Comparing lens on Canon 70D - Not really happy with EF-S 17-55

[fredclips]

As the title says, I've never been happy with my EF-S 17-55 lens.

It has always sort of 'felt' softer than I would like... I completely understand this might just be me!

This is why I've (finally) done some testing and would very much like the thoughts of others regarding this.

In these tests I've tried to use the same settings for each of the lens I used.

All photos have been shot at 

Exposure 1/100 at f/5.0

ISO between 100 and 160

All at around the same distance and zoom. (expect the 100mm of course)

Camera was mounted on a tripod and I used a remote trigger. (Image Stablisation turned OFF)

I tested the following Lens,

Kit lens EFS 18-55

EF 100mm 2.8 Macro lens. (not the L)

Niffty Fifty

and my large EF-S 17-55 2.8

I also took the photos both with and without Liveview. (As the camera focus differently in each)

Several photos were taken at each setting, only the sharpest have been included here.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/40776448@N02/JTKkrd

Can I ask what others think?

To me the 100mm Macro and the Nifty Fifty are the sharpest by far. Both in and out of Liveview.

The Kit lens looks as I would expect.

But the EFS 17-55 just looks unfocused without liveview and I don't feel the liveview is as sharp as the prime lens.

Is that correct? I don't know if I'm just expecting a zoom (quality I believe) lens to preform as well as a prime? (even a cheap 50mm?)

Thanks all, any feedback would be great.

 * I would like to apologize for the subject of the photos!

I failed to get my teenaged daughters, 3 year old, or partner, to sit still long enough to do this correctly.

So it had to be me...

[Peter]

You can try live view vs manual focus 😉
17-55 is more expensive because of IS, zoom and 2.8.

You can compare 50/1,2 vs 50/1,4 here. The cheaper one is sharper at 2,8 on a camera with croped sensor.

[fredclips]

Ok, I've taken some more photos of sheet of paper.

These were taken at 2.8, 55mm.

Micro Adjustments are set to 0.

I have tried FoCal, it hasn't been able to correct this focus issue. (reports adjustment value of 1 or 2)

EFS 17-55 2.8 55mm

Liveview

EFS 17-55 2.8 55mm

Viewfinder

For comparason again, I've include the EF 50mm here at 2.8 as well.

This image is from the viewfinder. (the liveview was even sharper)

It looks to me that the 50mm, using centre point in viewfinder, is sharper than the expensive 17-55 using liveview...

(That is forgetting the problem that the 17-55 doesn't seem to focus sharply through the viewfinder at all)

EF 50mm at 2.8

Viewfinder

[Peter]

I think you expect too much of the lens. A zoom lens is not as good as a prime lens.

Live view shows the correct focus. You can try to focus manually, but I don't think you will get it sharper than that. If the lens is new and you can send it in for calibration for free it might be an idea. Or if calibration in your country is cheap. In Sweden, 120 $, in Japan 10 $.

[ebiggs1]

" A zoom lens is not as good as a prime lens."

Sorry to be blunt but this comparison is silly.

[Peter]

My bad. I should have had written "the" instead of "a".

[fredclips]

Again, thanks for the feedback.

Looking at this now I think there is actually two problems I'm experiencing here.

The first is that I may be expecting too much from the lens!

I honestly did expect/hope that one of the expensive, well rated, zoom lens could at least come close to the sharpness of a cheap prime. (I've had experience with an old EF 20mm prime in the past as well, it was crazy sharp on my EOS 550D)

The second issue, which I do think is a problem, is the autofocus through the view finder.

It just doesn't give me sharp consistant results. (Liveview is always MUCH better, not just a little)

This problem isn't just limited to the EFS 17-55 lens. It seems to appear on everything.

I have the FoCal automatic micro adjustment software and I was playing around with it and the 50mm lens on the 70D.

Using the centre point and I am getting consistantly different micro adjustment values.

At 1m I'm getting around +5

At 1.7m I'm getting +11

At 3m I'm getting +6

This results are repeatable... Those numbers don't equal reliable focus.

(Which I don't experience either, this isn't just the FoCal software reporting the problem)

At this point I'm really not sure what to do. The 70D just hasn't felt right since I've got it and I don't really want to be limited to using Liveview all the time.

It also sounds like the often reported (hard to prove) centre point focusing issue with the 70D.

BTW: I've tried other points. They havn't improved the focus in these tests.

[Peter]

Call Canon and ask what a calibration of the camera and the lenses will cost.

[fredclips]

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@Peter wrote:
Call Canon and ask what a calibration of the camera and the lenses will cost.

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I will do so on monday!