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16-35L/17-40L or 17-55 for my Canon crop body?

EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM

EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

Source: The-Digital-Picture.com

Hmm, seemed like I have been encountering such questions on the internet over and over again and I am kinda interested to do a write up on this issue, all based on my very humble opinion.

Nowadays it is not difficult to see Canon DSLR users(consumers wise) snapping up L-series lenses for whatever reasons they may have. BUT I feel that a lot of hobbyists are doing so due to the red ring lust. Yes, buying an L-lens because it is an L-lens.

Right, for the uninitiated, and I quote from Wikipedia:

"An L-lens is a line of SLR photography lenses made by Canon. L-lenses are Canon's top-of-the-line lenses. The "L" officially stands for "Luxury", a reference to the lenses' high price and proclaimed build quality."

More:

"L-lenses can be recognized by a red ring around the front part of the lens. Most recent L lenses have sealing to help resist dust and water. L-lenses are typically used by professionals and serious amateurs due to their high price and large mass."

 So from the definition, one can derived that an L-lens is:

1. Expensive
2. Heavy
3. Built to last
4. Able to deliver high image quality
5. Able to boost the user's ego(YMMV)

True enough, 5) may not apply to everybody but it certainly does have its effect on some users. So, the 3 lenses in question are the EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM and the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM, 2 L and 1 non L-lenses. 17-40L and 16-35L pretty much function the same, with the latter having a wider end and brighter aperture. For simplicity sake, I will only mention the 16-35L from here onwards to reduce language clutter.

Many users buy L-lenses because they produce top-class image quality. I will not disagree to that because I myself have seen the prowess of L-lenses and I will put up all 4 of my limbs in resounding agreement. However, I will push out this question to people out there: Is the focal range of the L-lens you have, useful to you?

Say one has an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM on an EOS 600D, not exactly the best lens to have for an APS-C body. You are at Grand Canyon and want to capture the vast scenery in front of you in a single frame. Frankly speaking 24mm on crop body(38.4mm, FF equivalent) is not going to cut it and you will punch yourself in the heart for not buying the appropriate lens(18-200/15-85 etc) for your intended usage. My point here is, you can have the best image quality producing lens but if that piece of glass is not going to capture the shot, then ultimately there is no photos to look at, much less talk about image quality.

Ok back to the topic, let us look at the characteristics of the 16-35L and 17-55 first:

16-35L

-Primarily an ultra-wide angle lens for Canon full-frame camera body, will fit APS-C bodies too

-Red ring denotes its premium L-series status which translates to superb build and image quality

-3x aspherical elements, 2x ultra-low dispersion elements

-Ring USM equates to fast, accurate and silent focusing

-Constant f2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range

-Does not extend/retract when zooming(however, the front element will shift front and back, within the lens itself)

17-55 IS USM

-Primarily a general purpose zoom lens for Canon APS-C 1.6x crop sensor camera body ONLY, will not fit 35mm full-frame and APS-H 1.3x crop bodies

-Consumer build quality but L-series image quality

-3x aspherical elements, 2x ultra-low dispersion elements

-Ring USM equates to fast, accurate and silent focusing

-Constant f2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range

-Image stabilisation which provides up to 3 stops of additional hand-holdability

-Lens will extend/retract when zooming

Advantages of the 16-35L over the 17-55 IS USM:

-Weather sealing(will only work with weather sealed bodies)

-Additional 1mm on the wide side when used on APS-C bodies

-Compatible with all bodies which can accommodate EF mount

Advantages of the 17-55 over the 16-35L, on a crop body that is:

-Additional 20mm on the longer end

-3 stops image stabilisation

16-35L is essentially an ultra-wide angle lens for full-frame bodies, using it on an APS-C body, will mean wasting half of the lens' abilities as it will lose its ultra-wide capability and act like a general purpose zoom lens. Image quality of both lenses are pretty much close, they are as sharp as each other and with the utilisation of ring USM, their auto focus performances are on par too.

For crop body users, I almost always do not recommend using the 16-35L/17-40L as a general purpose zoom lens because the 17-55 pretty much do the same thing, plus giving the user image stabilisation. Unless one is upgrading to full-frame body soon(when I say soon, I mean one month's time), else the lens purchase decision has already been clearly brought out: 17-55 that is.

Till the next post~