Canon EF-S 15-85mm lens review 

no one ever makes as thorough a review as you do. every possibility of things that could be covered are aways covered, and the detailed reviews on a page are just detailed to every last bit.

I really can't get over how awesome your reviews are!

I always search for your videos when deciding on a new lens. Awesome reviews!

Man! I have just REALLY checked out your website, you are a blessing to anyone considering lenses and stuff!!! The way you detail stuff and the diversity of the comparisons and you have like 3 to 4 pages of comparing 3 lenses with like 100 images each! Thanks alot! You are a star! I'm at my office and I just can't log out! Lol!

The 15-85mm remains my favourite general purpose lens for APS-C Canon bodies, BUT if you want the quietest and smoothest focusing for video, the STM lenses are better.

Thanks! That frame was generated by overlaying actual images taken with each lens and carefully lining them up - it takes time to do, but shows exactly what you'd capture as oppose to calculating it mathematically, which is often different to what you'd see in real-life.

What a fantastic, comprehensive and extremely helpful review, thank you! I just picked up a 7D kit with this lens.

Great video, Gordon. I can see some of the changes in the way you review (camera angles, how lens is viewed, direct comparisons). Well-done!

Cheers Gordon, thanks for the review. Great overview, as always!

@jakal1591 Thankyou, I appreciate your kind words! There's different shows for different types of people and I'm pleased some folk still enjoy the way I do my reviews as the tide here felt it was changing to the other style!

I'd only get the 17-40 or 16-35mm if you had or were thinking of getting a full-frame body in the future. if you're sticking with cropped-frame models like the 7D, then the 15-85mm is the best choice in my view.

@cameralabs Thank you for your kind reply. I have read myself through your lens guides which i found really useful. After that i was hesitating between the ef-s 17-85mm and the 17-55mm lens, but since i would use it in low light conditions as well, and big zoom range is not necessary for me, i am almost certain that the constant f2,8 aperture 17-55mm lens would best satisfy my needs. You saved me the price of the 17-40mm lens, thank you very much! Best wishes. Peter

If you're filming handheld, you may appreciate the stabilisation of the 15-85mm over the wideness of the 10-22. I tried filming with the 10-22 and really missed having stabilisation, but I do shake a lot!

@robblac On the 18-135mm video page at cameralabs I explained that I haven't done a video for that particular lens, but since the video for the 15-85mm included some comparisons, I re-used it on the page.

To replace my 18-55 with a better and more versatile one (especially below 18) I bought the 15-85 because of this very helpful review. Got the lens today and there was a lens hood included. Perhaps canon fixed that because of your review. Thumbs up! ;) The zoom falling back when pointed upwards isn't the case with my lens. Maybe it starts to do this when the mechanic is worn down. The build quality and visual quality is very satisfying on the first look. It's a pretty good everyday lens.

Glad you noticed! Yes, I'm finally using a new external microphone - an AKG C1000S.

Another awesome review. I ordered this one last night as a bit of a impulse by to replace my 18-55 kit lens and I really think I made the right choice. I knew it had ftm with a usm motor which is what I really wanted. I also knew it had good reviews and it make so much more sense than buying the tonkia 11-16mm f/2.8 for about the same price but it was still a bit of an impulse buy. Thanks again.

@mosstd I think this is the best general-purpose Canon zoom at the moment - for non full-frame bodies anyway.

Thanks for the review, it was very helpful in my decision. I got this lens a few months ago with the 60D, and just wanted to point out that my copy doesn't have the zoom creep issue that you demonstrate. So far I've been too lazy doing a video demonstrating this fact!

Excellent review Gordon, thanks

@TheJoshtree123 You mean visual noise? On which body? Fixing the ISO in manual exposure mode for video should procude pretty clean results at 100 or 200 ISO...

Your review bought me over to upgrade from 18-135 to this lens :) Good review with pictures to clearly illustrate its strong points which really aroused my interest. Not too lengthy either, where those who are interested in the technical details can check out your website. Please keep up the great work!

