Very nice relative small and light walk around lens with perfect range on FF. If you chose one (zoom)lens to take along this is maybe the one. IS is nice.

Nothing special, F4.0 but that why it is small and light. Construction failure, my copy creeps like mad. I put an elastic string around the zoomring, that helps. But a lock would have been nice.

I bought this zoom in 2005. I did not like the 24-70 F2.8 to walk around. To big.

The IS is incredible, IQ is oke and I love the range. That 35 mm extra at the end is very nice. I still think this is the most versatile zoom there is. Go on holiday, take this zoom and a EF 50mm F1.2L with you. That's all you need :)

Well suited to a full frame sensor
Robust construction

No real weakness in my view as it does what is is designed to do.
Vignetting is evident but easily corrected

I bought this lens with a 7D body... OK as a "kit lens" but I don't like that term as it cheapens what is in actual fact a solid pro quality lens. It performed well for me on the 7D for over 12 months in a variety of situations and has been a solid walk-around lens.

Then came along my 5D Mk III and it just works like a dream with the full-frame sensor. Maybe a tad more vignetting at the long end but nothing that can't be readily fixed is post.For the 7D - in order to go a little wider I bought a Tokina 11-16mm which is not good for the 5D 3 unless you are at 15-16mm so this sits nicely in its spot wide open at 24mm.

I have just taken to using this lens to shoot Mountain Biking and I am liking it. Results can be see here:

http://jlphotocreative.com/gallery/lancaster-trail-sunday-17-march-2013/

Note ...316 to 342 are with this lens.

Sharpness
Focal length range
IS

Vignetting at 24mm

I've had 2 copies of this lens. The 24-105 is a fantastic range for general purpose photography, and I do not need large aperture often (although for some interior shots I wish it was f/2.8 but I guess you can't have everything), so this is a dream lens on paper.

Unfortunately, the two copies I have had (I still have my second copy) produce severe vignetting at 24mm. Worse, the vignetting seems to be asymmetrical (one corner is much darker than the other corners).

I don't mind the distortions as much as I do vignetting; to me severe vignetting is very distracting. You can sometimes fix it in Photoshop, but not always completely. In those cases I have to crop the image a bit, or zoom in a bit when I take the picture, which effectively reduces the lens to about 28mm-105mm which is a bummer.

The lens is often sold as a kit lens with the 5DII or 5DIII, and I've seen some "white box" ones sold for a lower price, and Canon sometimes have refurbished ones for even less ($700+), this makes it one of the cheaper L lenses out there so it is a good value.

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 17-40 L USM, Canon 28-135 IS

Good build quality with constant aperture and some degree of weather sealing. Its a good general purpose lens with IS which makes it very useful for video.

Wide angle distortion and vignetting at 24mm is disappointing.
Bokeh is rather harsh and edge sharpness even at F8 does not match that in the centre of the frame.

It was bought as a a kit with a 5D Mk2. Its a well built prosumer lens and should last for decades; but have not been too impressed overall with this the Image quality of this lens. Distortion at the wide end and excessive vignetting require post processing to remove. The bokeh is not that good; being harsh with back- lit highlights
IS works well and it is excellent for Video. Sharpness can be excellent at the long end with breathtaking clarity. However at 24mm sharpness falls off at the edges.
For stills it does the job; but as a critical user; I don't think it justifies the L series label.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 17-70 DX for Nikon
Sigma 12-24

Excellent quality of the materials (although the inner lens support is made of plastic), tropicalisation (i had never had dust particles inside the lens), constant f 4 aperture but most of all, it s versatility.

The optical performance is good but nothing to dream of. Especially towards the long focal length, where even stopping down, the contrast and contrast are weak for it s claims. The distortion is very strong at 24mm (straight lines in the upper or downer side of the photograph will show a disturbing curvature (can be corrected via appropiate softs).

A very good allround package.

Similar Products Used:

Canon EF 28-105mm f 3,5-4,5
Canon EF 28-135mm f 3,5-5,6 IS
Canon EF 24-70mm f 2,8
Nikon AF- D 24-85mm f 2,8-4

OK, the goods: Its optically excellent. Outside, on a sunny day, the images cannot be beat. Clear, vivid, decent zoom range. Build quality is excellent. Its an "L" after all.

Now the bads: The F4 aperture. I wasn't thrilled with this fact when I bought it, but thought I could work through it. With the excellent image stabilization I thought it would be no issue. I was wrong. I have consistently been let down by the poor low light performance of this lens. Add on the fact that I often use a polarizer, and you can imagine the challenges an f/4 gives you. With any moving subject you will have plenty of blur, and indoors the lens is a poor choice. My 70-200 with the f/2.8 is FAR superior in limited light.

