The Great 24-70 vs 24-105 Debate

[Fast Glass]

I just want to ask about image quality between the two lenses. Which one is sharper? According to the charts, it seems that the 24-105 is a bit sharper than the 24-70

At a 1 or 2 focal lengths the 24-105 is a LITTLE BIT sharper, but overal the 24-70 is better. And by a significant amount at wider apertures, like f/4 and f/5.6. Remember, Bryan's crops are not all the way to the extreme corner. So differances at certain focal lengths arenot visible in the charts, so ifyou see a significant differance inhischarts in the corners then the corners will beeven worse when you look at the full rez picture in the extremecorners.I think the most obvious differance between the two is at 24mm, the 24-70 is a little worse in the center but significantly better in the corners with about half of the distortion.


At atypical landscape aperture of f/11 they are about the same.


Hope this helps,


John.

[neuroanatomist]

Mike, the 24-105mm suffers from significant distortion at the wide end, much more than the 24-70mm. If you plan to use it a lot in the 24-35mm range (you called this a wide angle choice in your first post) and shoot buildings or indoor shots (both may give you straight features at the edges of your frame), you might want to take that into account.

[Fast Glass]

Oh, I almost forgot. Although you can correct for distortion in DPP, it will soften it and make the image less wide. The less distortion the better, even with digital magic....[]


John.

[Jordan]

Well I only read the very first response you got (since I don't want to read all 20-something responses) but I dend to agree. 70mm vs 105mm isn't really a "dilemma" with wildlife. Neither is close enough. Plus, you have the 100-400 for that. f/4 is of course slower, but the IS helps to balance out some of that. Still, though, I'd go with the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM. Have you purchased it yet though, because I hear they may come out with an IS version of that soon! I used to own the 24-105 f/4 IS and liked it, but eventually ended up getting rid of it and purchasing the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. I have a 7D and 50D so that's why. That's my two cents!

[btaylor]

I hear they may come out with an IS version of that soon!

Iheld out forwhat seemed like an eternity when I first read those rumours, 12 months passed until I bought it (didn't need it until then anyway). My point is, there'll always be something better/ updated on the horizon, who knows how distant that horizon might be though.