Canon EOS 40D + EF 24-105mm F4 L = Short Review!

Views: 2720

Canon EOS 40D + EF 24-105mm F4 L

I have to chance to test this incredible combo recently, ordered by one of my customer and I was instructed to test the set making sure that they are in perfect condition before sending out to my customer.

No, I do not test the set intensively, but briefly within a hour of checking and testing several functions of the camera and lens.

This is really an incredible combo! The Canon EF24-105L lens is so very solidly built, very good to hold and produce stunning quality images!

The Canon EOS 40D on the other hand is a great camera! Made in Japan with the typical great built quality, solid and heavy in hand, no cheap toy feeling. However, that’s not just about it…it is the picture that counts, right? I shall show the ISO comparison later…amazing…simply amazing! 😉

Body Construction

Let’s have some various angle views of the killer combo…

EOS 40D and EF24-105L lens match perfectly! Not over or under size, a very nice walkabout combination! The red ring on the lens is very eye catching…which represent L lens from Canon. L stands for Luxury, yes I am serious. 🙂

Canon EOS DSLR design is sleek, clean, neat and nice. All buttons are easy to access and easy to use. No, you do not need to read through the manual before using. Just follow your instinct… 😉

The big LCD at the back is nice. What’s the size? 3″? It is big, though resolution not as great as Nikon D300 or D3, but it is still a big improvement from previous 30D model. Yes, bigger and brighter = better. 🙂

Last but not least…made in Japan as written at the bottom of the camera (serial number marked out).

Canon EOS 40D ISO Performance

Canon has been renowned as having the best ISO control of DSLR in the market, mainly due to the use of CMOS sensor that produce much less noise than CCD sensor.

Being a Nikon user myself, I have read but have no personal experience how good or bad Canon DSLR really is in ISO performance. So, here I tested the Canon EOS 40D at various ISO setting, from ISO100 to ISO1600 (default in camera without going through custom setting).

This is the full frame shot of my test target (sorry, I know it is a bit too bright to be a good test target…but I don’t have a dark shadow target to shoot at that time…and a bit lazy… :P)

Below are the 100% crop from various ISO at area where there are some shadows (weakness in high ISO, where noise is more obvious.

Below: ISO 100

Below: ISO 200

Below: ISO 400

Below: ISO 800

Below: ISO 1250

Below: ISO 1600

Overall, I think Canon EOS 40D ISO performance is still much better than my Nikon D200. ISO 1600 shot is still very usable and without much colour shift. I am quite impressed. 🙂

Image Stablisation

Canon isn’t the first to come out with image stablisation technology, but Canon is definitely the one that make success of it.

The best selling point of the Canon EF 24-105mm L lens is not the red ring, but the IS technology in my opinion. There are currently no other L lens in this range that offer IS. The Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8 doesn’t offer IS, which is a let down to many.

So, how useful is IS? Trust me…it is useful. It makes the impossible POSSIBLE! Can you get sharp shot at 105mm focal length with 1/4s handholding? Impossible without the use of tripod or monopod or any other support.

However, with IS this has becomes POSSIBLE! Let’s see the photos below:

• ISO 200
• Focal Length 105mm
• Shutter Speed 1/4s

(exif intact, you can check other info in the exif yourself)

IS OFF

IS ON

Can you notice the difference? The photos are taken with 10 seconds apart.

For those who are interested, below is the full resolution file from 40D, none edited (2.89MB):

img_0025_fullres.JPG (Full Resolution file with IS ON)

Depth of Field / Bokeh

Many people say F4 is not shallow enough…subject become too sharp and less bokeh. Personally I think F4 still produces very shallow DOF at 105mm focal length:

F4 at 105mm

Definitely good enough for portait shot if you want to have your model stands out from the background.

Summary

This is just a short review for Canon EOS 40D and EF 24-105mm F4 L set. Personally I do think that this is a very great combination, though 24mm can be a bit limiting. IS really plays magic, making the impossible possible. Canon EOS 40D high ISO performance is satisfactory, still producing very usable photos.

For the price of around US$2.3k (RM7.5k), I think this is a very good value for money combo for people who just start out photography and want to get serious into the Canon system.

Thanks for reading and happy shooting! 🙂