Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens for SLR Cameras

First of all, let me start to talk about the delivery/amazon.com service for this purchase of mine. About the delivery/service: (skip this part if you are only interest in the lens review :) ) Usually I am very content with amazon's service. They respond fast and if something goes wrong, they compensate one. Unfortunately this time, things weren't as great. And to be honest I was just disappointed of the service. I have an Amazon-Prime account and therefore 2days delivery was 'guaranteed' (cite) since I have purchased this item from amazon. If it was not amazon prime and if it was just delayed for a day, I wouldn't bother mentioning it. Yet this time, the delivery was all confusing. I received daily messages that the item was out for delivery and a couple hours later that the item has to be sent back because of a wrong location. The lens ended up coming late about one week. All wouldn't be as but if I didn't have work to do and a travel for the weekend, for which I both bought this lens for. It is not the fact that it came late which disappoints me so much, it was the fact that amazon guaranteed two day shipping and as they were usually reliable, I sold my other lens, expecting this one to come on time (It should have come on Wednesday, so I did calculate a possible two day delay...). It is moreover the opportunity costs I had to pay because I did not have a lens in this range neither for work, nor for my journey. Amazon did offer me some kind of compensation on the first day of delay, a $15 certificate for the next purchase from amazon.com. To be honest with you, this was not worth even a tiny bit of what I missed due to the delay. And until now, I haven't received any information about the further process yet. In this case they should have kept better contact with their delivery/supply chain. Now we come to the hot part :D As you can see I still gave the lens 5 stars, because the lens itself is a great piece of glass. I got the lens while it was still on a very good deal! I just got my copy of this lens today and tried it out right away and I am already happy with this lens! And as you can see I wasn't able to wait to share my excitement (which was quite dampened by the delay though) Just look at the pictures which were uploaded. This thing is just great! 1) Overall first impression and optical quality: I am currently using a Canon 7D. My other lenses are: Canon 70-200mm f/4 L, Canon 50mm f/1.8 and Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye. The Canon 17-40mm f/4 L just completes my kit. I haven't had the opportunity to fully tet the lens yet. What I can say is that in good to decent light conditioning this lens is performing at its best! The details, the saturation and the contrast are great with this lens. Moreover you can get really really close to the object. I have the feeling that you could use this one even as a macro lens. I might be one of the lucky person who got a very good copy of this lens, but I am very pleased with Canon so far and think, that their Quality control is really good. And yes - this thing is BOKEHLICOUS :) Nice, smooth Bokeh! 2) The build quality Those who had the pleasure to use L lenses before can tell that the build quality and ergonomic of these or second to none. And the 17-40mm f/4 L is no exception. In fact, this lens is one of the lightest Canon L lenses. But lighter does not mean cheaper. In opposite! The build quality is great. A very sturdy piece of glass, good weight to carry it around all day, attached to a big camera such as the 7D or 5D MarkII without getting tired. One also has to mention that this lens is weather sealed. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The weather sealing is only complete when you mount a 77mm UV Filter onto it (I decided to buy Hoya . very good quality, reasonable price. No flare at all.) 3) The price This is in fact of the most affordable lenses by Canon. And yes, call it: BANG FOR THE BUCK. Of course, everything has to be regarded in relative terms. Whoever can really call around $700 to be cheap probably doesn't have quite a tight wallet as most of us. But in terms of L lenses, yes, this one is one of the most inexpensive glasses you can get. And don't be fooled by the price, this has nothing to do with the quality! 4) What's great about it? a) It is an L lens b) Resale price does not drop significantly over time c) comes with leather lens-bag and hood (for ASP-C DSLRs one has to be another hood though, since this is actually a FF lens) 4) looks sexy because of the red ring ;) 5) Compatible with FF DLSRs (for the future)! And lastly, yes this lens does not have IS. But at this wide angle one usually does not need one. And yes, this lens only has an aperture of f4. But as always, ask yourself what you really need and if you really need the extra stop to f2.8 which costs you almost $1000 more. For me, this lens is all fine. Shooting in really poor light conditions might be a little tough, but that's when you should use a flash and/or a monopod/tripod. But even handheld I did not have a huge problem with this lens, most of all because of the ability of the newer cameras such as the Canon 7D to perform quite well in low light in terms of dealing with high ISO. An update will be coming soon, which will include more about the performance in normal and also in low light!

