Photography News | Issue 36 | absolutephoto.com
Camera test 40
Performance: Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Specs
This lens was introduced at the same time as the EOS 80D and it is the first Canon lens to have Nano USM for silent AF. It also has the option of fitting a device called the Power Zoom Adapter PZ-E1 that sells for £129.99 and is aimed at movie shooters – this was not supplied for review. ItisanEF-SlenssosuitableonlyforCanonAPS-Ccamerasandaccounting for the 1.6x crop factor gives a 35mm format focal length equivalent of 29- 216mm. Essentially, it’s a superzoom and it comes in a surprisingly compact and lightweight body form. Nano USM is designed to give fast, smooth and quiet AF so no sound is picked up during movie shooting while the Dynamic IS gives a claimed 4EV benefit for stills and helps to give steady movies. The lens has a zoom lock which works only at 18mm and the other controls are an IS on/off and AF/MF. You can manually adjust focus when shooting in AF by keeping the finger partially down on the shutter button. The lens has a lovely feel and handling is very good, especially the smooth manual focusing barrel. Zooming in and out is slick too and a quarter turn of the zoom barrel takes you from one end of the zoom to the other. Superzoom lenses are versatile, useful and generally competent but optical quality is satisfactory rather than outstanding. This Canon fits this description pretty accurately. It is capable of decent quality images when used at its optimum apertures and at its wider focal lengths. Maximumaperture gives a decent level of performance but it does benefit from stopping down. F/8 and f/11 give the best sharpness at the 18mm end with decent sharpness across the frame. There are signs of fringing but that is easily removed in software.
Price £449, with Canon EOS 80D £1299 Construction 16 elements in 12 groups Filter size 67mm Aperture range F/3.5-38 Diaphragm Seven blades Minimumfocus 39cm Image stabilizer 4EV benefit Dimensions 77.4x96mm Weight 515g Left The Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM is a compact superzoom capable of decent quality images. It accepts the Power Zoom Adapter PZ-E1 that gives smooth zooming action – the Canon Camera Connect app means you can control the lens with your smart device. The shots here were taken on a quiet morning with no significant breeze and the camera was fixed on the Kenro Travel Tripod 2. Features Plenty to enjoy, the touch sensitive monitor a highlight Performance AF and exposure systems work very well Handling Typically Canon – slick, intuitive, smooth Value formoney Rates highly in this respect and well worth a look Overall The EOS 80D is not a groundbreaking DSLR, but it is still a very capable one with a good feature set Pros Monitor, overall handling, AF as a whole and especially live view for movie shooting Cons ISO limited to 16,000 and image quality at higher speeds not as good as rivals, 18-135mm lens serviceable rather than spectacular shooting with the viewfinder or in live view, is lovely, handling is confident and impressive and, of course, picture quality is critically very good at the most frequently used ISO speeds. The Canon EOS 80D is a £999 camera so it’s aimed at photographers who have some experience and want to take the next step up. This camera certainly offers that opportunity and while it is not a massive stride on from the EOS 70D, for example, it is still progress. For users moving on from even older EOSs, the EOS 80D is significantly better so it has a serious appeal. The silky AF, whether you’re 23/25 23/25 23/25 23/25 92/100 Verdict
At 50mm, edge-to-edge sharpness is acceptable wide open and once again stopping down improves matters albeit slightly. Sharpness and contrast do drop off at the 135mm end and its best performance comes at f/5.6 and f/8 The small apertures are best avoided if you want critical sharpness. The IS system has a claimed 4EV benefit and that is probably not too far off the case especially at the wider focal lengths. I took sequences of shots down to 0.5sec at the short, middle and long end of the zoom to test the IS system’s effectiveness. As you’d expect the system is capable and I was getting pin-sharp pictures at 1/13sec at the 135mm end. In sum, this is a decent superzoom that covers a very useful focal length range, but if you want critical performance as opposed to convenience and portability Canon has a huge range to consider. The lens has a lovely feel and handling is very good, especially the smooth manual focusing barrel. Zooming in and out is slick too
18mm
F/3.5
F/11
F/5.6
F/22
F/5
50mm
F/16
F/8
F/32
135mm
F/5.6
F/22
F/11
F/36
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