I agree. Digital Review floods RU-vid with all their off beat comedy style videos. All of their videos are short on substance and all about getting views. Cameralabs is one of the best by far. They take things seriously and cover most of what people want to know when looking up a review.

great review sir... i've noticed that your audio has improved considerably... looking forward to your review oth the 550d, and i do hope that canon would really launch the IS version of their EF 24-70 f2.8L....

Hey Gordon, these reviews keep looking more and more professional, great job. Though this lens seems like a nice upgrade, I'm afraid I'll stick with my 17-85mm a bit longer until the price drops.

Yep, it was Queenstown, NZ! I was based there for six years!

Have you heard of image stabilisation or fast shutter speeds? It's never held me back.

You're very welcome! Please do visit my site cameralabs . com for all my latest reviews and don't forget to tell your friends if they're into cameras!

Thank you Gordon for the nice review.

Thanks! I tried a few new things for this one!

Maybe in Australia, but over the ditch things are tighter. There are unlimited plans here in NZ, but they can be very slow. If you want a fastish connection, they meter your bandwidth quite strictly.

@GamerManni You can use any Canon lens on your 550D.

Like always perfect review!!THX Gordon!

@Moffboy63 Yes, go to the lenses section at cameralabs . com and have a look in the complete Canon listing - I've also compared it against the 15-85mm in the 15-85mm review.

Gordon, Love your work, your reviews inspired me to spend a bit more money than I was actually intending too, but I thin the 7D is just fantastic. I only got it today so theres a lot of practice coming up. One thing, I also bought the EF-S 15-85 due to your excellant review of that lens and I do not get the lens creep you mention. It is a brand new lens though. May be Canon watch your reviews! Great reviews.

Will do. And let's hope Gordon will review it as well.. I think more people are looking for an upgrade from their 18-55 kitlens (and for a realistic price)

@PlatSoul I have to use the same views and photos so that you can compare the quality and coverage between different products.

i really like to see side by side test between this lens and the ef-s 17-55, in terms of image quality.

That's true, but how would you label normal EF lenses which work on all bodies? How about the EF 24-105mm for instance... would you label it 24-105mm for the full-frame owners, or 38-168mm for the cropped-frame owners? I know the mutliplication aspect is annoying, but it's a compromise which keeps them all consistent. If you own a cropped frame body, all you have to know is to multiply everything by 1.6x whether it's an EF-S lens or not.

Not something I need, but always a pleasure to watch a top quality review.

@dcomp92 I reckon it's one of the best general-purpose lenses for the Canon EF-S system, and ideal for the 7D. Please support me by shopping through the partner stores page at cameralabs . com, and check out my full review of the lens there!

@ZERO3cairns Sadly not. This is a mlens you normally buy separately.

@ThePurabMann The 15-85mm is better quality than the 18-135mm, so that's the one to go for if you prioritise image quality! See my review at cameralabs . com as I've directly compared the quality between these two models...

Thanks Gordon for the review! I've made up my mind and purchased this lens to go along with my new Canon Rebel 550D/T2i. Both just arrived last week, but in the short time I've owned it must say I'm thoroughly impressed. I also purchased a couple B+W filters (UV, CPF, and Graduated Neutral Density), but I was wondering what you're thoughts were on purchasing filters. What makes a good one vs a bad one? And what are the best price-to-performance filters around? Thanks, David

It's not that big an issue really, and many lenses suffer from it. The good news is it doesn't affect the lens when fully zoomed-in or out.

Great review mate

I was waiting for this review, Good wok Gordon. This review is very good and i m guessing this will be the format for further lens reviews. One thing I got to ask, Is this weatherproof? I mean does have rubber around the mount? or for that we must have the 'L' lens? Please Reply Appreciate your work

As ever Gordon provides the best camera/lens reviews on the internet. This will be my next lens purchase to replace my 18-55 kit lens. Glad I opted for square filters now as I can reuse them, however what size ring will I need for this lens?

Because they don't send them anymore! Feel free to complain to pentaxian1. There's a full explanation in the Pentax section on the cameralabs forums.

Thanks so much for the review, it was very helpful!

