The Best Canon EOS Lenses

Over on my "other" website, Lensplay.com I've been running an experimental databse of  lenses for Canon EOS bodies. Readers of the site were invited to give their own ratings on lenses on a scale of 5 to 10 which is fully explained on the Lensplay Ratings page. Briefly they are:

• 10 - Outstanding
• 9 - Very good
• 8 - Good
• 7 - Above average
• 6 - Average
• 5 - Below average

Rating below a 5 are reserved for me to assign to really bad lenses, though I haven't yet really found anything worth less than a 5 in a modern lens. I restricted users from giving anything less than a 5 rating to a lens because no lens in the database is that bad and ratings below a 5 would probably represent some sort of grudge that the user had against the lens maker (or maybe me!), or a deliberate attempt to skew the ratings, not the true quality of the lens.

Over 1000 users have left almost 3000 ratings on over 180 lenses and the results of the ratings are presented here.

Of course users don't scientifically test lenses. They don't shoot resolution test charts and calculate MTF. They use the lens and if they are happy with it, they give it a good rating. So the user rating combine technical quality with probably some subjective bias on the part of the user about how much they like the lens and the results it gives them. Actually that's probably a better way of judging a lens than a purely technical test. It gives a better feeling of whether the average user of the lens is happy with it.

As with every community activity there will always be some members of the community who like to "mess with the numbers" and hand out great ratings to lousy lenses or lousy ratings to great lenses. Because of this only lenses rated by 10 or more users are included here, plus the method of calculating the overall rating looks and accounts for "spoilers" based on a number of parameters (which I'm not going to reveal).

I think the results are a pretty accurate reflection of user's feelings about the lenses. There are no lenses included that I'd have excluded and most of the lenses I would have picked are in the tables somewhere.

The listings on Lensplay.com are dynamic and show the results in real time. The tables here are static and reflect the results in the database on August 21st 2006. The links will take you to a page on Lensplay.com with the full lens specifications and (usually) a few extra comments on the lens. The prices for lenses which are no loger available new are estimates of what you might expect to pay on the used market for a lens in good condition

So here are the top 20 lenses based on user ratings with no regard to cost:

The first thing you'll probably notice is that all of them are Canon lenses. There are no 3rd party lenses in this group (don't worry, we'll see a few later on though).

The second thing you may notice is that the top 11 lenses are all primes. The highest ranked zooms are the 70-200/4L and 70-200/2.8L (IS). Not really a big surprise since I think pretty much everyone agrees that these are very good lenses indeed.

You may wonder why superb lenses like the 600/4L IS or 400/2.8L IS aren't on the list. The reason is that not enough people own them and have rated them for the rating to be statistically significant yet. As I mentioned above, only lenses rated by at least 10 different users are included in the tables here.

But of course, not everyone can afford a lens costing several thousand dollars, so let's take a look at what the highest rated lenses under $600 are:

Again primes (in this case macro primes) top the list and the top 6 lenses were also found on the overall top 20 lens list and are all made by Canon. The highest ranked 3rd party lens is a macro prime (Sigma 105/2.8 macro), followed by an assortment of Canon, Sigma, Tokina and Tamron primes and zooms all of which are rated as between "good" and "very good" by users.

But suppose even $600 is too much to pay for a lens, what can you get for under $300:

Again, the top lenses (top 7) are all primes, and 6 out of the 7 are Canon primes, with the Sigma 50/2.8 macro coming in at #5. The one outstanding bargain zoom (rated at 7.8) is the Canon EF 28-105/3.5-4.5 USM at #8. below this lens the rating drop below 7, which indicates an OK, but not particularly good lens.

So what are the conclusions you can draw?

• If you want the very best lenses, stick with Canon
• The best lenses are prime lenses, not zooms
• Macro lenses do very well in the ratings, both Canon and 3rd party

It's pretty clear that if you have a limited budget and you demand the best in optical quality, you can get it if you're prepared to give up the convenience of zooms

Outstanding picks (without breaking the bank):

• Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM - Rating 9.7, price $900. Not cheap, but a really outstanding lens.
• Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro - Rating 9.3, price $470. Highest rated lens under $600. Very sharp and gives 1:1 magnification
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM - Rating 9.2, price $550. The highest rated zoom and the cheapest "L" series lens
• Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM - Rating 9.1, price $350. A great portrait lens for full frame and short telephoto for APS-C digital.
• Canon EF 300/4L USM - Rating 9.1, price $700 (used). One of my favorite lenses and (if you can find one) a great telephoto that's affordable (and works great with a 1.4xTC too!)
• Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical IF - Rating 8.5, price $390. A well regarded lens at 1/3 the cost of the Canon 24-70/2.8L (rated at 9.1)
• Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 (Rating 8.5, price $170) and Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 (Rating 8.7, price $230). Either one makes a  good "normal" lens on an APS-C sensor DSLR
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II - Rating 8.4 , price $80. Clearly the best bang for the buck
• Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM - Rating 7.8, price $230. A good solid zoom for a very reasonable price.

Equipment Review Index

Featured Articles
and Recent Reviews

• NIKON D80 PREVIEW
• EOS 30D REVIEW
• EOS 5D REVIEW
• DIGITAL REBEL XT REVIEW
• EOS 20D REVIEW
• 20D vs. 30D vs. 5D vs. D200
• EOS lens choices
  
• Building a Website
• Online Photo Printing
• Digital Sensor Cleaning
• Tamron 17-50/2.8 Review
• EF-S 17-85 IS Review
• EF 70-300 IS Review
• EF-S 10-22 Review
• Tamron 28-75 review
• Tamron 28-300 review
  
• EF-S 18-55 review
  

• Digital memory cards
• EOS 20D vs. Rebel XT
• EOS 5D vs. EOS 20D
  
• MTF and SQF Explained
  
• Canon News
  
• Portable Hard Drives
  
• Powershot S2 IS
  
• Nikon D50 Preview
  
• Canon EF-S lenses
  
• D-Rebel Firmware Hack
  
• EOS Telephoto Lenses
  
• Nikon D70 preview
  
• Manual focus eos lenses
  
• EF-S lenses on EOS 10D
  
• Digital Image resizing
  

Search