Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Review

The EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM is surprisingly pricey ($2400) so everyone wants to know how well this lens performs (previously featured reviews here and here). Now it's slrgear's turn to review this Canon lens. Some excerpts from their test:

    • The Canon 24-70mm ƒ/2.8L II USM is one of the sharpest lenses Canon has produced
    • The Canon 24-70mm ƒ/2.8L II USM keeps chromatic aberration very well under control
    • Going from infinity to close-focus takes well less than one second, and point-to-point focusing is lightning quick

From slrgear's conclusion:

Canon has made dramatic improvements to this lens series, which is sure to become the darling of Canon wedding shooters around the globe. The price tag is significantly steep, but there are enough improvements over the previous lens to more than justify the price.

Specifications:

    Large aperture L-Series standard zoom lens that combines high image quality and enhanced durability.

    New optical design utilizes one Super UD lens element and two UD lens elements to minimize chromatic aberration in the outer area at wide-angle; as well as eliminates color blurring around the edges of the subject, for images with high resolution and contrast.

    Combines 2 types of aspherical lenses to reduce spherical aberration,and achieve high image quality across the entire screen area and throughout the full zoom range.

    Highly resistant to dust and water, enabling shooting even in harsh and rigorous conditions.

    Circular diaphragm (9 blades) delivers beautiful, soft backgrounds.

    Ring USM, high-speed CPU, and optimized AF algorithms for fast autofocusing.

    Optimized lens coatings ensure exceptional color balance while minimizing ghosting.

    Fluorine coating on front and rear lens surfaces reduces smears and fingerprints.

    Zoom lock lever locks the zoom position at the wide end for safe transporting.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

[via slrgear]

 

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II Review By The Phoblographer

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II Review By The Phoblographer
Image credit: The Phoblographer

The Phoblographer posted an interesting review of Canon’s much discussed EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens. A great, sharp lens with no IS (why?) and a rather hefty price tag ($2,299). They had two copies of the lens and found some inconsistencies (one sharper than the other). This is was known (unfortunately). There have been other reviews (Lensrentals and The Digital Picture) that reported variations in optical performance among copies if this lens. That’s a pity, given the price tag. And they clearly recommend the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 SP VC over the EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II. Don’t get it wrong: the EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II is a great lens, maybe a must for professional photographers, but the Tamron costs less and still delivers outstanding performance.

If the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II is in your mind you should have a look at The Phoblographer’s informative review. Sample images are provided. Quoting the verdict:

What’s Awesome: Extremely versatile lens with excellent performance overall for a photographer that needs it versatility.

What’s Not So Awesome: Prime lenses are still sharper, more reliable, and faster to focus. Copies of the lens vary; we tested three different ones. Lack of image stabilization shows that Canon’s corporate philosophy still hasn’t changed and does not realize that sometimes they need to cannibalize their own work to improve.

Verdict: This lens is quite expensive. Tamron’s 24-70mm f2.8 with VC is a better choice for the money.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L USM II Review By The Phoblographer

 

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark II Sharper Than Mark I, But There Are Variations

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When the EF 24-70 f/2.8L Mark II came out earlier this year it started lots of discussions, mainly because of the hefty price tag ($2299). With this price tag, basically same specs and no image stabilization this lens had to be very good. Indeed, this lens has an amazing image quality.

Roger Cicala at Lensrentals com compared the previous iteration of the EF 24-70 f/2.8L to the new one using Imatest to measure the resolution properties of both lens. Well, the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II sharpness figures are excellent, better than it predecessor. But there was more Roger Cicala wanted to learn. There have been concerns by users that some copies of the EF 24-70mm didn't have the sharpness they were expecting. He compared 70 copies of the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II to 125 copies of the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 to see if and how much variation there was in the resolution figures. There is, look at the next picture.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark II Sharper Than Mark I, But There Are Variations

While the Mark II is clearly topping the Mark I, there are huge differences among both batches. Quoting Roger Cicala:

A look at the graph shows a couple of things. Overall, the range of variation of the Mk II lens is about the same as the Mk I version. (And these are recent Mk Is after we learned how to keep the 70mm variation to a minimum. It used to be much greater.)

You can also see that three of the tested Mk II lenses seem to be out-of-sorts. Even with 70 copies, though, it’s hard to be absolutely certain where the ‘acceptable’ cutoff should be by just looking at the graph. […]

The bottom line is that 3 lenses out of the 70 copies were not up to expectations. That is a bit higher than the 2% unacceptable rate we usually see ‘out of the box’.

One other thing demonstrates the difficulty we have with one of the less-than-expected copies; they’re still better than the best of the 24-70 Mk I versions. They just aren’t as much better as they should be.

Ok, so the worst performing of the Mark II is better than the best performing of the Mark I lens, but variation is pronounced. There is more in Cicala's post, for instance the EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS II is compared to the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II at 70mm. Check it out.

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

EF 24-70mm f/2.8 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA [lensrentals via petapixel]

 

[Review] EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II Latest Reviews Round-Up

Lighter and smaller than the original, yet solid and sturdy, the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II is causing lots of discussion, mainly because of the price tag of $2200. Let’s start with some first impressions by fstoppers. More detailed is the lens test performed by lensrentals.com (comparison with other similar lenses). The EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II has an outstanding sharpness and resolution:

The resolution absolutely, positively kicks butt and takes names. It is way better than the lens it replaces. It’s better at 70mm than the best Canon zoom I know of, the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II. It’s even better at 24mm than the sharpest 24mm prime we have, the Canon 24 TS-E. In the center, in the corners, it doesn’t care. We only had 5 copies to test, but they were all very similar with little copy-to-copy variation.

Another test comes from borrowlenses.com, with comparisons with other lenses and interactive test charts.

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II specifications:

  • Large f/2.8 Aperture Through Zoom Range
  • UD Lenses Minimize Chromatic Aberrations
  • Reduced Spherical Aberrations
  • Highly Resistant to Dust and Water
  • 9-Blade Diaphragm For Beautiful Bokeh
  • Lens Coatings Minimizes Ghosting
  • Fluorine Coating Reduces Fingerprints
  • Zoom Lock Lever For Safe Transporting

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA EF 24-70mm f/2.8 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA