Canon 28-105mm sweet spot

I have just recently purchased Canon 28-105mm 3.5-4.5 Mk II and wants to get some tips regarding the sweet spot for this lens based on your experience.

Also, would like to know what should be the best setting (I mean aperture, shutter speed and ISO) when using this lens indoor.

Thank you in advance for your response.

No reply. I guess, I might as well input my own testing of this lens. The first time I used this lens in a not so well lighted indoor get-together-party, I set my Canon 10D in P Mode and the lens on 28mm and ISO 200 with flash on. I was not impressed with the results of the pictures. They seemed to be soft, the exif shows it usually stayed on aperture 4.5 and shutter speed 1/60.

Last weekend, the same party with my friends in the same place and with the same lighting environment. Since, I did some reading for Canon EOS on flash photography at photonotes.org, I put the camera on Manual Mode and stopped down. AV 5.6, TV 1/60, 35mm, ISO 100 with flash. The light meter shows its way way down under expose. Hoping my internal flash will provide enough light, I kept on taking pictures. The light meter is really an honest guide, all my pictures were dark. I was disappointed, yet since Im taking shots in raw, I process the raw files in DPP. To my surprise, the pictures were sharp and much improved than shots taken in P mode.

Perhaps, AV 5.6, range 35-100mm is the sweet spot for 28mm-105mm lens. But I wont stop from here. Next time, I will try AV 6.7 and ISO 200 in an indoor shooting.

Try f/8 and ISO 400 but if you are going to do a lot of indoor poorly lit parties then I would think about getting a more powerful flash than the on-board unit. Have a look at the 430 EX as a minimum.

Ian