I purchased this lens to accompany my new 50D. The first thing I will note is the amazing improvement upon image quality when moving from the 18-55mm IS kit lens to this one. As there is quite a bit of difference in build quality as well as price range, that should come as no surprise. If you are shooting with a crop body camera, Rebel/XXXD or xxD body. The extra range on the short end of this lens becomes really important when shooting group pictures, landscapes, or your shooting space is really tight. The difference seen between having 17mm at the short end and 24/28mm is really REALLY noticable and allows you to get some landscape and close quarter pictures, you might not have been able to take. As far as build quality goes, the lens is VERY solid. Metal construction with LD glass elements and very smooth focus USM motor and like butter zoom ring, it all just feels wonderful to use. You will definitely notice a difference if you try to use a lower quality lens. Optical quality is amazing. As the sensor on the 50D is very dense, it becomes easy to see the flaws in lower quality glass. This is not the case with the 17-40L. Though I would have like to be able to get the extra f stop that comes with the 16-35mm 2.8L , the decrease in weight and the HUGE decrease in price makes the 17-40L a better deal for me. After all, the bokeh becomes the only reason that the fstop is so important(i wouldn't discredit this because smooth bokeh makes portaits great) , as the difference between f4 and f2.8 is going from about ISO 200 to ISO 400, and with the dramatic increases in high ISO perfomance, it is likely you will not greatly notice the difference. If lighting is THAT bad, you should really be using a fast prime, such as the 50mm 1.4 or an external flash. The EF mount makes it easy for one to make a switch to full frame camera in the future and will leave you with a very useful ULTRA-WIDE lens on FF cameras. Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase, and if given the opportunity to purchase again, I would happily do so. In the future I plan on paring this lens with a 70-200 f4 L which I understand is one of the best priced and best value canon lenses made.

If you're shooting an APS-C Canon and you've decided that you only want EF full-frame lenses for future use on a full frame camera, the 17-40 is a must-have. The focal range on the cropped sensor is 27 to 64mm which covers a large range for the majority of shots most people are likely to take. I've found this lens is perfect for social gatherings and essential for group shots. The size and weight is perfect on the 7D, making this my favorite lens for handling (compared to the 24-70 f2.8L and the 70-200 f4L). The build quality is superb. The focus and zoom rings couldn't be smoother and AF is fast. While this is a sealed lens, I hear that it's not fully sealed until a filter is fitted. With one in place, the zoom extension is completely internal, so there's no change in length when zooming from wide to the long end. This lens is a fixed f4. If you buy the lens with the understanding it is not an f2.8 and will not get you the lower ISO and/or faster shutter speed of an f2.8, the lens does very well in most shooting situations. On the 7D it's even better with the excellent high-ISO performance of that camera (I can shoot at ISO 3200 to 5000 without much concern). While it is reasonably sharp at f4 across the focal range, it is not as sharp as when stopped down to f5.6. Also, boarder sharpness falls-off a bit wide open and close to 40mm. However, these are not big issues. Contrast and color with this lens is excellent. My only caution from experience is to be careful when adjusting the point-of-focus to depth-of-field balance with the micro AF adjust on the camera (if you have that feature). What may appear to be a correct adjustment with a focus scale sheet that uses the center of the field, may end up causing excessive edge softness of your images due to the edge of the frame starting to fall out of the depth of field. I believe this may be due to the field curvature characteristic of a wide angle lens where the focal plane is not equidistant from the camera lens but slightly curved. I spent some time setting the correct AF micro adjustment by photographing a large bulletin board with very small lettering and symbols across both dimensions while making sure the camera was pointed square to the center so that all corners were equal distance from the camera. Once you have this dialed-in, you can test the center-to-corner sharpness of your lens at different focal lengths and apertures and determine whether you may have any sharpness issues with your copy. Initially I thought I had a bad lens copy that was soft and de-centered, but after getting this procedure right, the lens proved to be sharp. While there are other excellent options such as the Canon 17-55 EF-S f2.8 lens, this one is full-frame compatible, it's weather sealed, it has superior build quality, it's an L lens with that unmistakable red ring at the end, and it's the next greatest lens bargain second to the 70-200 f4L. While the hood may look odd, remember that it was intended for a full-frame camera where this lens would be a true 17-40mm - making a shallow hood necessary.

