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16-35L mkII - First Impressions

Will Thompson

Will Thompson

Well Known Member
Hi Peter, Thank You for posting this.

I sold my 16-35 after the announcement of the MKII.

Looks like it is time to get one.

What country are You in? I do not think it is available yet in the US.

I guess I was wrong, B&H shows them in stock!
 
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

pro member
Peter Mendelson said:
I was very happy with the edge-to-edge sharpness of this lens, and am posting the following examples in case anyone is interested or has questions.
Click to expand...

I've been wondering about the actual version 'I' to version 'II' differences, personally. The full size (corner) samples that I've seen sofar haven't convinced me to upgrade from the 'version I' 16-35mm. If anyone can shed some practical light on that, it would be appreciated.

I used to own an EF 17-40mm f/4.0, but it exhibited the most horrible OOF (Out-of-focus) quality of any of my lenses, so I 'traded' it in for the 16-35mm f/2.8, much better (corner performance was not an issue on a cropped sensor array, but OOF performance 'sucked' big time).

Bart
 
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Paul Bestwick

pro member
Hey Peter,

I am pretty easy going when it comes to the subject of equipment. I tend not to stress too much about the technical details & let guys like you do all the hard yards. Then, armed with your results & a little research of my own I confidently make my decision. Based partly on your post & other positive reports, I have just purchased the 16-35 II from Adorama.
Actually, would you believe I am currently still using the 20-35 2.8L. I let two updates go by & I figure now is the time.

Cheers,

Paul
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Paul Bestwick said:
Hey Peter,

I am pretty easy going when it comes to the subject of equipment. I tend not to stress too much about the technical details & let guys like you do all the hard yards. Then, armed with your results & a little research of my own I confidently make my decision. Based partly on your post & other positive reports, I have just purchased the 16-35 II from Adorama.
Actually, would you believe I am currently still using the 20-35 2.8L. I let two updates go by & I figure now is the time.

Cheers,

Paul
Click to expand...
Paul,

After seeing the pictures here by Peter, it's not too hard to make the decision to buy the lens. This work is wonderful! Good luck on the new present!

Asher
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Peter, the B&W pictures here are outstanding. I find your rendering of cream waters appealing in spite of my general lack of preference for the common slow shutter speed milkyness. Here you have created wispy lines in the water like a new form of watery living clouds trapped in a rushing river.

This is the first time I really have enjoyed such an effect. Congratulations.

Asher.
 
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Steve Saunders

New member
Hi Peter, is the corner darkening on your FF 5D less than with the previous model of this lens? I guess you would need a few sky shots to test this and I'm assuming you already did a few?
 
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Peter Mendelson

New member
Thanks Asher. I am having a lot of fun using this lens and it will be great to take this on trips with me. Steve, I never used the previous version of this lens so I can't answer your question, but vignetting is not an issue for me at all. Sometimes I like to add vignetting, and if there is any I want to get rid of, I just dial it out using Lightroom.

Peter
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Yes, Peter, vignetting can be very desirable. I cannot remember a time in the darkroom with my late father in law, a fine MF and LF photographer, when vignetting wasn't a benefit to the final image.

The eye does not comrehend equally peripheral and central information. The secret to human understanding of anything is to grade the importance of things. Flatness is never desirable as a routine way of working. So unless there are forensic, documentary or scientific reasons for doing otherwise, to me at least, some vignetting is part of the artistic nature of the lens, not a deficit.

Now if one is using this lens for architecture or interiors of small rooms, then for sure, vignetting might be aan issue, but then this lens is not meant for that.

Asher
 
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Paul Bestwick

pro member
Hey guys,

I am definitely with Asher on this one. I am a big vignette user. It is an effect I apply in Photoshop to nearly every image I produce. Like Asher, it is not an issue that would bother me at all.
I will be getting my lens this week or next & will post an image.

Cheers,

Paul
 
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Peter Mendelson

New member
Actually, for most of those I used the default B&W conversion using Lightroom, with some tweaks to exposure and shadows (sometimes I like to clip the shadows just a bit to give them more contrast). I often use the color sliders under the grayscale option to tweak the look of my B&W shots, but for these I didn't feel that much of a need. I have a bunch of B&W Photoshop plug-ins and don't use them anymore except for Alien Skin's Exposure once in a while.

The light was perfect - overcast but not too dark. I just looked at some of these on my 50 inch plasma using my Apple TV - wow! It makes me want to print them at that size. I amazed how good my photos look on Apple TV - they really pop and are incredibly sharp.

