Review on Canon EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens, 9521B002: Versatile Zoom Lens for Superior Photography by Holly Rivera

I recently saw a great price on this used lens and jumped at it. I spent weeks deciding between this lens and the first generation f/4L lens of the same focal length. Weather protection isn't important to me and I'm a hobbyist so I didn't want to spend more on a second gen or f/2.8L iteration. The sharpness with this lens is stable. The autofocus is faster than any other glass I own, so I'm confident I made the right choice in choosing this new lens over a used f/4L with much older parts. The Focus is about as loud as my 40mm STM. I don't care as long as I'm shooting still images, but videographers will probably want to use an external microphone. I have two minor blemishes, which is why I'm deducting a star: distortion and vignetting. I use a full frame camera. So if you have a crop sensor, vignetting might not be an issue at all. There is noticeable barrel distortion at 24mm, which disappears at 35mm. I didn't notice any pincushion distortion at longer focal lengths, so I'm glad I only have to deal with the former. Vignetting is strong at 24mm, weaker at 35mm and virtually disappears at 50mm and beyond. It's also strong at f/3.5 and tapers off until I hit f/5. I come from a school of thought that prefers adding this effect to the post rather than having a little control over it in camera, but I know not everyone sees it that way. If this is you, then more power is for you! Canon has made a solid lens here at a reasonable price. Now I wish they would make more EF lenses than the L series so it would be easier for us advanced hobbyists to justify our expensive hobby!