True, I have subbed to both cameralabs and digitalrev. This is are far superior at identifying strengths, weaknesses and specs of equipment, but drtv is what I watch if I want a laugh, and sometimes they can give me the inspiration to actually get off my ass and take photographs. Both are important channels in their own right.

Do you guys recommend this for general and sports photography? Im a comunication student but i have been invited to sports events and i would like to know what's better and not super expensive

Nice review. Due to this and some other reviews I bought this lens. It's my walkaround/streetphotography lens. Not fast (aperture) but ok quick, the handling and AF on a 500D is ok, nothing to worry about.

@05mpwright It's a great choice for any Canon body with an APS-C sensor - such as the 550D / T2i.

So I purchased a Canon 28mm 1.8 USM for my 60D Canon and have used it for street, night and landscape photography and I love that little lense. Now i'm considering buying a second lense. Again mostly for cityscape and street photography, am I right at thinking that this would be a good choice? By having also the 1.8f lense with me any limitations of this lense can be covered I think.

Thanks for noticing!

Good .. very clean.. I like all ur demostration and Info.. thanks

keep up with the great reviews

Thankyou, you're very welcome!

@Tom44400 As I said at the end of the video, I have a full report on the image quality in my review at cameralabs . com! Everything you need to know is there...

Hi, i'm thinking about buying this lense for my dslr, especially for video, because of the quiet auto focus. would you recommend it for filming?

@bastelon yep, it's perfect for the 7D. ps - don't forget to shop through the partner stores at cameralabs . com to support me!

I LOVE ALL CAMERALABS REVIEW!!!!

I have a new copy of the 15-85 lens, and it does indeed have zoom creep pointed upwards starting at 50mm, but it doesn't fall as much as shown in the video. It falls to right around 28mm, even with a UV filter and hood. No creep pointed downward.

Just received my lens from Simply Electronics - SLOW delivery - BUT I'm delighted with the lens - despite being damp & dark here in the UK the images I've just taken have real bite, lots of strong colours, the lens is wider and heavier than expected, balance is great on my 40D/ grip - might feel unbalanced on a smaller Rebel. Zoom action is robust - NO zoom creep (at all) focus is fast and spot on. Feels almost as good as my 24-105 L in action. Recommended! Thanks again for your video review!

VERY helpful review!

If you were into filming and looking for a wide angle lens in the canon brand .. would you go for the IS of the 15-85mm or the wide angle of 10-22mm ??? I need to take a decision between the two .. not too interested in telephoto shooting as Im more into filming .... ??? Great reviews by the way

great review!

GORDON! WE NEED MORE REVIEWS.

I've seen quite a bit of barrel distortion out of Canon and Tamron 18-200mm lenses. It adds to the fun of having a wide angle lens if you ask me. Should I expect any barrel distortion in this lens at 15mm ?

@Belichtungsrausch That's as clean as they get. I'm from England remember...

@deklaola for portraits or indoor, the 17-55mm f2.8 is better... ps - don't forget to shop through the partner stores at cameralabs . com to support me!

Great review!

Great review.

I already have this lens. Thanks for the review, it really helped me a lot. (:

I own a 7D and i honestly think this lens would be better purchase than the 24-105 L (on a 7D) after watching this review. I'll definitely check out the written one on your website.

Great review as always Gordon. This new baby looks like a winner for Canon. As a Nikon user myself, I'd like to ask, how do you compare it with Nikon's own premium general purpose zoom, the 16-85 VR, having tested both lenses?

hey, im also a photography/design student and i have upgraded to a 7d and at times i find it is a bit of an overkill because i dont always use it to its full potential. it is a fantastic camera if youre into your sport photography! although it does come at a price! have a look at the 60d and the 70d both are brill dslr's!! you would b hard pushed to tell the difference in image quality compared to the 7d! but be warned other will try and tell you different, especially retair stores! good luck :)

Agree, that's is my major grip with my 24-70, indoor shots are little cumbersome since I had to tweak exposure and iso to get a good shot if the room has only one light source. IS would be a great addition, but I'm concerned about how heavy it would make the lens. Right now it's a little bit heavy for an all day walk around lens, and I would imagine with IS elements, it would make the lens that much heavier.

