Canon 24-70L f2.8 on the 21Mp Sensor

[JessicaLuchesi]

Just seeing the thread on the 70-200L, I wondered about how the 24-70L ( with advice from many on this forum, I recently purchased one, I'm extremely happy... but my current camera is a 40D, with a possible upgrade to the 5DMkII ). I'm creating a new thread, not to hijack the other thread into a different discussion.

How's your experience regarding lens sharpness and overall performance on the 24-70L on the 21Mp bodies ( 1DsMkIII and 5DMkII )? Did you notice any loss of quality when you moved from 16Mp or 12Mp to the 21Mp body, or it just performs the same and you feel like it could hand on even if Canon pushed the envelop further ( like a 29Mp body in the future )?

[francois]

I'm really happy with mine. At 70mm, it could be a tad sharper but it's been the case with 1d2, 1ds2 and 5d bodies. I didn't notice any visible loss of sharpness with the move to the mk3.

[Anthony R]

I actually find a lens like the 135 f2 to be even on the MKIII than on the 5D. I've not had a chance to test the 24-70 but will be using it on a 5D MKII as soon as I get it.

[Christopher]

24-70 sharp in the center, bad in the corners. After getting a Mk3 I soon sold my Canon 24-70 because it wasn't really good. I switched to the Leica 35-70 which has prime quality. The drawback is that you lose a stop and AF.

[Anthony R]

24-70 sharp in the center, bad in the corners. After getting a Mk3 I soon sold my Canon 24-70 because it wasn't really good. I switched to the Leica 35-70 which has prime quality. The drawback is that you lose a stop and AF.

Like anything, it depends on what you shoot, how you shoot and what you want out of a lens. It's the only zoom that I use, being a prime guy. I shoot beauty and portraits primarily so I don't need perfect corner sharpness at 24 for instance.

[Kagetsu]

Mine has a slight shift in the red in the outside of the lens (CA) but easily corrected with the likes of lightroom. It works out to be about 2 pixels on the 1Ds III. Sharpness is good... It's my workhorse lens, and at the moment, my secondary landscape lens (24mm TS-E has taken that job)

[Geoff Wittig]

24-70 sharp in the center, bad in the corners. After getting a Mk3 I soon sold my Canon 24-70 because it wasn't really good. I switched to the Leica 35-70 which has prime quality. The drawback is that you lose a stop and AF.

That's not been my experience, but what I read suggests some variation in quality control. My 24-70 f:2.8 is extremely sharp across the entire field on my Eos-1Ds III, with the sole exception of a small area near the extreme left hand edge which goes a little soft at certain focusing distances. Everything else is great, to the extent that technique rather than optics is the limiting factor for image quality. Printing up to 24x36" is no problem. It compares very well to the 24-105 f:4 L, which vignettes badly at anything wider than f:10 or so. There is a bit of chromatic aberration at the corners, especially backlit photos, but this can usually be removed with ACR without much trouble.

At least in my situation the 24-70 f:2.8 is terrific optically, but I always find myself wanting a bit more reach at the long end. When I'm working from a backpack and a tripod, the 24-70 f:2.8 and 70-200 f:2.8 IS are the perfect companions. In fact the 24-70 is so good at the wide end, I find myself using it and stitching to get very wide angles of view rather than resorting to the optically more problematic 16-35 f:2.8 lens. The 24-105 f:4 is a lot more useful as a 'walk-around' lens on the 1Ds III, as long as you can live with the vignetting, which makes stitching very problematic.

[lovell]

24-70 sharp in the center, bad in the corners. After getting a Mk3 I soon sold my Canon 24-70 because it wasn't really good. I switched to the Leica 35-70 which has prime quality. The drawback is that you lose a stop and AF.

I suspect had you sent the lens back to Canon for calibration, you too would find this lens is very good edge to edge, as is the case with my copy.   Also, the Leica is slower (F4), isn't it?  Still, I'm sure the Leica is a great lens...

