This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Elliotte Rusty Harold. Original Post: Where are the EF-S L Lenses? Feed Title: Mokka mit Schlag Feed URL: http://www.elharo.com/blog/feed/atom/? Feed Description: Ranting and Raving Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Elliotte Rusty Harold Latest Posts From Mokka mit Schlag

One of the promises of the EF-S lens mount was that the lenses could be smaller, lighter weight, and cheaper than full frame lenses. What happened?

While there are a dozen or so EF-S lenses on the market, and they are indeed smaller and cheaper than their full frame cousins, they’re all pretty low-end lenses. All the DO and L-series lenses are full frame lenses, which means I’m carrying a lot more weight than I’d like (and I could really feel that this morning at Jamaica Bay).

I guess Canon thinks that anyone who buys a L-series lens will also buy a full-frame camera, which may be true for portrait and wedding photographers, and is absolutely true for landscape photographers; but the exact opposite is the case for wildlife and nature photographers. We actually like the 1.6x magnification factor (or, as the landscape folks insist on calling it, “field-of-view crop”). Let’s face it: even with a 300mm or longer lens, it’s damn tough filling a frame with a 10cm warbler. And while a grasshopper may justify a full frame macro lens, an aphid won’t fill even an APS-C size sensor, not even at 5:1, much less a full size sensor.

It’s time to get serous about APS-C sensors. Stop treating them like the poor cousins of the 35mm frame, only fit for amateurs and cost-cutting newbies. Nature photographers are the primary customer for a lot of Canon’s most expensive lenses. We demand quality, and we don’t mind paying for it, but we also spend a lot more time walking long distances with cameras around our necks and tripods over our shoulders. Can’t we please have some high quality lenses than don’t waste half their weight bouncing light onto black plastic?