Most photographers who consider themselves serious amateurs and probably almost all professionals will have at least occasional need for an ultrawide lens. Interiors, architectural exteriors, and some travel scenes are best recorded by a lens whose angle of acceptance approaches or exceeds 100 degrees. If you like and want to produce images in which large foreground objects play against smaller objects in the background while all remain in sharp focus, an ultrawide lens is a necessity. Some may also be surprised to hear that the ultrawide lens can produce interesting portraits when the goal is not just to show the individual, but rather to set a person in a context and let the environment become part of the portrait. For decades the usual focal length for such a lens has been 17mm, though of course even wider lenses, including those which do not attempt rectilinear correction, are available for special purpose image capture. This lens is an ultrawide zoom that pretty much covers the entire wide-angle range that most photographers will need -- extremely wide at the low end and just below normal at the upper. Its advantages include its utility as an all-purpose wide angle lens (capture range from slightly wide to ultrawide) and its relatively low price for a complicated semi-specialty lens. At f/4 it is not a fast lens, and as has been pointed out in other reviews it suffers from slight softness at some apertures. It is one of Canon's L (red ring) lenses, which are higher-end products, and one can trust the company to have minimized the negative issues that can emerge in complex lens designs. If you feel the need for a perfectly satisfactory wide-angle zoom or primary lens, but don't want to break the bank to get the best one, this is a good lens to consider. On the other hand, if you want a faster lens with a bit more lateral grasp, Canon also offers the 16-35mm f/2.8 zoom lens (also in the red ring/L class) at about twice the price of this one. The more expensive lens offers not only what the 17-40mm zoom does (though it does not go quite as close to a normal focal length on the high end), but provides in addition extra light capture for lower-light environments and the slightly wider angle of acceptance. If I had thought a little longer about the differences between the two lenses, I would have ordered the more expensive one. I may upgrade at some point in the future if I ever feel constrained in the use of the one I did buy. But I am not dissatisfied with this lens and have no qualms giving it the five-star rating it deserves in its own right. It is a solid and reliable tool, well made, and provides excellent images.

great little lens IF stopped down to about F8 or so- Even by F/5.6 it shows a marked improvement in corner softness- Of course at 17mm you will have soem distortion which can be corrected in photoshop without much hassel- This is definately a landscape lens- but can even be used as portrait- the corner softness? Bleh- when takign portraits, you want corners soft anyways, it's the center sharpness you are more concerned about to be honest- which this lens delivers- contrast is great, color is nice- If you are looking for absolute sharpness in your landscape photos however, I would heartily suggest getting hte canon 35mm 1.4 (they say the either the 2.0 or the1.8 can't remember which it is, is really good too for a lot less money) and simply takign a series of shots if you need to stitch together wider scenes than a 35mm can handle- my stitched photos are fantasticly sharp with the 35mm- it was kind of a step back going to this 17-40 lens, but I needed a wider lens, and a buit of versatility, and htis lens ranks amoung hte best as far as zooms go, so I'm willing to put up with a slight loss in sharpness/detail compared to hte 35mm. Be aware, that at 17mm and F/4, the extreme corners of image are really not very nice- real mushy- but by 5.6 they are pretty good- they also get better at F/4 by around 20mm, 22mm soimwhere in there if you're itnent on shooting at F/4- Just steer clear of 17mm at F/4 unless soft corners is what you intend If you can't decide between this lens or the 16-35 2.8 - perhaps deciding what you shoot most woudl help- IF you shoot mostly landscapes on tripod- with mirror lockup and all that- and only occasionally take portraits outside or architecture outside in ok light, then really, you don't need a fast lens and htis lens will save you a substantial bit of money over the 16-35- Also, IF you have a canon 5d111 or the 1DX, then you can crank up the iso indoors withou much worry at all, and htis lens is perfectly adequate for indoor shots in lowish light- However, IF you don't like using higher iso's, and you have plenty of money, and mostly take portraits or family hsots indoors, or basketball games or whathaveyou- then the 16-35 might be a better lens for you- As well, I've heard that the difference in wide angle from 17- 16 is pretty significant difference, not sure how much though- so that might be a consideration too- And folks, remember, todays lenses are leaps and bounds more sophisticated and clear and sharp than many of the old lenses that photographers/artists had to work with in times past- We keep looking for comparisons between todays razor sharp lenses, and worry abotu slight softness or chromatic abberations or whatever, but really, I think if we compared today's lenses with thsoe used by artists decades ago, we'd fidn that we're pretty lucky today to have such high quality lenses at prices we can somewhat afford

