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.

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

 

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