Real difference between 28-80 and 28-105 lenses

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Help. I am a beginner who just bought a Rebel 2000 kit with a 28-80 lens. I have been reading the archives. Everyone says the 28-80 lens is terrible and the 28-105 lens is a must have. In actuality, for a beginner who takes pictures of my baby, snapshots, and family functions, what is the difference in the pictures it takes?

I have been happy with the pictures I have taken so far. I have noticed some minor distortion in facial features with portrait mode, probably due to operator error. Since everyone seems to love the 28-105 lens, I am considering buying it. I am really interested in pictures where the subject fills the entire picture.

Please help clarify things for me. If I buy the new lens, will I really see a difference, and if so, what is the difference?

thanks for your time and input

-- john chaconas (jchaco@lsusd.lsumc.edu), January 26, 2002

Answers

the 28-105 will give you much more reach so you will be able to take better close ups and it is slightly faster than the 28-80. the build construction and quality of the lens is much better than the 28-80 and has the ultra fast and quiet ring-usm motor. when i got my first real ring-usm lens it was so fast and quiet that the only way i could tell that it was focusing was by the torque it created that i felt in my hands. the 28-105 will last you a lot longer and is definatly worth the upgrade. bye the way, if you don't want facial distortion in your portraits try using a relatively longer focal length like 80 or 100. most people consider 100mm as the standard lens length for portraits. good luck.

-- Jeff Nakayama (moonduck22@hotmail.com), January 27, 2002.

80 and 105mm actually do differ a lot,so do the apertures of f/4.5 and f/5.6. Ring usm is fast and quiet but do u think it is worth the higher price? The 'classical' focal length for portrait is 85 to 135mm,if u really want a true portrait lens,use those large-aperture lens such as 85/f1.8,100/f2...etc. The only thing that i consider the 28-105 good is the IF,which allows me the use of CPL. Before you buy a new lens,try use the old one at small stops like f/8- 11.the lens performance may be better.

-- legnum (legnum212@email.com), January 28, 2002.

Some of the other advantages are a distance scale for focusing (which you may get to use as you become more advanced), full time manual focusing so you can tweak the focus your camera decides on without having to flick a switch, and lastly internal focusing (the IF refered to by the last person). This means the front of you lens doesn't rotate, making it vastly easier to use filters such as polarisers (CPL from the last person?) and gradient filters.

Hope it helps, I love my 28-105

-- Marcus (Citizensmith@lanset.com), January 28, 2002.


The 28-105 is a bit better in every way but price and weight. The picture quality will be a little better, the aperture will be a little faster, focusing will be faster & quieter, Full Time Manual is nice and it is built better.

So to your question, "...will I really see a difference...?"

It depends on what you're looking for and how close you look. If you are happy with the lens you have keep it & enjoy. I recommend people get the 28-105 instead of the the cheaper zooms when they need one, but I'm not sure it's worth the price of a new lens when you all ready have one that's suitable.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), January 28, 2002.


Although I have not used any of the kit 28-80 / -90 zooms I must that that I enjoy my 28-105 very much. My advice would be to hold on to the 28-80 and keep shooting.

Go here and do a search for "Canon 28-80" -> http://www.photo.net/photodb/search

..it'll bring up loads of pictures taken with the 28-80 lens - some of which are good (and some are bad - but that is not nescessarily due to the lens).

Take a look and decide - but remember that it is most likely your skills that prevent you from attaining the photos that you desire (no offense intended - this is my own experience..)

Spend some money on good film and processing instead. I was terribly disappointed with the 4x6's that I got back. I didn't want to go to slides because of the cost of the film and processing and especially the fact that you need to be much more careful with your exposure. The solution that worked for me was to buy an old flatbed scanner with light lid so that I could scan my film and play around with it on the computer. It is just so much easier to crop a picture on the PC. BTW it was a $60 Agfa 600 DPI scanner. Only yields 576*864 photos but thats good enough for the web.

PS: If you havent already done so, take a look at www.photo.net/learn and learn about shutterspeed and aperture and how they affect the image. Try higher speed film (400 or 800) and avoid the largest aperture setting (5.6 at the 80 mm end - try f/8 instead).

Have fun :-)

Best regards

Kenneth

-- Kenneth Darling Soerensen (kenneth@darling.dk), January 29, 2002.



I have owned a Canon IX lite with the 28-80 (non usm) then, traded that body for an Elan 7 e ,and also I have a Rebel 2000. I have used the 28-80 for snaps as you say, and I also started shooting some weddings, using it. After reading so much praise for the tamron 24- 135,I traded the 28-80 for it. Then shortly after I acquiredthe Canon 28-105. I must say apart from quicker/quieter operation, there is immeasurable difference in the 28-80 and the 28-105. I like the little longer range and non rotating front element of the 105. but the picture quality using print film was not what I expected. Undoubtedly, I was getting optimum performace out of my 28-80, because I always stop the aperature to f8 or smaller. But I did expect there to be more of a difference. IMO the extra money you are going to shell out is not worth it( and you won't likely get anything for your old 28-80) My suggestion is hold off and if you see a greater need for it in the future, I would consider the 28-135 IS.

-- Dean Peckford (dpeckford@nf.sympatico.ca), February 03, 2002.

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