Living Standards

If any of you have watched The Nanny, you'll know that in one of the episodes, Fran says "I have grown accustomed to a certain standard of living and I am not prepared to go back." This is how I feel about Canon's infinitely useful EF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM lens. This is not your average camera lens. This is what people get when they need gear that can go anywhere and do anything. This is what you use when you need your gear to work for you, not the other way around.

Canon made this lens as an entry-level L series lens. If you've been using lesser quality lenses, this gives you a taste of what you've been missing out on. Being an "L" series lens, it comes with a leather bag, a hood, an o-ring around the camera mount, and fluorite front glass. It is also quite heavy with a metal body and contains ultra high quality glass. It is weather sealed, meaning that you can take it out in the rain and it won't be ruined. It is unique in that it is the only "L" lens to be part of a kit; it comes with the Canon EOS 5D Mk III. In fact, the one I got came in a white box with no markings from a guy who already had one.

The macro function is quite useful and the image stabilization works like a charm in low light settings. If I'm still enough, I can take a crisp photo at 1/10 shutter speed, something I'm rarely able to do with an non-IS lens. The only point off is the ergonomics, but trust me, you will get used to it quickly because it will be the only lens on your camera after you buy it.

After using this lens for a couple of jobs and lots of personal work, I can safely say that this lens is the greatest lens to have ever graced my pictures since my 50mm f1.8 (which I still use). It is dead sharp throughout the zoom range and has beautiful bokeh, even when stopped up.

Zoomed out to 105mm at f4 produces excellent bokeh in macro shots.

The greatest thing about this lens is its range. A 24-105mm zoom is perfect for most gigs, because it provides both a wide enough view for group shots while being able to zoom in on a bride walking up the isle.

I could go on forever about this lens, but you get the gist of what I'm saying. For the price, this lens is an awesome zoom that can be used for virtually any kind of shot.