Today we review the Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. This is one of Canon’s cheaper zoom offerings and usually can be found around the $200 mark (street price). In the world of optics there’s few products that give you more bang for your money, how does the Canon 28-105 USM stack up? Let’s take a closer look.
The Canon 28-105 USM doesn’t feature an Image stabilization like its bigger brother, the Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM however it does have a slightly faster maximum aperture at f/4.5. This will allow you a slightly faster shutter speed at maximum aperture and slightly more shallow depth of field at 105mm versus the 28-135 IS USM. The IS in the 28-135 however will allow you to use a slower shutterspeed than the generally established rule of thumb, with the 28-105 USM you’re pretty much stuck with using the established shutterspeed in order to get clear consistently sharp images. Also compared to the Canon 28-135mm IS USM, the 280-105 sacrifices about 30mm of range at the long end. Having used both lens I can say that this amount is noticeable however, if you’re not using the lens side by side you wouldn’t notice the difference.
Weight/Size/Finish
The Canon 28-105 is a very compact, lightweight lens made primarly of plastic (which helps keep the weight so light). The Canon 28-105 is much more compact compared to the Canon 28-135mm IS USM (see picture below). In fact compared to most full frame zooms the 28-105 USM feels almost like a prime lens as far as weight is concerned. As with any lens made mostly of plastic it has that cheaper “feel” (certainly less tactile) however during our time with the lens we noted no obvious structural issues. We don’t recommend dropping or flat out abusing the lens however we wouldn’t really recommend that with ANY lens. Basically, take decent care of the lens and it will stay in fine shape.
Autofocus
The Canon 28-105mm USM features Canon’s highly touted Ultrasonic Motor (USM) for fast, reliable and quiet focusing. The 28-105 USM delivers pretty much exactly what you want and demand from a Canon USM lens. The focusing is very fast at either extreme of the zoom range. For the most part the focusing was very accurate, I did have a few shots where the focus was off but that due to my camera settings more than the lens’ fault. As it does feature USM, this lens has very quiet focusing, you can hear it but just barely and its a far cry from the early predecessors of whining gears.
Sharpness
The Canon 28-105mm does deliver more than adequate results in this department. Again, considering the price range of this lens we would not try to stack its results versus a Canon L series or even a prime lens but compared to most budget zooms the 28-105 USM delivers. Since I was using my Canon 28-135 IS USM at the same time I was able to compare similar images. The 28-105 was giving me sharp clear pictures even at the maximum f-stop of F/3.5. Fulled at regular screen size or in a standard print format the images were indistinguishable from each other. When cropped to 100% I noticed a slight difference in the perceived sharpness of the 28-105 versus the 28-135 but those differences were negligible and you’d have to really pixel peep to find much difference in quality.
Image Quality
Similar to Sharpness, Image quality is that nebulous definition that covers a whole range of factors. Basically this is a summation of how the resulting images are perceived. This is only my opinion and of course, anyone and everyone may disagree. However I was very pleased with the Canon 28-105 USM results. Compared to the 28-135mm IS USM they featured good contrast, and no noticeable CA. Again, when viewed at a normal resolution or in printed format the images were extremely similar to each other.
Conclusion
In summary the Canon 28-105 is a great inexpensive lens that delivers quality results. No, this is not an L series lens but if you had the money for an L series you probably wouldn’t be looking at reviews on the 28-105mm USM. The Canon 28-105mm USM gives results that are more than enough “bang” for your money. Its a solid contender with little to no drawbacks. My only quibbles would be what this lens *doesn’t* have: Image Stabilization. IS is always a nice option to have especially when you’re indoors. However considering the zoom range of this lens I would say its less important than say on a 70-200mm or a 70-300mm zoom. This is a great walkabout lens that won’t break your bank account (cost) and won’t break your back (weight). If you’re looking for an inexpensive, light, fast focusing lens with a good zoom range then this is the lens for you.
