Spain and my Full Frame experience - Part 2

This is the domed ceiling of the Sala Capitular, an oval-shaped chapel in the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede. It was designed by Hernan Ruiz II and constructed between 1558-1592. Like the choir stalls pictured in my previous post, this is another ultra wide angle scene which benfitted well from the Canon EOS 5D's full frame sensor.

One criticism about full frame cameras is that lenses vignette and exhibit softness at the corners - particularly with ultra wide angles. In the nearly 2000 shots I took with the 5D, I can confirm this is indeed true. Even a lens like the 17-40L, which was used in the photo above, does show some light fall-off and loss of corner detail. It's not severe, but there is a definate loss of image quality when you scrutinise the edges. You can get around this by cropping the image to the center 95% portion, but this doesn't deliver the full advantage of the full frame sensor.

Though a more important question should be whether these issues distract from the quality and composition of the scene. Many photographers deliberate vignette their photos to focus the viewer's attention towards the center of the scene (also as an artistic effect). Why don't you be the judge - examine my shot of the Sala Capitular (or the choir stalls in the previous post) and tell me if you're distrubed by vignetting or softness at the corners.