The wide angle aspect: the 24 on the 1.6x cameras just doesn't give as much wide angle as I had hoped for (38.5mm). It was not wide enough. Yes, I get it back at the top of the zoom range (the 105mm ends up being a 135mm or so on a 1.6x body), but I have a telephoto zoom for that end, so its not a major asset.

Weight: the downside of the superb build is the fact that this is a solid, heavy lens. No big deal if it was the only lens I needed, but its not. I have a 70-200 for zoom work, and will be getting the 17-55 for real wide angle, and superior low light walkaround purposes. Add them all up (along with the 60mm Macro, tele-extenders, and other stuff) and your bag starts getting heavy.

Was a bit disappointed with this lens. I bought this as the "walkaround" lens for my EOS 7D. As it stands, i am considering getting the Canon EF-S Zoom 17 MM-55 MM Lens as a secondary "walkaround", defeating the purpose of getting this expensive L series lens in the first place.

Similar Products Used:

Overall it is is a good lens for outdoor walkaround, and if you can live with the poor low light performance, and limited wideangle aspect on 1.6x bodies, you will love the images you get, If you are looking at this as an all in one, indoor/outdoor lens, it will disappoint.

Sharp: this lens is sharp in the center, very much so in a lot of instances. The sharpness falls off a bit toward the edges but this is still a very sharp lens. Contrast: excellent contrast, great contrast will alone do a lot to make your photographs better. You could add it in post, but having it there in the beginning is much better than having to add it. Color: very faithful color, I have never noticed any color cast with this lens. Constant f/4 aperture, it's wonderful not to have to worry that your aperture is getting smaller as you zoom in. L build: This lens is solid. It's very well built and should be trouble free for years. Range: this is an excellent range on a full frame camera, wide to short telephoto. Very versatile.

Vignetting: this lens is prone to vignetting at wide apertures. Light fall off is fairly significant. Soft toward the edges: This lens loses it's sharpness toward the edges of the frame, is very sharp in the center but falls off to good near the edges. Distortion: at 24mm the barrel distortion is quite pronounced. If you shoot a straight line at 24mm it will be decidedly curved in the photo. At 105mm there is slight pincushion, but it's hardly noticeable. The middle ranges of this lens are distortion free. Awkward range on a crop body: 36-157.5mm, not really wide, almost normal starting point.

This is a good solid lens. This lens was introduced as the kit lens with the 5D, it works very well on a full frame body, and is maybe a little bit awkward on a crop body. The 24-105 is a reasonably sharp constant aperture (f/4) lens with a robust build, and image stabilization (IS). The range combined with IS and L quality make this one of Canon's most popular lenses.

Customer Service

Haven't needed it...ever.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28-70 f/2.8L, Canon 28-135 f/3.5-5.6.

The strenth is the price and extra zoom up to 105mm and Images Stabilizer.
can be use in your profesional work like photojournalism and weddings.
Solid build and UD and good USM motor.

It is not as good as the 24-70mm f2.8 L lens because it has the wide apeture of f2.8 which you can use in low light and does give better picture. But the 24-105mm F4 L lens means that the F4, you have to use the Image Stabilizer in low light but still get blur images and you have to use a flash like the 580 EX I or II to get a good shot. You have to increase the ISO setting from 400 or 800 to 1000 to 1600 to shoot in low light or indoor and at 24 mm a small distorstion but not a real problem, the picture are still good. When it comes to zooming to 105mm the lens barrel extend outwards which means that dust can get in. Meaning cost money to get it clean on an L serise lens. So no internal zoom or better seal to stop dust getting in.

The Canon 24-105mm F4 I.S. L lens is very good to use with the EOS 1D Mark III.
profesional camera. I was able to it in a wedding shoot some time ago and was easy to use with the flash 580EX mark II when it came to zoom from 24 to 105mm. Good pictures with flash in the church with this lens. I like the Image Stabilizer to use because of the three stops and UD glass and fast USM motor. Manual focus during AF mode.
The 24-105mm F4 I.S. L is good to use in taking photos of places and people. Better in zoom when compare with the 24-70mm f2.8 L lens with the 24-105mm f4 I.S. L lens, good for close up shots. I do enjoy using this lens with my camera and it is good price compare with the 24-70mm F2.8 L lens.

Customer Service

Good customer service at Canon Australia

Similar Products Used:

28-135mm I.S. Lens

? A Canon product
? Weatherproof lens
? Excellent grip when used with the 5D

Have not noticed any till now.

Having a penchant for constant aperture lenses having used Nikon, Sigma and Tamron lenses with an aperture ranging between f/1.8, f/2.8 with my Nikon film based cameras, I was shopping for a SIGMA 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Lens for my Canon EOS 5D. No one had the SIGMA or even the TAMRON 28-75mm f/2.8 Di in stock, both which cost around 50% less than the CANON EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM.

The CANON EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM at Rs. 35000/$900[Grey market price] was the only constant aperture lens available and having spent Rs. 145000/$3750[Officail Canon price] on the 5D I was literally short on funds. Having, but no other option than to be stranded with only the 5D body, I very hesitantly paid the extra cost for the CANON EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, however knowing that I was paying for a premium product.

In the few days that I’ve used this lens, I am amazed at its fast and silent focus thanks to the USM and ALSO the IS feature which is permanently active.

The ONLY missing link is the f/2.8 aperture which is of great advantage in low light. Wish Canon would manufacture an f/2.8 lens in this focal range [I remember Tamron manufactured a SP 28-105 f/2.8 lens, which has been discontinued, reasons unknown to me].

I highly recommend this lens for serious enthusiasts, intermediates and professionals too.

I have not yet printed any of the images captured with this lens and will update my review as time progresses and the images are printed.

Highly

For the moment, I rated 4 stars for Value and 5 stars for Overall.

Customer Service

None needed so far. Would I?

Similar Products Used:

Have never used Canon lenses before. This is the first Canon lens I'm using.

Image quality
Build quality (metal and good quality plastics)
Superb AF performance
Great zoom range
Good IS system
No vignetting on APS-C SLRs
Front element doesn't rotate when focussing
77mm filter thread
Reasonable price considering you also get IS

Just a tad heavy for an f4 optic
Can't be used with Canon's 1.4x or 2x extenders (but who cares?)
Wide end of the zoom a little restrictive on APS-C sensor SLRs (but this is obvious before you buy it and the lens was initially designed and intended for full frame anyway)

I got this lens for my 350D after many weeks of tossing up between this lens and the 17-40 f4.0L. This lens works out the same as a 38-168mm lens in 35mm terms so I was little worried that I would find the 38mm end a little restricting on the 350D. Surprisingly I find it perfectly OK. The maximum reach of 40mm on the 17-40 was really going to get on my nerves but with 105mm on this lens the possibilities are endless. It's a perfect lens for travel and street photography and will be especially good on the full frame Canon SLRs. I was a little surprised at the size and weight of the lens especially as it is only f4 and not f2.8. It's quite a big heavy beast and looks a little out of place on the tiny 350D. I think it would sit much better on a 30D or a 5D but it isn't a problem. If you're upgrading from the standard 18-55 kit lens then you will notice a huge difference in size and weight but this is only to be expected really. The exterior of the lens is mostly metal and the build quality is even better than expected. It probably couldn't have been built any better. I also own the 70-200mm f2.8L IS and the build quality is equally good. The front of this lens extends when zooming in and out unlike some of the other L series zooms. I don't really find this a problem. Others will be pleased to know that the front of the lens does not rotate or move in or out during focussing making using filters easier. Incidentally, the filter thread is 77mm which is good as its one of the more popular sizes so prices won't be too stupid. The zoom and focus rings are superbly smooth and you can focus manually without switching off AF on the lens barrel. The zoom does not creep when pointing the camera down like some cheaper consumer lenses. The IS system is a bonus with this lens and probably goes some way to explaining why the lens is heavy. Hand held shots at 1/4 of a second are actually possible if you take care! I don't find IS as useful on a lens of this focal length... on the 70-200mm it is a Godsend as I hate tripods. On this lens it should be seen as a bonus that can be used in emergencies. Interestingly the IS only has one mode unlike the 70-200 which has 2 modes (one for panning shots, one for static subjects).

Image quality: Fantastic, of course. If it wasn't I would ask for my money back after spending over 600 quid on it. Good at f4 but remarkably better at f5.6 and beyond. I only use f4 when I have to.

Another point to note is that this lens can NOT be used with Canon's extenders, not something I particularly care about.

AF performance: Sensational as usual on the L lenses. Silent, lightning quick and no hunting around. Extremely good in AF Servo mode, keep your focus point on the moving subject and it will not lose focus.

The lens also has a distance scale on it but like most modern lenses it is a bit of a joke and I personally don't find it very useful. No depth of field scale either.

Lens is also weather sealed against dust and moisture although I haven't had the courage to try it out yet. It's good to know though. So next time I get a soaking I can relax knowing that my 350D will be destroyed but my 24-105 will dry out nicely ;-)

Lens also comes with a good quality lens pouch which you should really expect given the price.

Overall, another hard to fault lens from Canon.

Customer Service

Not needed (yet)

Similar Products Used:

Canon 18-55mm EF-S
Sigma 28-105mm
Canon 28-80mm
Canon 35-80mm