Photo Plus - UK (2019-12)

The Canon Magazine 103

CANON RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM

FEATURES

VERDICT

It’s snappy, it’s sharp, it’s stabilized and it

even suppresses focus breathing... but it’s

a little rough around the edges, and at this

price point that’s enough to stop it just

short of true greatness.

FEATURES

BUILD & QUALITY

PERFORMANCE

VALUE

OVERALL

It delivers good edge sharpness but it

never hits the same level as the centre

Colour fringing is low across the zoom

and aperture range

Again, any distortions are likely to be

corrected in-camera or in post

The RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM might not offer the extreme shallow depth of field,
but it’s wide enough for differential focus and the image stabilizer is an advantage

SHARPNESS

2500

2500

1500

1500

1000

1000

500

500

C

e

n

tr

e

f/4

f/4

f/5.6

f/5.6

f/2.8

f/2.8

f/8

f/8

f/11

f/11

f/16

f/16

f/22

f/22

2500

2500

2000

2000

E

d

g

e

24mm 35mm 50mm 70mm

0

24mm 35mm 50mm 70mm

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

FRINGING (AT EDGE)

f/2.8

f/4

f22

f/16

f/11

f/8

f/5.6

–1.2 -0.6 0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 3

DISTORTION

70mm

50mm

35mm

24mm

01

The 24-70mm is

now widely accepted

as the standard pro

lens for full frame

cameras.

02

Unlike the (huge) RF

28-70mm f/2, this

lens has an arguably

more useful image

stabilizer.

03

As well as the

regular zoom and

focus rings, the

24-70 has a third,

customizable

control ring.

04

The 24-70mm has

been designed to

suppress ‘focus

breathing’ – a big

advantage for video.

05

The 82mm filter

thread sounds large,

but is shared with a

number of other

Canon pro lenses.

06

Mirrorless systems

are supposed to be

smaller, but this lens

is actually a little

longer than its EF

counterpart.

The lens performs excellently for

cinematography. The Nano USM

focusing system is as close to silent

as it gets, with fast focus acquisition

and super smooth focus following

thanks to Canon’s class-leading

Dual Pixel AF – which also does a

ÀQHMRELQFKDOOHQJLQJORZOLJKW

FRQGLWLRQVVXFKDVÀOPLQJLQGRRUV

While Canon has yet to catch up

with the rest of the market in terms

of in-body image stabilization, its

lens-based IS is quite formidable.

Whether shooting at the long end or

with slower shutter speeds, it does a

sound job of keeping your shots

sturdy – ideal for run-and-gun

wedding or events photographers

working in challenging venues.

Performance

Like the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L

IS USM kit lens, the RF 24-70mm

possesses a focus breathing

suppression system. As many

videographers will tell you through

gritted teeth, most zoom lenses

‘breathe’ as you focus

• meaning that the angle of view
  changes as you focus.
  The fact the RF 24-70mm doesn’t
  EUHDWKHLVDÀQHIHDWKHUWRLWVERZ


• it’s easy to forget that a standard
  lens isn’t just important for stills,
  but equally important for shooting
  video. To have suppression baked
  into the lens, along with 5-stop
  stabilization, makes this appealing
  indeed for cinematographers.