- Tamron 28-75mm 1:2.8
- Canon EF 50mm 1:2.5 Compact-Macro
- Canon EF 28mm 1:2.8
- Tamron 17-50mm 1:2.8
- Canon EF 24mm 1:2.8
- Konica Hexar AF
- Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM
- Minolta MC W.Rokkor - NL 21mm 1:2.8
- Canon BG-ED3 Battery Grip
- Canon 10D
- Sigma EF-500 DG Super EO ETTL
- Minolta Dimage Scan Elite II
- Sears 55mm 1:1.4
- Minolta X-370
- Canon EF 28-90mm 1:4-5.6 III
- Canon 400D (Rebel XTi)
Canon EF 28-90mm 1:4-5.6 III
Date:
12/9/2009 This lens is as 'Kitty' as a kit lens can be. The usual compromises were made to meet a price point and in that sense I guess the lens can't be considered a failure. I didn't expect much from this lens. But, because I only let it play in a small box, it filled it's role in my photographic world well. Low end lenses don't usually impress but I'd like to explain how, for the first time, I've been happy using a kit lens.
First off, my expectations were quite low. Those low expectations were set by the EFs 18-55mm II kit lens included with my Canon 400D (Rebel XTi) . This 28-90mm has the same look and feel to it. Light, cheap, almost all plastic, similar exterior textures, and decorated with that unmistakably 'Kitty' silver beauty ring. Also consistent with other kit lenses are the undesireable characteristics of a rotating front lens element and a slow, variable maximum aperture.
Key to this less than horrible review was the size and shape of the box I put this lens in. One of my photographic duties is low resolution, web only product shots. When I chose this lens I was producting enough of them to justify purchasing a lens and an extra body and using them exclusively for these simple product images. In addition, some of the product shots were of coin sized items. A quick scan through some old Canon literature indicated that, of the many kit zooms offered over the years, the relatively close focusing 28-90mm might be the best fit. I guess not many other folks shop for these older kit zooms and I was able to pick one up inexpensively.
So the box looked like this: Having plenty of light via the use of strobes, prefering smaller apertures for increased depth of field (and sharpness), and knowing the images would be downsided for use on the web. These criteria, along with the 28-90mm's ability to focus relatively closely, created an environment in which even a kit lens could achieve success.
In the process I also learned that having a really light lens can make some odd photography easier; like when standing on a chair, holding on to the ceiling for balance with one hand, and shooting with the other. And in the average light levels inside the light tent the lens was able to focus reasonably accurately and reasonably quickly. The sharpness was more than adequate for my needs with no color cast, flare, or exposure variance issues experienced.
In retrospect, maybe the feature compromises made by the manufacturer just happened to match the feature compromises my project could tolerate. Either way the match was made, as were the images.