[Christopher]

I suspect had you sent the lens back to Canon for calibration, you too would find this lens is very good edge to edge, as is the case with my copy.   Also, the Leica is slower (F4), isn't it?  Still, I'm sure the Leica is a great lens...

Yes it is slower, but I don't care to much, because 90% of all I shoot between 5.6 and 11, here the Leica really shines.

[stevesanacore]

24-70 sharp in the center, bad in the corners. After getting a Mk3 I soon sold my Canon 24-70 because it wasn't really good. I switched to the Leica 35-70 which has prime quality. The drawback is that you lose a stop and AF.

I have the same experience with the 24-70. And only use it when edge sharpness doesn't matter. I would love to find an alternative zoom and have been looking for a used Leica 28-90 for over a year now. Maybe I will pick up the 35-70 in the meantime. Which model 35-70 do you have?

[Ignatz_Mouse]

I have the same experience with the 24-70. And only use it when edge sharpness doesn't matter. I would love to find an alternative zoom and have been looking for a used Leica 28-90 for over a year now. Maybe I will pick up the 35-70 in the meantime. Which model 35-70 do you have?

I have the Leica 28-90 (I use it with the R9/DMR combo) and is an impressive lens compared to the Canon 24-70 L that I also have. I think this lens is not a choice if you want to use it on a Canon FF body because of two issues: first, you will have a mirror clearance problem (the back of the lens needs some modification)  and, second, this is a variable aperture zoom (you have 2.8 at 28 and 35, 3.3 at 50, 4 at 70, and 4.5 at 90) and stop down it without having any information in the the camera about what you`re doing could be a real mess.

Carlos.

[Guillermo Luijk]

With all respect, this thread would be really useful if those having a practical opinion of the quality of the 24-70 and other lenses on a dense sensor would take a minute to show an image. So far it's just a discusion where some say 'yes' and some say 'no'.

BR

[Christopher]

With all respect, this thread would be really useful if those having a practical opinion of the quality of the 24-70 and other lenses on a dense sensor would take a minute to show an image. So far it's just a discusion where some say 'yes' and some say 'no'.

BR

Does anybody know whether the Leica 28-90 clears the mirror on the 1DsMk3 ? I haven't tried it and wanted to ask. If not I will go to a Leica dealer and try it myself this weekend.

[Ignatz_Mouse]

Does anybody know whether the Leica 28-90 clears the mirror on the 1DsMk3 ? I haven't tried it and wanted to ask. If not I will go to a Leica dealer and try it myself this weekend.

No, it doesn't. I've asked this same question some time ago in the Leica Forum and this was the answer I got from people who tried it. You need to remove some screws and the plastic cover from the back of the lens if you want to make it to work with the FF Canon DSLRs. If you want to play this kind of things with a 3,500 euros lens try it at your own risk but it's something I wouldn't dare to do. In any case,  and as I've said in my previous post, I think the variable aperture of this lens it`s an issue if you want to stop down at different focal lengths and want to know exactly at what aperture value you are in each case when you zoom in and out.

Hi, Guillermo  .

Carlos.

[mcbroomf]

No, it doesn't. I've asked this same question some time ago in the Leica Forum and this was the answer I got from people who tried it. You need to remove some screws and the plastic cover from the back of the lens if you want to make it to work with the FF Canon DSLRs. If you want to play this kind of things with a 3,500 euros lens try it at your own risk but it's something I wouldn't dare to do. In any case,  and as I've said in my previous post, I think the variable aperture of this lens it`s an issue if you want to stop down at different focal lengths and want to know exactly at what aperture value you are in each case when you zoom in and out.

Hi, Guillermo  .

Carlos.

It's actually worse than that.  The plastic cover can be safely removed on the Leica 21-35 to clear the Canon mirror, but on the 28-90 the cover engages part of the aperture mechanism (a spring I think).  I friend of mine tried this and either lost the spring or could not reassemble it himself, so it needed a trip back to Leica.  The only solution on FF Canon is a mirror grind.

Regards,