Canon USM lens versus Canon USM Ef lens

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I have decided to but a Canon eos elan 7e but I'm not sure what package deal to buy. These are the two that I narrowed down. 1.)A Canon 28-80 (3.5-5.6)USM lens, and a Canon 75-300(4.0-5.6) USM lens for $609.99. OR 2.)A Canon 28-80 (3.5-5.6)USM EF lens, and a Canon 80-200(4.5-5.6) USM EF lens for $644.99.

My Question is what sytem is better, and what are the pro/cons of each lens(USM versus USM EF). I was also wondering if these were good prices, if not where can I find a better price? Any information about the above will be greatly apprecitaed. Thank You.

-- Karl Brozyna (kbrozyna@yahoo.com), May 01, 2001

Answers

All USM lenses are EF, so the 28-80 lenses are the same thing typed differently.

-- Steven Fisher (srf@srf.com), May 01, 2001.

EF is the designation of the canon eos mount. usm stands for ultrasonic motor. so, usm and usm ef are the same thing. but there are lenses for the ef mount that does not have usm. the best place for you to get information on canon lenses is at http://www.photo.net/photo/canon/canon-reviews

the three lenses you have listed are all lower level consumer lenses. they use micro usm instead of ring usm. so you loose the full time manual focus (which is one of the main benefits of usm) i would recommend the following lenses 24-85 usm, 28-105 usm, 100-300 usm.

-- howard shen (hshen@praxidigm.com), May 01, 2001.


I second the comment about those lenses being inferior. The lenses that camera makers put into the "packages" are never very high quality. The 24-85 and the 28-105 are really good for the money. They are about $200 USD for the 28-105 and about $300 for the other. If you really need a longer lens (over 100mm), the 100-300 f/4.5~5.6 is a better bet. Really think about getting the 50 f/1.8 for low light work and really sharp images!!

B&H is really regarded as having the best prices and service (most of the time) around. It seems as though the prices for cameras have been dropping over the last year or so. Interesting.

-- Colin Miller (ckmiller@pond.net), May 01, 2001.


I really like Colin's suggestion about a set of lenses. I was one of those who several years ago bought a "Canon package" when I moved from my old Canon FD system. I quickly outgrew the Canon 28-80 and moved on to other Canon lenses. Even though I am now fortunate enough to own several L series lenses from Canon, I still keep keep three Canon lenses in a bag as a lightweight snapshot system. The lenses are the Canon 28-105 USM, the Canon 100-300 USM, and the 50mm. I am very pleased with the results I get from this combination when I am only interested in 4x6 prints for a scrapbook.

If you acquire these lenses, you should then concentrate on learning their characteristics. After switching from my Canon FD system, it took me a while to get results I was pleased with from my new Canon autofocus system. The reason was that I knew how the meter system of my old camera worked and what results to expect from each of my 3 lenses, a 28mm, a 50mm and a 135mm. I also knew how to predict the results from my very simple flash setup.

It has been said repeatedly on this forum and others: Work on technique, practice, practice, practice until you know what your equipment will do and why your bad pictures are bad. Nice equipment is great to have but is useless without sound shooting technique.

Didn't mean to preach to the choir!

-- Richard Snyder (rsnyder@lc.cc.il.us), May 02, 2001.


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