In this post, we are looking at something that is the best of the best in talking about the latest DSLR lenses in the market.
This is one of Canon’s world-class professional lenses that most people miss out when making their buying decision because they get away with a different lens just because of the salesman’s tactics deployed on them the camera accessory shop.
This has a focal length of 24mm-70mm with an aperture of f2.8 and comes with a USM and belongs to the “L” ii series family. It has better optics, better build quality, better autofocus control, and a few more features.
And in case you were wondering what the heck is “USM,” “L,” and “ii,” ‘‘USM’’ stands for Ultrasonic Motor. In contrast, ‘‘L’’ basically stands for ‘‘Luxury” as Canon loves to call it because the lenses in that family are so expensive and are better overall than any other lenses that they currently produce and ‘‘ii’’ is for Mark ii, meaning that it is the second version of that specific lens which most probably could be some internal redesigns and some improvements to performance overall.
As I mentioned above, this is the second version of the 24mm-70mm f2.8 USM L lens, which has been upgraded to be better, and Canon claims to have improved the picture quality and made the lens a bit smaller and lighter, which potentially results in a higher price tag than the previous version of this specific lens.
And the price tag for this elegant looking eagle is around $1699, which is an astonishing amount of money for just a lens.
It aims at the professional market, and most likely, it can be seen used by wedding and press photographers.
And guess what, guys, for the amount of cash you are putting on the table for this bad boy is so worth it.
So, let’s find out why!
First off, want to clear this out of the way, primarily this lens is aimed at the Canon’sCanon’s expensive flagship professional Full Frame cameras. But still using it on an APS-C camera is also an option if you need to.
The lens starts at an extensive-angle of 24mm, and remember that’s on a Full Frame camera, so imagine for a bit how large the effective picture area is and zooms up to 70mm.
But one thing to note is that, at the same time, 70mm is also not that far to zoom away into, especially for a Full Frame camera, but still I find it very useful for most of the people out there who gets the majority of their work done just with the use of this single lens.
And most importantly, the lens has a wide maximum aperture of f2.8 completely throughout its entire focal range, which means it can let in a lot of light, which is especially great for indoor or nighttime photography getting a faster shutter speed or even for some top-notch night video work.
If you are a bokeh lover, it can also give you that beautiful out of focus background that slower camera lenses cannot do.
Build
The lens is big and very solid and a bit heavy but not too heavy or anything. It's certainly much lighter than its original-previous version. Also, there’s a lot of plastic construction going on the lens, although its outstanding quality plastic.
This lens is also weather-sealed, and generally speaking, its pretty tough, meaning it can probably survive in challenging environments like even in a warzone.
The front element of the lens extends as you zoom in.
The focus ring is large and works smoothly.
And as usual, as a lens at this price range, it can also have full-time manual focusing. So, you can turn that focus ring anytime without the fear of getting your subjects out of focus.
The front element of the lens does not extend or rotate as you change focus.
The USM autofocus motor inside this beast is lightning fast and very accurate.
However, if you are shooting in a super quiet room, you will hear some low volumed whooshing noise meaning it's just not completely silent.
But unfortunately, there is no image stabilization in this lens, especially when thinking about a lens at this price range, which is even more expensive than its predecessor. It’s one of the most popular features in a lens most of the still photographers, and handheld videographers need. It does sort of make someone feel disappointed and feel like it’s a deal-breaker, but it's not.
But, the lens is made to a very high standard, which lets you think it's worth your hard-earned cash.
Image Quality
Image quality is astonishing and super sharp with a lot more contrast than its predecessor, the Canon 24mm-70mm f2.8 USM L lens.
But the corners are not quite perfect as the middle of an image, but they are pretty close to that quality.
You’ll see excellent sharpness levels even in the furthest corners.
But, when you start zooming in, still, the image quality in the middle of the image is perfect, but the corners will be a little bit softer. Still, it's not by any means because you can regain the quality back by making a slight change in the aperture settings for the best quality possible.
Overall, the Canon 24mm-70mm f2.8 USM L ii lens always gives your images the best sharpness possible with fantastic colors and contrast levels.
The lens also performs stable enough on an APS-C camera, but someone can expect a bit more sharpness in the images' corners.
It also performs exceptionally well for vignetting and even a little better than average for distortion.
The lens can also focus averagely closely to your subject, and it's good enough for closeups like flowers and other small things as well.
The lens also works averagely well against bright light. You may lose a little bit of contrast and get quite a bit of flaring even though they could have made it better, but that’s fine, in my humble opinion, because we can’t always expect everything to be perfect all the time.
The lens also has some pretty cool looking quality bokeh. Even the wider aperture can give you a quite bit of out of focus background, and that out of focus background looks gorgeous, smooth, and non-distracting outstanding performance, especially for a zoom lens.
So, should you buy the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens?
Well, the lens gives you beautiful looking sharp, punchy images that will come out to you with fantastic sharpness, especially in the middle of your pictures and right corners.
The quality of the bokeh you can expect is pretty excellent on this lens, and generally, you can get brilliant looking pictures.
And most importantly and indeed, the lens has got way better than its previous version, the predecessor Canon 24mm-70mm f2.8 USM L lens.
The lens's optical quality is also pretty well most of the time, but they could have brewed some more magic into this high-end professional lens even though it’s an excellent lens for this price tag.
And it's genuinely a fantastic camera lens. If you are looking for the best performing professional zoom lens available on the market right now and then hands down, this is the best lens you can afford right now that your next projects would be waiting.
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