17-40 performance on Mark II Ds

I have an opportunity to switch to Canon with a MarkII Ds and was wondering how the 17-40L performs on this beast as I heard it's quite a demanding camera as far as lenses go. IS the 17-40L good enough or does it have to be a 16-35 or better?

Thanks,

Younes

That depends. There seems to be a lot of sample variation with these lenses. The better ones are as good or better than the 16-35, while others have more pronounced softening at the edges. One test I saw (see here) showed the 17-40 as sharper on the wide end and softer on the long end.
Either way, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Both are superb lenses.

Guy

I've shot the 17-40 on the 5D (full frame sensor like the 1Ds Mk2, though not as many pixels), and found no edge softness at all on my copy. I know a few other photographers, however, who had to go through a couple returns before getting a "good" copy. If you have a camera store within striking distance that stocks the lens, I'm sure they'll let you bring in the camera body and test the lens in the store, and if you're unhappy with the first copy they should let you check a few more until you find one that suits you.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll keep that in mind. And btw Guy: awesome article in OP, text and photo (of course )

I used to use the 17-40 on my 1ds mkii and I was disappointed with the results. I've read most everything I could find about the lens and as mentioned before, there seems to be some variation in that lens. i probably had a bad copy. I replaced it with a 16-35 and the results have been excellent. If you are seriously thinking about the 17-40 I too would suggest buying one on trial first.

Does this about good copies have anything to do with the date of manufacture.
Simon.