Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L II

[EgillBjarki]

With the new Canon 24-70mm on it's way this summer, the question awakes, do I need this new lens?

If it is anything like the update to the 70-200mm 2.8 L II, then I am surely interested.

Right now covering this range I have the following:

24mm 1.4 L II
35mm 1.4 L
50mm 1.4

I ask my self, if this new lens in fact will be as sharp or sharper, do I need the extra two stops? What am I giving up?

I made a quick 2.8 vs 1.4 test for my self, I shared it here.

What are peoples in general thoughts on this?

[shadowblade]

It depends what you shoot. If you usually stop down anyway, you're not losing anything.

Also, it depends on the degree and nature of distortion at each end of the zoom range. If you're shooting landscapes in the mountains, or portraits, this doesn't matter, but, if you regularly have to correct for the horizon, also bear in mind that you're losing sharpness in doing that, too.

[Guillermo Luijk]

I doubt a zoom can be sharper than a good prime.



Comparision between a:

• Konica Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 (40 EUR on eBay)
• S-M-C Takumar 50mm f/1.4 (50 EUR on eBay)
• Canon 24-70 f/2.8 (second hand 850 EUR)

(undemosaiced RAW data)


The 50 EUR Takumar performs the same (actually slightly better) at f/2 as the 850 EUR zoom at f/2.8

Regards

[Ken Bennett]

Why choose? I have all three of those primes, plus the 50 and the 85/1.2, along with the current 24-70/2.8 and the 24-105/4, and choose the appropriate lens for the job. The f/2.8 zoom is very good even wide open, though not as good as the primes stopped down to f/2.8. The primes wide open show a lot of longitudinal chromatic aberration, along with purple fringing, plus they are one major PITA to nail perfect focus. But when you do, the images can be just stunning. By f/4, all the lenses look great.

I pick the lens based on several factors, including convenience, the desired "look," weight, and absolute image quality. Usually convenience wins out, sad to say.

[EgillBjarki]

Well in my book the 70-200mm 2.8 L II is about as sharp as it get's across the range.

That is the reason why I am thinking, the new 24-70mm 2.8 L II might be as sharp as my primes.

If it turns out as good with sharpness, then the question is if I will miss the DOF.

Most of the time I stop down, but very rarely I use the lenses on 1.4.

I am still not sure what I am going to do. I guess I will wait and see how the new lens tunes out in tests...