I'm not a fisherman so I can't tell you what kind of fish are in there, but there are a lot of fisherman in the area and some fly fisherman downstream...

Peter
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
So this lens appears to be a winner. Well, how does it compare with the 24-105 at the short end?

I've used this for travel but now I have the 50mm 1.2L I hardly use it. Still I need wide! Can you compare the 24-35mm on the new lens with that range on the 24-35 2.8L.

I try to keep revising and simplifying my lens collection. I hate owning too much!

I dumped the 17-35 last year and have been reluctant to move up to the 16-35 2.8L because of little improvement in quality. Now, I feel I need to look at this again.

Asher
 
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Paul Bestwick

pro member
OK.....here it is. The first shot with my new 16-35 II. Taken in my living room. OK, I see the vignetting, not really a problem for me. Compared to my old 20-35 2.8 L the big improvement is the absence of distortion at the edges which seemed quite pronounced previously. I like it. Hopefully, this image will prove useful for the purpose of analysis.
(taken with my 1DSMKII)
Cheers,

Paul

16-35.jpg
 
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Steve Saunders

New member
In Photoshop CS2 (not sure about earlier versions), the filter Distort>Lens Correction>Vignette will get rid of the edge darkening very easily.
 
nicolas claris

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Nice living room!
yes as Steve has noted, this is not an issue and even the "old" CS had this filter/function. So do also Dxo and Lightroom.
What I also see is barreling easily identified with horizontal and vertical wood frames...
I can assure - sorry;-) that the sigma 12-24 is much better on that way... but this can also be "handeled" with Dxo or even the CS/CS2/CS3 filter Distort>Lens Correction... you can do it in same time as vignette! :)
 
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Paul Bestwick

pro member
yea I figured that the room would be perfect to demonstrate any shortcomings due to all the straight lines.......eg beams, stainless etc.
Given that my area of work is 99% people related I don't have any issue with the lens. I like what it does. I am also inclined to trust the manufacturer (Canon) to produce an item to the best standard possible. I rarely protest & can say that in all the jobs I have shot I am unable to recall a single customer complaining on account of an equipment issue. I can understand though that for some work it may prove unacceptable. Having said that though, one would think that with the modern methods of design the equipment must be at the highest peak ever in terms of quality. Better to come but for the time we are at...... superb ?

Cheers,

Paul
 
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Ralph Eisenberg

Member
Thank you Peter for the informative post that confirms very positive local reports that have convinced me to upgrade to 16-35 v.2 when I shall be able to at the end of July. I do however fear that the capture and processing talents that your post reveals will unfortunately not be in the Canon lens box sold to me. Most unfortunate.
 
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Barry Johnston

New member
EF16-35mm f/2.8 II

I'm impressed.....!! I bought my new 16-35mm lens last week and took some photos at my nieces 21st party in Brisbane. It is an extremely sharp piece of equipment. I did notice some distortion however on the edges when using it wide. I expect it was the asperical shape causing this issue. It doesn't bother me too much, but will have to be careful taking groups of people in the future.

Sample photo:
original.jpg


The lens is definitely a keeper !!

Barry.
 
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Ralph Eisenberg

Member
I've been very impressed with this lens (v2) which I've had now for somewhat over 2 months. It is a very worthwhile upgrade from v1 and I'm highly pleased with the results I've been getting using it with my 1Ds2. Color, contrast, and resolution are really very good.
 
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Barry Johnston

New member
She is a keeper....

Asher,

Her name is Kimberly. She is a very nice, quiet and sensible girl, completely unpretentious as well. She loves surfing and the sun, and lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland. She has the most incredible eyes. The young lad is my nephew Owen.

It would have be nice if you commented on how excellent my photograph is as well Ash !! :) ......

Later....
 
nicolas claris

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Barry Johnston said:
Asher,

Her name is Kimberly. She is a very nice, quiet and sensible girl, completely unpretentious as well. She loves surfing and the sun, and lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland. She has the most incredible eyes. The young lad is my nephew Owen.

It would have be nice if you commented on how excellent my photograph is as well Ash !! :) ......

Later....
Click to expand...

Hi Barry,

Yes your photograph is marvelous, but why did you frame with the boy! nonsense !-)

Sorry, couldn't resist!
 
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Barry Johnston

New member
Well actually......

Well actually I have to admit, she is rather good looking..... unfortunately a bit young for me though..... I had to take more than one pic of her, with the pretense of testing my very new 16-35mm lens... !-P

Barry
 
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