How Good Is Your Canon Lens?

[Mike Farley]

An indication can be found with the list of lenses Canon recommends for use with its new 5Ds cameras, the high resolution sensor of which makes greater demands on a lens' resolving power. There are some surprising omissions and a lot of zooms do not make it, the popular 24-105L f/4 being one such. It's mainly newer lenses, although the 1987 EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro apparently makes the grade. It seems that the older 70-200L f/4 is also OK, but not the later IS version.

The full list can be found on the 5Ds product page - http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product ... eos_5ds_r/.

Keith Cooper also has a list for the camera's 1 July entry on his Northllight Images website* - http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/Cano ... enses.html.

Need you worry if your lenses have not made it? I would say only if you are thinking about upgrading to the 5Ds, which is way beyond most people's needs. If you are happy with the results you are getting with your existing camera, then you should not have any worries. Should you be contemplating a purchase, being on this list would be one of the considerations, but not necessarily the only one.

* The rumours section is always a fun place to go to see what might be coming in the near future.

[davidc]

I had a guess this might be coming given what happened with the Nikon D810/e

What's interesting is that I don't see any notice from Sony pertaining to the A7RII - maybe it's because there are comparatively fewer E-mount lenses up to the job from them so highlighting only a few will do the new camera justice won't leave many left?

What's interesting is how the "sub par" glass will perform vs say the 6D or 5D3 when attached to the 5DS/R. Though it may not get the best out of the camera, I wonder how much more we can get out of the LENS using the better body?

[davidc]

I'm sure you were all very worried - thankfully I can confirm all but one of my Canon lenses is "recommended"
I wonder how the third party ones stack up though.

[Mike Farley]

What's interesting is that I don't see any notice from Sony pertaining to the A7RII - maybe it's because there are comparatively fewer E-mount lenses up to the job from them so highlighting only a few will do the new camera justice won't leave many left?

Given product lead-in times, it would be very surprising if Sony had not planned for higher resolution sensors when designing and developing the new A series lenses. With the exception of the relatively poor performing 28-70 kit lens, they are certainly priced high enough that it had to be a consideration. I must admit that I have never really bothered with understanding the profusion of other lens mounts which Sony introduced in quick succession, but there are probably relatively few which are up to the job. Anyone upgrading into the new system from an earlier Sony one would probably be best starting over when it comes to lenses. That said, I went to a seminar year where Sony was promoting the use of other manufacturers' lenses via a Metabones adapter but forgot to bring any adapters along so that we could try them out. From what I hear, the AF on the new A7II R when hooked up to a third party lens is now as quick as when mounted on its native camera.

What's interesting is how the "sub par" glass will perform vs say the 6D or 5D3 when attached to the 5DS/R. Though it may not get the best out of the camera, I wonder how much more we can get out of the LENS using the better body?

No need to wonder, LensRentals has already done it. The 50 f/1.4 is officially on Canon's approved list, probably as there is little else at that aperture, but struggles compared to the more exotic company it was keeping. It does show that even the performance of lesser lenses is enhanced by the new sensor, but pixel peepers will probably prefer to look away.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/06 ... tion-tests

[davidc]

The high res A7R and A7R-II are E-mount by the way - here's a quick guide to highlight the differences

A- mount, designed for mirror & translucent mirror cameras
E-mount, designed for mirrorless

You can put A-mount on E-mount cameras using an adaptor but not the other way round. Typical caveats about gimped performance while doing so apply of course!

[Mike Farley]

The high res A7R and A7R-II are E-mount by the way - here's a quick guide to highlight the differences

A- mount, designed for mirror & translucent mirror cameras
E-mount, designed for mirrorless

You can put A-mount on E-mount cameras using an adaptor but not the other way round. Typical caveats about gimped performance while doing so apply of course!

It appears that I am even more confused by Sony's various lens mounts than I thought.

We have not had a new one for a few months, so the next must be due any time now.

[davidc]

What surprised me is that they have made SEVENTY A-mount lenses...

[Mike Farley]

What surprised me is that they have made SEVENTY A-mount lenses...

That's not really a surprise since the A mount is actually the original Minolta design, which Sony acquired when it purchased the Konica Minolta DSLR division around ten years ago. The lenses were simply rebadged, with an accompanying price hike if I recall correctly. New labels are expensive, dontcha know.