L IS FOR LENS

Got me my first L lens around two weeks back, the Canon 24-105 f/4L IS USM, after my poor old Tamron broke down. Now, the L-labeled lenses of Canon contain, simply put, the finest glass one could ever hope for, and now that I've experienced using one firsthand, I know that I won't be able to switch back to anything less than L (my Tamron was dubbed the "poor man's L lens" because it's relatively cheap but is sharp as an L – however, now I see that similarities end there). Everything I expected to get from this new lens, it delivered. It's sharp wide open, has excellent contrast, focuses fast and has full time manual focusing, zooms smoothly, is built like a tank (and has weather sealing), gives great pixel resolution and – sorry if I'm starting to rave here – has IS, or Image Stabilization, which is killer, and is changing the way I take my photos. The one thing I'm missing is the wide f/2.8 of my Tammy, but the trade-off's more than worth it considering all the advantages of the new lens, which also performs well against flare, has good macro, and laughs in the face of barrel distortions and chromatic aberrations!

Was able to use it thoroughly during a shoot last weekend at Puerto Galera (will post pics soon in my Flickr). Here's a sample shot I took on the day I got the lens (wide open, ISO 400). Just click on the image for a larger view.















And another one the day after (f/4.5 ISO 400). I don't usually crop my photos, but the second ones are crops to show the level of detail a camera can yield using this lens.