The 17-40 gets mixed reviews for the most part mainly due to poor corner and edge resolution wide open. I use this on the 5D Mark III, a full frame sensor that will show these soft edges much more than a crop sensor such as any rebel, 7D, 60D, etc... Even then, I find the edge performance really quite good once you stop the lens down. Central sharpness is very, very good at 17mm and 40mm wide open. Stopped down to f/8 or f/11 will greatly increase sharpness in the edges and corners of the frame. But the lens is plenty sharp, no worries here. I use some of Canon's sharpest offerings such as the 24-70 f/2.8 II, 70-200 II, 135L, 400L, etc... This lens is just as good... Sure, it has some flaws, but the pros greatly outweigh those soft edges wide open. To me, this really is a full-frame lens where you can really utilize that great 17mm perspective. I think there are better options for those shooting with the 1.6x APS-C sensors. But that really is really up to the users and the needs they have. My girlfriend often borrows this lens to use with her T2i and loves it (I think the images look fantastic, as well!). One thing I love most about this lens is the contrast and color rendition. Simply beautiful images straight out of camera. The build quality is top notch as well, the zoom and focus rings are very smooth and well damped. The lens is weather sealed, but does require a filter (per-Canon) to complete the sealing. I give this lens 5/5 stars, simply due to its extremely affordable price (for an L lens) and excellent performance. Sure, there are sharper lenses out there, but that does not hinder this one at all. It still performs great and is a blast to use for dramatic perspectives. One of the most fun lenses to mount to the camera IMO. The light weight, great build quality and very good IQ make this a winner and a spot in my collection.

I purchased this lens to use on a Canon EOS5D, full frame 12.5 Megapixel digital camera. This is my favorite lens! The expressiveness of pictures taken with it is beyond description. It bring the viewer fully into the scene, almost as a virtual reality setup. I think the best next thing would be an IMAX type lens with the appropriate displays... but that is beyond the scope of us mere mortals. I use the lens for aerial photography and for taking pictures of my favorite subjects: airplanes. In Airventure 2007, at Oshkosh, WI, I didn't have this lens and I lost several very interesting pictures for the lack of it. I purchased it shortly thereafter. On a recent trip on a Cirrus SR22 with a friend, I took dramatic pictures of my pilot friend doing his preflight, and once in the cockpit, doing all his clearance and pre-flight chores. The pictures do do justice to the reality of the scene, even when you take a composition of the airplane panel with the view outside the cockpit on the same picture. Some Photoshop - Shadows and Highlights - is all that is needed to bring it all into the dynamic range of the photographic papers we use. This is my favorite lens because of its perspective, the reality view you get at the 17mm extreme. For my girlfriend, this is her favorite lens because it's the only L-lens I have that's below 1 pound! NOTE: The lens hood is almost useless. Be careful with flare of the sun hitting the lens or a filter. The circular polarizer introduces weird artifacts because of the wide angle - part of the sky will be dark, part will be bright... better not use a polarizer. The other lens I have, all L-glass from Canon: * 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS - for the best airshow pictures you can fathom! Extremely fast lens, it works with the Autofocus on the 5D in the sub-second range, letting you use it almost as a point and shoot. Your only concern is the framing, everything else is done by the camera + lens. * 24-70mm f/2.8 L - extremely fast, extremely sharp. Sharp as a tack! If you take portraits of women, you will need to use the "heal brush" in Photoshop a lot, this lens doesn't forgive any wrinkles, pimples, large pores on the skin. For night scene photography, just let the camera at ISO 800 and you can do without a flash, for indoors night photography, even in an extremely dim restaurant. * 2x Extender - OK this is not a lens but it's an accessory that makes my 70-200mm into a 140-400mm f/5.6. AWESOME! At Airventure it's used to take pictures of the planes at the extreme end of the runway getting ready for take off. Or for capturing the vapor trails on the leading edge of the F22 Raptors as they defy the laws of physics. For daytime use unless you have a tripod and the scene accepts a 1sec or more exposure.

