors make it a very versatile lens indeed!.