EF Lens Test Results fCanon EOS with Canon EOS 1Ds and 1Ds Mark II

Most lenses have higher resolution than this camera can resolve (tested on EOS D60 as well) and if a given lens gives better resolution than 57 lp/mm than the table will indicate "max". You may check the actual analysis photos by clicking on the lens names or Light Evenness fields, respectively. Chromatic aberration chart was made at f:8 and the background was adjusted to white; the numbers in the table indicates the extent of color bleed beyond the edge, in pixels. It is very likely that the light diffraction of the image sensor filters contributes to distortion of vertical/horizontal proportion. From a scanned negative, the macro 100mm lens that shows perfect proportions on this chart, is 0.15% narrow, and has resolution 73 lp/mm, an equivalent of 35 hundred pixels in picture height (good enough for a 17M pixel full frame camera).
 

EF Lens
Res. at max aperture at center
Res. at max aperture at edge
Res. at f:8 at center
Res. at f:8 at edge
Distortion
Light Evenness*
Chromatic aberration

14mm 1:2.8 L USM

27
24
max
24
barrel 0.65%; narrow 1.1%
* *
strong 5

24mm 1:1.4 L USM *

29
25
max
27
barrel 0.9%; perfect v/h proportion
* * *
some 3

macro 50mm 1:2.5

max
24
max
max
pincushion 0.1%; wide 0.28%
* *
trace 0

50mm 1:1.0 L USM

27
19
max
25
barrel 0.8%; narrow 0.67%
* * * *
strong 4

50mm 1:1.2 L USM*

max
28
max
30
barrel 1.6%; narrow 0.7%
* * * *
some 3

TS-E90mm 1:2.8

max
max
max
max
0%; wide 0.26%
* * * * *
trace 0

macro 100mm 1:2.8 L USM

max
max
max**
max
barrel 0.1%; perfect v/h proportion
* * * * *
trace 0

135mm 1:2 L USM *

max
max
max
max
pincushion 0.59%; wide 0.64%
* * *
trace 0

macro 180mm 1:3.5 L USM

max
max
max**
max
pincushion 0.1%; wide 0.3%
* * * *
minimal 2

macro 180mm 1:3.5 L USM with 2x II Extender

25
24
27**
24
pincushion 0.05%; wide 0.18%
* * *
some 3

400mm 1:4 DO IS USM *

28
30
32
30
pincushion 0.2%; wide 0.46%
* * * * *
minimal 1

400mm with EF 2x II Extender *

22
20
22
20
0%; wide 0.23%
* *
strong 5

Sigma 12-24mm 1:4.5-5.6 DG HSM, 12mm *

29
15
29
20
pincushion 1%; wide 1%
*
v. strong 7

Sigma 12-24mm 1:4.5-5.6 DG HSM, 24mm *

29
29
29
29
pincushion 0.9%; wide 0.9%
*
some 3

16-35mm zoom 1:2.8 L USM, 16mm

max
21
max
24
barrel 2.2%; narrow 3.3%
*
v. strong 8

16-35mm zoom 1:2.8 L USM, 25mm

max
21
max
25
pincushion 0.1%; narrow 0.4%
* *
strong 4

16-35mm zoom 1:2.8 L USM, 35mm

max
21
max
24
pincushion 0.5%; narrow 0.4%
* * *
some 3

17-40mm zoom 1:4 L USM, 17mm

max
25
max
max
barrel 1.7%; narrow 2.3%
* *
strong 4

17-40mm zoom 1:4 L USM, 28mm

max
26
max
max
pincushion 0.4%; narrow 0.12%
* * *
some 3

17-40mm zoom 1:4 L USM, 40mm

max
24
max
27
pincushion 0.5%; wide 0.08%
* * *
minimal 2

24-70mm zoom 1:2.8 L USM, 24mm

max
21
max
25
barrel 0.3%; narrow 1.1%
* *
some 3

24-70mm zoom 1:2.8 L USM, 40mm

max
27
max
max
0%; wide 0.08%
* * *
minimal 2

24-70mm zoom 1:2.8 L USM, 70mm

max
25
max
max
pincushion 0.7%; wide 0.9%
* * *
trace 1

70-200mm zoom 1:2.8 L IS USM, 70mm *

27
27
max
max
barrel 0.28%; narrow 0.23%
* * * * *
trace 1

70-200mm zoom 1:2.8 L IS USM, 135mm *

max
32
max
max
pincushion 0.4%; wide 0.58%
* * * *
trace 0

70-200mm zoom 1:2.8 L IS USM, 200mm *

max
25
max
max
pincushion 0.56%; wide 0.78%
* * *
trace 1

70-200mm zoom 1:4 L USM, 70mm

max
max
max
max
barrel 0.3%; wide 0.28%
* * *
trace 1

70-200mm zoom 1:4 L USM, 122mm

max
max
max
max
pincushion 0.46%; wide 0.82%
* * *
minimal 2

70-200mm zoom 1:4 L USM, 200mm

max
27
max
max
pincushion 0.86%; wide 1.14%
* * *
some 3

70-200mm zoom 1:4 L USM IS , 70mm *

max
max
max
max
barrel 0.65%; wide 0.28%
* * *
trace 1

70-200mm zoom 1:4 L USM IS, 135mm *

max
max
max
max
pincushion 1.35%; wide 0.82%
* * *
minimal 2

70-200mm zoom 1:4 L USM IS , 200mm *

max
27
max
max
pincushion 1.9%; wide 1.14%
* * *
some 3

100-400mm zoom 1:4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 100mm

25
24
27
25
barrel 0.1%; wide 0.06%
* * *
minimal 2

100-400mm zoom 1:4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 250mm

max
27
max
max
pincushion 0.5%; wide 0.80%
* * *
trace 0

100-400mm zoom 1:4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 400mm

max
23
max
max
pincushion 0.6%; wide 0.77%
* *
trace 1
*Light Evenness was measured at various points across the entire frame and plotted (click on the stars to view the graphs). The stars represent the performance at f:8: * * * * *- below 3% vignetting for the full frame; * * * *- no vignetting for EOS 1D; * * *-below 10% vignetting for EOS 1D; * *-below 10% vignetting for EOS 10D; *-over 10% vignetting for EOS 10D;
** these tests were done on a 'standard' mode, that is a 48x72cm size chart was photographed. The sharpness is significantly different for both macro lenses when shot at their max. macro modes, and the 180mm lens performs better. On this link you may also find how it compares with Tamron 180mm macro lens.
* These tests have been made with a 17M pix camera Canon 1Ds Mark II (max= >33), all others with an 11M pix Canon 1Ds (max= >27).

Among the listed lenses above, the hardest to work with is the 100-400mm zoom. It is not bright and the camera does not correctly set the focus automatically at 400mm. Similar problem, to a lesser extent, is observed on 50mm 1:1 L lens at 1.0 aperture. For those lenses the focus was set manually in these tests.

A guide to the resolution chart used in these tests is shown below . The numbers indicate hundreds of lines per image height. Max resolution for Canon 1Ds is 27 (equal to 2700 pixels in height or 57 line pairs per millimeter). If you click on this picture you download the original version. Nomenclature of distortions is given below on the right.

chart

distortions

 Acknowledgements: Thanks to Norman Koren for the advice and loaning me some of his lenses.

 

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