Can anyone give a report on using the EF-S 17-55 with the C300?

[Graham King]

I don't have much experience with either of those so I'll just take your word for it. Just sayin, I just want my 17-55 to feel as good as my other zooms.

[Chris Hurd]

I've only handled them at trade shows... and I'd love to own both of 'em.

[Barry Goyette]

Certainly it doesn't have the build/feel of the 24-70...but it also doesn't have the weight. It does seem a bit more susceptible to flare, but that may be due to the fact it doesn't ship with a lens hood, and I haven't gotten one yet. Sharpness is excellent. CA is virtually nonexistent at most f-stops. It does darken in the corners substantially at 17mm wide open, but as someone else noticed...the PIC should take care of that. Best hand all around lens for hand held work...I'm very happy with it. It would be nice to have a longer throw to the focus, (but in my mind that's mostly for use with a follow focus...)

B

[Graham King]

I think I might just have a bad copy then. I feel like mine diffuses the light too much, has poor sharpness, and the zoom ring has a tug in it when going from 55mm to 17mm, happens at about 28mm. I'm thinking I should trade it in for a new one.

[Colin McAuliffe]

ive had my 17-55 for about 6 months or so, and i do love its IS and zoom range, but it definitely feels a little cheaper than my other zooms, and already has a few dust specs inside it, and i always keep it in a bag inside my camera case. None of my other zooms have that issue: tokina 11-16, canon 16-35L ,28-70L 2.8 and 70-200L 2.8 II, all with no dust.

That said, at this point I have two kits i go out with with the c300...the big kit, that one has all the primes and all the zooms, and the little run-and-gun kit, and that one is just camera, 17-55 and 70-200

[Michael Galvan]

Canon graciously let me borrow a C300 w/EF-S 17-55 lens a couple weeks back to test out for my NBC work. I unfortunately didn't get to play much with it as I was traveling for productions, but I did get some quick sots out of the system.

I'll try to post them later. I shot with some ISO ranges, as well as with C-Log.

My overall impression was the EF-S 17-55 lens is an awesome "run and gun" lens for the C300.

[Nigel Akam]

My only complaint with the 17-55 is how the zoom and focus rings are opposite from all the L lenses I have. For "run n gun" takes a little getting used too.

[Jeff Walters]

Currently shooting in Asia - we were on the Great Wall out of Beijing yesterday - lots of wind and cold. Traveling in same group with the legendary SI/Life photographer Neil Leifer and his long-time assistant Dan - but that's another story. A thrill to be around one of the greats.

My go-to kit for run & gun here has been the 17-55mm and 70-200mm 2.8 IS II. The 17-55 has been great, but wish it had a sturdier feel to it. Focus ring very lightweight action, and the lens doesn't have that "brick-like" feel to it that the 70-200 has. I've noticed a little vignetting @17mm at times - I see it in the XF utility window but not on my FCP7 browser.

Here's hoping that Canon or someone else steps up and creates an even better solution for this range. At the moment, the 17-55mm is the best option.

[Nigel Akam]

Seeing more of the vignetting at 17mm. When the IS is on and your running around, seems like as it compensates, you see more of the edges. My big reasons for buying the 17-55 was the IS and the wide range. It will do for now.

[Paul Joy]

I've been using the 17-55 on the C300 for a week now. It's a great lens but it does suffer from hard vignetting on the left and right sides when fully wide and visibly dark corners right out to 28mm. These are not the natural drop off vignettes that peripheral illumination will correct, they are fairly hard and remain even with that feature enabled. The IS makes them more apparent as you can see them flickering in the extreme corners and on both sides when fully wide.

[Edit]

After looking in to this a bit more it appears that the edge darkening is actually caused by the official Canon lens hood for the 17-55. Quite a relief really but rather annoying as you have to buy the lens hood separately and it's a crazy price for a small flimsy plastic part. If you're shooting video give that one a miss. Enabling peripheral illumination does also help to remove most of the darkened corners with the lens hood removed too so I take all that back.

I posted some examples on my blog: http://www.pauljoy.com/2012/04/canon...g-on-the-c300/

[Paul Joy]

Originally Posted by Graham King

I think I might just have a bad copy then. I feel like mine diffuses the light too much, has poor sharpness, and the zoom ring has a tug in it when going from 55mm to 17mm, happens at about 28mm. I'm thinking I should trade it in for a new one.

Hi Graham, mine also has the tug in the middle of the zoom range, did you try any others?

[Graham King]

I just bought a new one and it's better. Still not L smooth, but better then my first copy. Going to sell that one.

[Andy Wilkinson]

I have a question for you Graham. With your new, better built copy of the Canon 17-55mm F2.8 IS USM EF-S are you still getting the hard corner vignetting that Paul mentioned above when fully zoomed out (with darker corners all the way up to 28mm) or is it less of an issue with the tighter tolerances that this new one might have?

This lens (I have a very good copy on my 7D) seems to be an excellent walk-about lens for the C300 (from what I've read) with its 1.53x or so sensor crop factor (from memory), i.e. similar to the 7D's 1.6x. I'm curious to know of any limitations (apart from the plastic, non L build quality which I already know about). The one I have is razor sharp and the IS is terrifically effective and very quiet. I also have an excellent Canon 10-22mm F3.5 USM EF-S, which I understand does not vignette on the C300.

Just trying to work out what will work well on the C300 that's in my current lens collection!

[Nigel Barker]

Andy, if I read Paul's blog & post correctly he is not seeing any vignetting with the lens hood removed.

[Graham King]

I always use the Canon hood with the 17-55. I have not had any vignetting problems at all. I am shooting with peripheral illumination on of course. But either way, the hood doesn't seem to make a difference.