08-11-2011, 07:00 PM
I have owned the Sony/Zeiss 16-80 in the past and the Canon 15-85 currently, so I never did side by side comparisons.
Purely on optical quality, the Canon is decent all round. There isn't anything particular wrong with it, but also nothing exceptional either. The Sony/Zeiss does have a bit of a spec advantage on the long end, being 2/3 stop or so faster. It is subtle but it is there. I'd happily use either lens wide open. On the downside there is some lateral CA on the wide end but modern software correction should mitigate that easily. Also the Sony/Zeiss is on the verge of mechanical vignetting at the wide end. You have to be careful with filters on that. It is a lens I miss when I switched from Sony to Canon. Conversely it has been pointed out the Canon also has an odd corner vignetting issue strangely at some mid focal lengths and not at each end. In practice it isn't a major issue I find, and I'd tend to fix by shooting a little wider than needed and applying a slight crop after, if I need to fix it at all...
If I could fit any lens to any body, I'd get the Zeiss 16-80 for its optics, but I would prefer it has SSM/USM/etc.
I'd have to throw in, don't overlook the bodies too. The ones listed next to the lenses are very different.
Purely on optical quality, the Canon is decent all round. There isn't anything particular wrong with it, but also nothing exceptional either. The Sony/Zeiss does have a bit of a spec advantage on the long end, being 2/3 stop or so faster. It is subtle but it is there. I'd happily use either lens wide open. On the downside there is some lateral CA on the wide end but modern software correction should mitigate that easily. Also the Sony/Zeiss is on the verge of mechanical vignetting at the wide end. You have to be careful with filters on that. It is a lens I miss when I switched from Sony to Canon. Conversely it has been pointed out the Canon also has an odd corner vignetting issue strangely at some mid focal lengths and not at each end. In practice it isn't a major issue I find, and I'd tend to fix by shooting a little wider than needed and applying a slight crop after, if I need to fix it at all...
If I could fit any lens to any body, I'd get the Zeiss 16-80 for its optics, but I would prefer it has SSM/USM/etc.
I'd have to throw in, don't overlook the bodies too. The ones listed next to the lenses are very different.
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://snowporing.deviantart.com/">dA</a> Canon 7D2, 7D, 5D2, 600D, 450D, 300D IR modified, 1D, EF-S 10-18, 15-85, EF 35/2, 85/1.8, 135/2, 70-300L, 100-400L, MP-E65, Zeiss 2/50, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300/2.8, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Olympus E-P1, Panasonic 20/1.7, Sony HX9V, Fuji X100.