What do you recommend for 650 d ? For general purposes? Thank you so much.

Great review, very professional.. Thank you!

Hello and thank you for the review - I have a question regarding this lens... I'm between buying this one or the Canon 18-135mm IS STM and I'm confused as to which one is best suited for video. I love the 100mm macro and I kind of want to have that one at some point for sure, so what would you suggest?

It is a nice general lens but for sports photography I'd recommend a lens with a bigger focal length (e.g. EFS 18-135) . And for sports lower f is good, but that's usually in a higher price range (e.g. EF 70-200 / f 2.8)

great review i enjoyed it. looks like a nice lens too

Good Video Review. Thank you! Keep up the good work.

Yeah, tell me about it! These videos work out about 500-800MB each, which is a big chunk of my monthly bandwidth! Remmeber you can support me by shopping for anything at the partner stores page at cameralabs . com!

I bought mine a few days ago. I must say that this is a very good lens (aside from what I had before, 18-55 and 55-250). The focal length works great. But from what I have, when you said the zoom creeps from 24-50mm, mine works well and no creep at all. It's either I'm lucky, it's already been fixed by canon, I got a good copy, or maybe because it's new. Well, let's hope for the third one though. :)

Hey Gordon! I watch alot of your videos and they are all excellent. Very clear and to the point. I was just thinking though that you should try and change things up a bit from video to video. So many of your videos have so many of the same sentences down to the enthusiasm in the words! It makes you seem kind of like a robot. Get creative about it! Either way...keep up the good work! I learned all of my basic knowledge about cameras from you!

@iafeka No, the 55-250mm lens will zoom in a lot more. The 15-85 is more of a walk around lens.. Wide angle and a better zoom than the kit lens, but the 55-250 is a zoom lens, which would nicely compliment the 15-85mm lens.

Great review Gordon and keep up the good work. I've too always wondered why Canon doesn't supply lens hoods for the price of the lens. I know Nikon does, but do all the other mfrs do? Maybe the other mfrs increase their msrp because of the included hood?

Just love the lens. I film alot of mountain biking in close quarters, and it's great!

I got my Canon EOS 7D with 15-85 lens and it doesn't creep and has a lens cap, so guess I got lucky. Got the camera from Lens & Shutter, 100$ cheaper than other stores that I looked at. Sales person was real nice and helpful. The camera is SO! AWESOME!. Now I need to get a camera bag to protect this beautiful camera. Think i'll head back to the camera shop to see what they got.

Click the link to the right of the video window to go to my full review - there's current pricing there...

@DCuerpoJr Hi David, I tend to just use multi-coated polarisers from Hoya, so can't really comment on other types and brands, but we do have a filter section in the cameralabs forums if you'd like to ask our members! Please also don't forget you can support me by shopping for anything through the partner stores page at cameralabs . com - it's the only way I get paid!

Hi Gordon love all your videos and your website, how come you don't review any Pentax products anymore ?

@cpinch73 I can't speak for your lens, but I can say the 15-85mm has very good quality, and will also zoom wider, albeit not as long. Please see the results and gallery pages of my 15-85mm review at cameralabs . com...

I have a T3i and I'm on a moderate budget. I am trying to find the best lens to just leave on my camera. I don't like switching lenses all the time. It's mainly for taking pics of my 3 year old daughter. She's not in soccer or anything yet, so I don't need a huge zoom. So far, I have the 50mm, the 55-250 and the kit lens (18-55). Would you recommend the 18-135mm IS? Some people said that it washes out colors. I like the idea of having that much range in one lens. What about other manufacturers?

thanks for this, your videos are great!

great review

Hello, your question isn't adressed for me, but maybe I can help you. The 50 1.8 has only 5 blades in the aperture so bokeh can be harsh (shoot against lights and they become pentagrams). The 15-85 has 7 blades so the bokeh is not as harsh as on the 50mm. The Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM has 8 blades and is a prime, so for the 85mm only sublime optics. The 15-85 is pretty often recommended as a portrait lens, not a dedicated one but usable. I hope this was of any use. Cheers from Holland.