.	Home • Photography Index • Normal Zooms • Telezooms • Wide Angle • Normal	.
.	. Canon EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM . Peter Kun Frary . This petite zoom debuted in 1996 as the kit lens for the EOS IXE/IX (APS). It continued to be a popular lens into the new millennium and was finally discontinued in 2009. Polycarbonate construction, but with a metal mount, keep it to a featherweight 380 g (13.4 oz). It's only a little bigger than an EF 50 1.4 USM. Its small size and zoom range make it an ideal travel lens. The twist action zoom is reasonably smooth and does not creep. Zooming is accomplished by expanding and contracting nested barrels. Like most AF lenses, the manual focus ring is small and not as silky or fine turning as the manual lenses of yesteryear. Cannon Beach OR • EOS 10D & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM In 1996 this zoom was unique inasmuch as the range encompassed a true wide angle, 24 mm, to short telephoto, 85 mm. During the 1990s most of Canon's "normal" zooms started at 28 mm. Not too long before that 35 mm was the norm. EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM • The 1996 EOS IX kit featured a sliver version of this lens. Mulnomah Falls OR • EOS 10D & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM An internal lens group is focused by ring-type USM (Ultrasonic Motor). This motor dives the small rear elements easily, resulting in extremely fast AF. Thus, the front element does not rotate nor does the barrel expand or contract during focusing. Plus, ring-type USM features full-time manual focusing (FTM), allowing you to manually focus without switching out of AF mode. Of course, being an USM lens, it is silent when focusing. If you prefocus manually, the distance window in meters and feet is very useful. EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM • The gothic edition with EW-73 II hood. This lens sports a 6-blade diaphragm. Thus, out of focus areas (bokeh) are reasonably smooth. A molded glass (GMo) aspherical lens element (4th) is used to correct astigmatism, achieve sharp definition and to make the lens compact. Canon manages to pack 15 elements into a 69.5mm (L) x 73 mm (D) barrel! With all those elements, the optional petal hood, the EW-73II, should be used at all times to protect the front element and reduce flare. Church of Our Lady • Brugge Belgium • Rebel XTi & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM The filter size is an odd (for Canon) 67 mm, making filters expensive. There is only one other Canon lens with this filter size, the EF 70-200 4L USM. Fortunately, the EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM and EF 70-200 4L USM complement one another well and make an excellent combo. Plus, there are a few advantages to large filter sizes: 1) the extra space between the front element and filter threads minimalizes the possibility of accidental scratching when changing filters; and 2) thick filters such as polarizers may be used without vignetting. Trillium Lake OR • EOS 10D & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM For a consumer optic, the EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM delivers sharp and contrasty images. I found it on par with the EF 28-105 3.5-4.5 USM, perhaps slightly sharper at the wide end. Although quality is good wide open, the best image quality is at F8. The long end is slightly softer than the wide angle side, but sharp enough for excellent 12 x 18 inch enlargements. Pole Dancer • Las Vegas • EOS 40D & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM Like most wide zooms, this one suffers from considerable barrel distortion at the wide end and a small amount of pincushion distortion at the long end. If you shoot lots of architecture, you'll want the superior correction of prime lenses. For general use, distortion is not a problem except with ocean horizons or close-up subjects with parallel lines. Indeed, distortion increases considerably in the macro range, especially at 24 mm. Distortion is normal for zooms and is an optical compromise that allows the convenience of multiple focal lengths. Seaside OR • EOS 10D & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM Flare and ghosting are well controlled for a zoom, but a shearing Hawaiian sunset may cause a small amount of flare and ghosting with full frame formats. After all, 15 elements give ample opportunity for light to bounce around. Nevertheless, this zoom has a high level of flare resistance. In fact, flare and ghosting are better controlled than any zoom on this page. With an EOS 10D (DSLR), there seems to be no flare or ghosting even with blazing sunsets--perhaps due to the small sensor size (40% less of the image circle is used). Or, maybe the rectangular flare mask between the first and second elements makes a difference. Nevertheless, I keep the lens hood on to help keep flare in check. Check out this amazingly flare free image of a blazing sunset at Waimea Bay. Downtown Portland, OR • EOS 10D & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM. A nice lens for travel snaps. The EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM is a wonderful lightweight travel lens for the EOS 5, Elan series, Rebel series and 5D series. If you don't need to go really wide, it is a nice optic for cameras with small image sizes, i.e., 1.6x crop factor, like the 10D, 20D, 40D, 50D, et al. Due to its light weight, it balances well on smaller cameras such as a Rebel or Elan. It isn't as well suited for pro EOS cameras like the EOS 1V or EOS 3 as the variable aperture of F3.5 to 4.5 is too slow to activate their cross AF sensors. Waimea • EOS 10D & EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM Due to its range and small size, the EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM enjoyed several tours of duty as a travel lens on my EOS 10D (1.6x crop factor) and my wife's Rebel XTi. Here are sample images taken with the EF 24-85 3.5-4.5 USM (click to enlarge): 6/11/2001 • Revised 6/28/2012 ©Copyright 2001-2013 by Peter Kun Frary • All Rights Reserved	.
.	Home • Photography Index • Normal Zooms • Telezooms • Wide Angle • Normal	.