jhs7931 wrote:
I am new to this forum and considering trading in my canon EF-S 18-135mm for the canon EF 24-105 L lens.
Currently have the T6s body, but may be open to full frame down the road.
I like the 135 mm lens for video, it is light and versatile, but seek to upgrade to the better glass of the L lens to cover a similar range.
I am an amateur shooting landscape, wildlife, family, and occasionally a school concert.
I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on whether this "upgrade " is viewed as actually a pretty good one, or maybe not.
Thanks
I am new to this forum and considering trading in ... (
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Don't do it.
The 24-105L just isn't all that much better lens optically and you'll just be giving up both wider and longer focal lengths. Basically you will be spending a lot more to get less. The only significant improvement would be a one stop larger f4 aperture the telephoto end, for low light and/or slightly more background blur. You can get better than that for less money. Unless you get the 24-105L "II", you also will find that the USM, while faster for action shooting, just isn't as good for video. Your STM lens is better for video than the original 24-105L. The II has a new "Nano USM" drive that's supposed to be better for video, as well as faster than STM. But the "II" is an $1100 lens and, being brand new, a bit hard to find.
You didn't mention which EF-S 18-135mm you have... there are several. I assume it's the STM, since that's what's usually offered with the T6s. There's also a new "Nano USM" version of it, which would be an upgrade from your lens primarily in terms of focus speed.
The 24-105mm is a decent lens and a good general purpose, "walk around" lens... for someone shooting with full frame cameras that are limited to using full frame lenses. But frankly, the far less expensive EF 28-135mm IS USM can match the original 24-105L in most respects. (However the 28-135mm also would rob you of some wider focal lengths.)
I would instead recommend that you keep your EF-S 18-135mm and complement it with an even wider lens (for landscapes) and one or more faster prime lenses (for concerts and indoor shots of the family, portraiture).
For under $300, the EF-S 10-18mm STM IS is an exceptionally good deal for an ultrawide lens. It would be great for landscape, among other things.
EF 24/2.8, 28/1.8, 35/2, 50/1.4, 50/1.8, 85/1.8 and 100/2 are all larger aperture primes that are reasonable cost and one to three stops faster than your zoom...
and faster than the 24-105mm. They will be able to strongly blur backgrounds for portraits or let you keep shooting in lower light. Take your pick... any one or two or three of them can nicely complement your slower zoom.
If you feel you must replace your zoom with a zoom, there are a couple good options. The EF-S 15-85mm IS USM would be a better "upgrade" for a T6s, but for it's f3.5-5.6 aperture is no better than your 18-135's.
A faster zoom upgrade would be the EF-S 17-55/2.8 IS USM. However, note the relatively narrow range of focal lengths. So you would probably need to complement it with a fast telezoom such as an EF 70-200/2.8 IS USM II (on sale for $1950 right now). The new EF 70-300mm IS USM "II" is another option with "Nano USM", a lot smaller, lighter and considerably less expensive ($550), but it's an f4-5.6 lens.
For the $1100 price of the 24-105L II or the $1000 that the original version is currently selling for, you could save money getting either the 15-85mm or 17-55mm... or could buy two or more of the prime lenses.
However, again note that except for the new 70-300mm, those are all USM lenses so will be less than ideal for video work. Especially if recording sound, you'd probably want to switch off most USM autofocus and focus manually... STM and the new "Nano USM" are especially designed for video work.