new 70-300L - am I nuts?

[Kayaker72]

As far as the images, Brant and I both guesed wrong haha

ahh...they were both shot at f/8...I am not going to feel too bad....

A quick comparison for the OP of these two lenses at f/8 at 135 mm....

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...mp=2&APIComp=3

Ok, so I see a difference, but the centers are pretty good at both, still much better for the L. But the 18-135 is falling apart at the edges. So, I suspect we are comparing center crops.

Also, hodnik, do you have a remote shutter release? If not, you may want to get those shutter speeds up or use a count down timer. General rule of thumb is 1/(focal length x 1.6) or faster for hand held. Being on the tripod will help, of course, but you can still get vibration from pressing the shutter release at 1/15 second.

[HDNitehawk]

Brant

I think it should also be noted that the 18-135 is falling apart at the edges on a crop body. The 70-300mm is holding up on the edges with a full frame body.
Overall the 70-300mm L should be giving noticeably better results on a 7d.

[Sheiky]

Overall the 70-300mm L should be giving noticeably better results on a 7d.

I'd say that #4 is significantly better than #3. Especially if this is a center crop. The edges probably have even more difference in them.

[hodnik]

ahh...they were both shot at f/8...I am not going to feel too bad....

A quick comparison for the OP of these two lenses at f/8 at 135 mm....

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...mp=2&APIComp=3

Ok, so I see a difference, but the centers are pretty good at both, still much better for the L. But the 18-135 is falling apart at the edges. So, I suspect we are comparing center crops.

Also, hodnik, do you have a remote shutter release? If not, you may want to get those shutter speeds up or use a count down timer. General rule of thumb is 1/(focal length x 1.6) or faster for hand held. Being on the tripod will help, of course, but you can still get vibration from pressing the shutter release at 1/15 second.

the ISO test you linked is what I am trying to replicate. it obviously shows a better IQ, sharpness, contrast when comparing the L and the standard lenses.

10 second count down timer was one, there was no camera shake, at least no visible camera shake looking through live view.

[hodnik]

Overall the 70-300mm L should be giving noticeably better results on a 7d.

do you suggest that it should be noticeably better than the crops I posted?

[ahab1372]

1 and 4 are slightly better IMO to.
[...] You pay allot of extra money to get just a small amount of improvement.

That is actually true for most things

Arnt

[Kayaker72]

Hodnik,

HDNitehawk has a very good point. The 70-300 L was taken with the 1DIIIs, a full frame camera while the image with the 18-135 was taken with the 50D, a cropped sensor camera. This does two things 1) at least part of the difference in image quality is due to the superior camera and 2) the image for the 70-300 represents a much larger image circle. In other words, the "mid" points for the 70-300 image are probably closer to equivalent (in terms of distance from center) to the edges on a crop sensor camera.

For your tests, I'd encourage you to look at the edges and not just the center, to look at wider apertures, check AFMA, and find a subject with a little more detail.

That said, I agree with others, improvement isn't linear with cost.

Good luck and enjoy your new lens.

[Steve U]

Also, hodnik, do you have a remote shutter release? If not, you may want to get those shutter speeds up or use a count down timer. General rule of thumb is 1/(focal length x 1.6) or faster for hand held. Being on the tripod will help, of course, but you can still get vibration from pressing the shutter release at 1/15 second.

Good point.
#4 image is quite good.
While both #1 and #2 are not good shots to make a comparison of because of the textured surface, it all looks a bit shakey. I would suggest a minimum shutter speed of 1/200sec or higher, use some artifical lightsource to keep your ISO down.

[cls]

so today after shooting at the airport, i set the camera up on the tripod, set the 10sec timer, set the exposure, focal, aperture all the same and took some shots. i will attach them below.

i do not want to come off as a 'troll', or a complainer, whiner, whatever. i want to make sure i am getting my money worth here.

thanks for looking

Hi, at f/8 you will find most lenses are very good IQ-wise, and the difference between an average lens and a high-end lens is small at f/8 (if f/8 is OK you don't really need the expensive lenses). Another test you could do to see what the 70-300L gives you would be to compare shots at 250 mm f/5.6 between your new lens and the EF-S 55-250. You could use some of the popular test shot subjects (e.g. a focus test chart), and since aviation seems to be your thing you could also take some test shots at a subject that has bright sky in the background (e.g. a flagpole or a chimney) to see field-like differences in CA etc.

The EF-S 55-250 is not bad at all, but I'm sure you'll notice the difference - probably a more significant difference than in the shots above.

Good luck with your new lens!

[Busted Knuckles]

I have to agree w/ CLS and perhaps expand slightly.

At f8 on a crop body in particular you will see the beginnings - significant - of the pin hole diffraction effect of the aperture. This actually degrades the image a surprising amount - you can see it in the ISO crops, (set up the same lens at 5.6 and f 11 and toggle between them) and I can see it my real world shots, if I do a side by side comparison.

I try to stay short of 6.3 if the DOF is appropriate.