Before you fill your hand with the Canon EF 24–70mm f/2.8L USM zoom lens, you’d better be a digital photographer at the top of your game because this is generally considered one of the lenses more professionals use than any other. You don’t want to be wasting the firepower of this lens on casual, everyday photography. You better look and work seriously when you take aim with this sharpshooter.
Its versatility is legendary, as a near-perfect choice for weddings and portraits. It’s also a superior tool in the hands of photojournalists, sports photographers who work indoors and landscape photographers using a full-frame body.
For the wedding photographer, the Canon EF 24–70mm easily frames virtually all individual portraits and group shots. Its fast f/2.8 aperture makes for good indoor photos in available light.
On a full-frame camera body, portrait photographers will be able to use the special characteristics of the Canon EF 24–70mm to enhance client images. The minor pincushion distortion at 70mm will actually cause a subject to appear thinner; and portraits framed at a tight 70mm will be more appealing because of the greater distance between the camera and subject.
2. Can You Take Me Wider?
The Canon EF 24–70mm f/2.8L USM replaces the 28–70mm f/2.8 L-series lens, which was just outside the ultra-wide-angle range. With this newer lens, Canon takes you to the beginning of ultra-wide-angle at 24mm, expanding your world of creativity.
3. Man Up!
Some photographers and reviewers consider the 28–70mm f/2.8 lens’ length and weight to be a negative…the whooses! At 33.6 oz., this is a rugged, solid lens that may seem a bit weighty at first, but man up! It’s a good workout for your guns.
It’s also an extremely comfortable lens and the configuration of the controls are within easy reach, and very logical. The EF 24–70mm f/2.8L is carefully sealed to prevent dust and moisture penetration.
4. Looking for an Edge.
When you pull this puppy from its holster, you better know how to take advantage of the sharpness edge the Canon EF 24–70mm gives you over most other lenses. The outlines of subjects and objects at the center of the frame are so clean and precise that you might expect then to slide off the background of the image. The corners do go a bit soft at the wide end of the focal range, especially from 50 to 70mm. You can compensate for this, however, by using a narrower aperture, f/5.6 or smaller.
5. Keep Vignetting Where It Belongs.
The ultra-wide-angle end of this Canon lens at 24mm and the very fast f/2.8 aperture pushes the boundaries of digital photography science, so it’s no wonder some vignetting occurs at these extreme specifications. It’s very well contained, however, and you don’t have to move much toward the middle of the focal length and aperture scale before vignetting begins to disappear.
Vignetting in the Canon EF 24–70mm isn’t much of an issue, however, since you’ll have very few, of any, reasons to shoot at 24mm and f/2.8, simultaneously.
6. Optical Impact.
Canon also improved the optics of the EF 24–70mm f/2.8L significantly with 16 elements in 13 groups, which include two aspherical elements and a totally new UD glass element. Important image components—color, contrast and saturation—are rather amazing. The wide, 8-blade aperture creates a beautiful bokeh, or background blur, giving your images great dimensionality. Considering this is a zoom lens, chromatic aberration is well managed and the evident barrel distortion is to be expected. It occurs at the wide end, with a bit of a bulge in the middle of the frame, but as you move from 24 to 35mm, the barrel distortion will recede. Minor pincushion distortion appears at 50mm, but diminishes at 70mm.
7. Fast-Draw Auto-Focus
The Ring USM (Ultrasonic Motor) AF system in the Canon EF 24–70mm f/2.8 is one of the pro’s favorite features of this lens. It takes a lens that is built with this much quality to have an auto-focus that is so quiet, fast and precise. With this system, Full-Time Manual (FTM) focusing is activated. Pros also like that this lens neither lengthens nor the 77mm filter ring turns when focused.
8. Move Closer to the Action.
The excellent minimum focus distance of the Canon EF 24–70mm f/2.8 L USM lens will bring you closer to subjects and objects to reveal interesting details, patterns and textures. It’s easy to attach extension tubes for 1:1 magnification to open the world of miniatures to your camera and creativity.
9. A Better Lens Over a Better Body
The old photography adage that it’s better to buy a better lens than a better body is totally proven by the image quality and performance of the Canon EF 24–70mm. It is definitely worth its $1,200 to $1,400 price tag, depending on where you purchase it. You can buy a non-pro lens, but you’ll never be able to regain (with editing software) the details and the colors a lower-cost lens can’t capture. That’s one of the best reasons to buy this Canon lens and why the pros don’t hesitate to rely on it.