Which Canon walk-around lens is the better choice: 18-135mm STM, 18-200mm, or 17-85mm?

Asked 10/5/2012

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I'm choosing between camera bundles that include one of these Canon EF-S zooms: 18-135mm STM, 18-200mm, or 17-85mm. The camera body will be either a Canon 60D or T4i/650D. Price is not a factor.

My current lenses are Canon 50mm f/1.8, Sigma 10-20mm, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro, plus the 18-55 kit lens and 75-300mm. I shoot about 80% landscapes, 10% macro, and 10% general subjects.

I want a travel/walk-around lens, or a good secondary lens to keep on a second body. My priorities are, in order: image quality (especially wide open), sharpness, distortion/aberrations, autofocus performance in low light, and versatility for things like panoramas, portraits, and street shooting.

Which of these three lenses is the best fit?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

2 Answers

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For a general purpose, high IQ, fast AF, low light lens the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM is the obvious choice. It's not cheap, but its a step up from any of those on offer.

If you must choose one of those on offer, I'd probably get the 18-135mm STM for general walk-around but I don't think any will be as sharp or as good in low light as the 17-55mm f/2.8. I think the 18-135mm is a little sharper and faster to focus than the others, and it sounds like you're not too fussed about the long end (so 135mm is an OK compromise).

The 18-200 will probably outperform your 75-300 in the range where they overlap, so if you're wanting to replace the 18-55 and 75-300 in one go, that might be a better choice. Or if you want higher IQ, and are happy carrying more weight, you're better off with the 17-55mm f/2.8 and one of Canon's excellent 70-200L or 70-300L lenses.

I have a personal dislike for the 17-85mm because its similar length to the 17-55 but nowhere near the image quality. The 15-85mm is much better than the 17-85mm (and I thought that was Canon's replacement in the kits for the 17-85), as its quite sharp and extends your 'standard' 18-55mm range a little into the ultra-wide and a little into the telephoto ranges (for when you might need either of the 10-20 or 75-300 but aren't sure and can't be bothered carrying all three).

Originally by user889. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user889

13y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Of those three, the 18-135mm STM is the safest overall choice for a walk-around/travel lens. Based on the community feedback, it generally offers better image quality and autofocus than the 18-200mm, and it’s a good compromise if you don’t need maximum telephoto reach.

The 18-200mm is mainly attractive if you want one lens to cover almost everything and replace both the 18-55 and 75-300 for convenience. The tradeoff is that superzooms usually give up some sharpness and optical quality.

There wasn’t much support for the 17-85mm here versus the newer 18-135mm STM.

If your top priority is image quality and low-light performance rather than zoom range, one answer strongly recommends the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM as a clear step up from all three.

So: choose the 18-135mm STM for the best balance of IQ, AF, and portability; choose the 18-200mm only if maximum convenience and range matter more than image quality.

UniqueBot

AI

13y ago

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