News: Just launched! Canon expands EF lens range

[Nicolas Claris]

Read here in the European CPN
One can scratch its head as why a 24 and a 28 mm gets IS and not the 24-70…

[Asher Kelman]

........ and that Tamron has addressed this with a full frame 24-70 image stabilized lens built to pro quality! They must have been dancing when they saw the specs of Canon's 24-70 II, LOL.

Asher

[Cem_Usakligil]

Even without the IS, the new 24-70 is very interesting. I am looking forward to seeing the results of some real life testing. If the price is reasonable (which I doubt that it will be), this may be my next street lens.

[Jerome Marot]

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

If the price is reasonable (which I doubt that it will be), this may be my next street lens.

The price is likely to be around 2000€. The old 24-70 was much cheaper, but it was an older design (dating to 2004, I think).

As to "street lens", the f/2.8 zooms are big and heavy... (although the Tamron 28-75 is actually much more compact and a third of the weight, but only 28mm) and I usually find that 24mm is not wide enough. Most of the travel pictures I presented lately were shot with a 16-35, for example (the night pictures were shot with a 35mm f/1.4).

[Cem_Usakligil]

Originally Posted by Jerome Marot

The price is likely to be around 2000€. The old 24-70 was much cheaper, but it was an older design (dating to 2004, I think).

As to "street lens", the f/2.8 zooms are big and heavy... (although the Tamron 28-75 is actually much more compact and a third of the weight, but only 28mm) and I usually find that 24mm is not wide enough. Most of the travel pictures I presented lately were shot with a 16-35, for example (the night pictures were shot with a 35mm f/1.4).

As I wrote, 2000 euro won't be a reasonable price.
With respect to what constitutes a street lens to ME, I'll be the judge of it thanks.

[Jerome Marot]

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

With respect to what constitutes a street lens to ME, I'll be the judge of it thanks.

Sorry. I was not trying to tell you what you should use. And my experience with street photography is quite limited, so I am probably not the right person to do that anyway.

[Bob Latham]

Originally Posted by Nicolas Claris

One can scratch its head as why a 24 and a 28 mm gets IS and not the 24-70…

I would guess (it's only a guess and I stand to be corrected) that it's down to the current state of "IS unit miniturisation" as there is very little space available in a retro focus wide angle lens. A lens capable of 70/2.8 would require the IS unit to move a mass potentially 7x heavier than that in a 28/2.8 lens....quite a different challenge.
The retro focus EF-S lenses win here due to the smaller optics required for the reduced image circle.

Bob

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

Even without the IS, the new 24-70 is very interesting. I am looking forward to seeing the results of some real life testing. If the price is reasonable (which I doubt that it will be), this may be my next street lens.

I agree, it looks very interesting, although the (initial) price will probably be high.

If the MTF curves correspond to what we'll see in practice (and Canon's MTF curves usually give a good clue), then the new lens is going to be much better than the older model (which is not bad at all, just an older less optimized design). The new Aspherical Lens molding techniques by Canon are apparently paying off. Corner performance is much better and it's overall sharper. Internal reflections are reduced, including reflections between the sensor and rear lens element.

Click on the image to go to the Canon USA website


Click on the image to go to the Canon USA website

The 9-blade aperture should help in getting good bokeh, but we'll have to see that first because Canon's modern lens designs can be a bit unforgiving in the OOF regions, particularly in the foreground OOF areas. Maybe that's why they increased the number of blades, to compensate.

The fact that the new lens is some 15% lighter, despite the larger filter size, is helpful because the older design is quite something to lug along.

Cheers,
Bart

[Asher Kelman]

Bart,

Given the new 24-75 2.8L improvements, where does this leave the 24-105 L IS? I see about half of the wedding photographers using it compared to the 24-70. Now, I wonder if more will upgrade.

Asher

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Originally Posted by Asher Kelman

Bart,

Given the new 24-75 2.8L improvements, where does this leave the 24-105 L IS? I see about half of the wedding photographers using it compared to the 24-70. Now, I wonder if more will upgrade.

Hi Asher,

Well, the MTF curves for the 24-105mm don't look as good compared to the new 24-70mm, especially in the corners. It is also a stop slower, but it does have a bit more reach.

I guess it's a matter of shooting habits, if one needs the reach or the quality. I know when I shot weddings, we used fixed focal lengths because of the quality. We were changing lenses and film during the ceremony on a single 35mm body for the wedding, and a 6x6 for the formal (group) portraits. One can of course also choose to use multiple bodies with different lenses.

The price of the new lens may be prohibitive, since many wedding photographers also don't shoot with the EOS series 1 bodies but with the prosumer bodies like the 5D Mark II.

Cheers,
Bart