This is a magnificent lens deserving of high praise. In general, I tend to shoot "available light" and towards wide angle, and EF 17-40 F4L is one perfect lens for someone like me. On an APS size sensor camera (mine is Rebel XT), it works approximately like a 28-70 mm zoom--a perfect walk-around lens, giving you decent wide angle and at the tele end, a pleasing perspective on faces you expect from a moderate telephoto. I spent two weeks with EF 17-40 on the coast shooting nature and street stuff in small towns. It performed perfectly. But I only realized what a real treasure I have when I began having second thoughts about it on the eve of a long overseas journey. I asked myself whether I would not have done better buying EF-S 17-85 F4-5.6 IS. After all, it gives you better reach - an equivalent of 28-135 mm zoom on a 35 mm camera. Would it not be a perfect lens on an overseas trip? A dilemma worhty of Hamlet. So I decided to order it from Amazon while I still had time to return EF 17-40. As soon as EF-S 17-85 came, I did some tests taking pictures of still life, flowers and a portrait at similar focal lengths and at full zoom. The results put 17-85 to shame. Color and light were flat and paled next to 17-40. But there was still the problem of reach. I took a portrait at full zoom of the same person (40 mm or 65 mm equivalent and 85 mm or 135 equivalent), cut out the critical focus area from both pix and equalized the two crops in terms of pixel numbers. Unprocessed, 17-85 produced a perfectly focused picture, the 17-40 crop was visibly softer, but in terms of tonality and richness of gradations, it was way ahead of its rival. Photoshop to the rescue! After I fiddled with sharpening and contrast in CS2, the focus softness in 17-40 was gone, and the result was a better all-around picture of the same portrait detail. In other words, if you wish to take a picture, say, of a building's detail or a monkey mug shot in a zoo--a situation calling for a telephoto of 135 mm that 17-85 is capable of--EF 17-40 F4 can do the job, in fact a better job in terms of textures and tonality--and focus, too, if you do a little post-processing in SC2. I am returning EF-S 17-85 and will stick with EF 17-40, taking it on my overseas trip. Unlike EF-S 17-85 F4-5.6, which is a feels like a decent consumer zoom, EF 17-40 F4L is built like a tank and has weather sealing. It should also come in handy if and when I decide to switch to a full-frame camera (EF-S lenses work only with the APS-size sensors).

Awesome product. A beginner in the L series but serves as a tank for general purpose photography. The lens is particularly sharp above 24 mm at focal ranges of f5.6 or more.

Perfect landscape lens with outstanding quality in build and performance = 5*

Ich bin sehr zufrieden

This lens is simply great. The only concern I had about it was the sharpness in the corners but being a landscape photographer and shooting mostly at F8 and up, I don't have a single complaint. The zoom range is great, colours are fantastic and build quality is, well it is an L lens! I would definitely recommend for someone who has a full-frame camera. If you are shooting on a crop sensor, this would be more of a walkaround lens than wide angle.

Uso no Full frame, e acho fantástica. Uma lente que captura cores e detalhes, de forma clara e qualidade óptica. Excelente para interiores e paisagens.