Three new Lenses Announced: 24-70 f/2.8, 24 f/2.8 and 28 f/2.8

[Dave Johnston]

Having two primes that close in focal length to each other with a relatively narrow aperture (in comparison to your typical 2.0 - 1.4) now with image stabilization going for twice the price of a faster (f1.8) lens of the same focal length? Sure the IQ will probably be better, but it seems like a small step forward for a bigger step back.

Personally I would have liked to see at least an f2 on the 28mm. I would have jumped right on that, but with it being the same as my 24-70. I am not gonna drop 800 bucks on a repeat focal length and aperture just for IS.

And getting onto the 24-70. It had great optical quality already! Bigger filter size? No image stabilization? Booo! I cant imagine there will be a significant enough improvement in the IQ for me or anyone else (edit: without large amounts of disposable income) with the current 24-70 to drop almost 1000 extra bucks for a rehashing of an already great lens. I am pretty confused by canons recent lens release.

The new 70-200 IS upgrade made sense to me. It had better IS and truly amazing upgrade in Image quality. That is something I can understand blowing an extra 600-700 on.

It really is too bad the short primes aren't faster though. Having IS would have been nice.

[rlriii13]

I feel a bit novice in this discussion, but is there any chance these released lenses are targeted at videographers instead of still folk?

[ham]

I like the sound of wide-ish primes with IS, but why pick those two and not one of the faster ones?

[bigblue1ca]

Not impressed that the 24-70 2.8 II doesn't have IS. If it would have been $2500 with IS and heavier, I'd have been fine with that. I would love to hear Canon's rational for not including IS.

So many decisions....With IS that lens was a sure buy, but now I have to decide if I want to suck it up and still buy the 24-70 II, or buy the 24-70 I or 24-105 instead, or see if I can continue to live with a 16-35, 50, 70-200. For the time being I'm sticking with the last option until the 5DIII is released as I want to see if it's specs will meet my needs and allow me to save the $$$ of buying the 1DX, which I could then spend on a 24-70 II.

[Dr Croubie]

I feel a bit novice in this discussion, but is there any chance these released lenses are targeted at videographers instead of still folk?

I didn't think of that, but yes, that's certainly a possibility. Only 'amateur' videogs with 5D2 and 7Ds though, "real" videogs that can afford a c300 or the new videodslr they haven't announced yet will be using a steadicam or a proper dolly.

I've got to say that I was most excited by these two primes more than the 24-70ii or the d800.
For years everyone has been complaining to canon that:
a) they haven't updated a prime without "tse", "L", or "Macro" in its title for more than 15 years.
b) there were no "aps-c normal" equivalent primes with any decent IQ, the 28/1.8, 28/2.8, 35/2 were really old and had not the best IQ, even the sigma 30/1.4 wasn't the best wide-open.
I ended up going the Samyang 35/1.4 route because of the stellar iq, equal-fastest-in-class aperture, and tiny pricetag, i'd have traded a bit of all of them for AF.

Now, I know that these new primes are 'only' f/2.8, and that having a 7D I could just as easily replace them with an EF-s 17-55, but I don't have that sort of money.
Problem is, for those prices, the 17-55 makes a lot more sense.

Now, for FF-users, there's a bit more grey area. 24/1.4L with associated pricetag and soft corners? 24-70 f/2.8 II for zoom and same fast aperture (presumably the IQ will be nice). Or 24/2.8 / 28/2.8 with IS for a lot less than the 24-70 (i or ii).

As a 7D-user, i'll pass on these two until they're half the price they start at. But if i were a 5D2-only guy, i'd be considering them, could be useful for light-weight-FF landscapes while hiking. Or stick one on a 550D for a decent-IQ lightweight, small, covert, street camera for a tiny amount of the price of an M9...

[Positron]

As a 7D-user, i'll pass on these two until they're half the price they start at. But if i were a 5D2-only guy, i'd be considering them, could be useful for light-weight-FF landscapes while hiking. Or stick one on a 550D for a decent-IQ lightweight, small, covert, street camera for a tiny amount of the price of an M9...

Unfortunately, a GF3 with the excellent 20mm f/1.7 is less than the price of either of these primes, and is half the size and weight of a 550D.

I love Canon's products, but the pricing on these just baffles me. I can see the IS primes for video, but on the 24-70 I'm completely lost unless the IQ kicks the original version in the face.

Oh, well, at least now I don't have to dream of the new 24-70 and can go back to being practical and saving up for the 17-40 I'll be able to afford at some point this decade.

[Raid]

The RRP of the new 24-70 II is A$2,899 in Australia. The old version can be bought for A$1,649, non-grey market.
And you guys think you pay too much for Canon?

[Trowski]

Something interesting I learned today: the initial MSRP of the original 24-70mm f/2.8L was $2100 in 2002. Anyone know what the starting street price was when it first became available? Obviously it dropped a lot from there, and perhaps so will the version II. I plan on eventually getting the version II to replace my original (and maybe even my 24-105L since if those MTF charts look so promising). I'm just trying to decide if I should pre-order or wait a little while.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'm actually happy about the 82mm filter. Now I'll only need to carry one set for landscapes with the 24-70LII, 16-35LII, and TS-E24LII.

[w349]

Like many of us I've been waiting for the 24-70 f/2.8 II for at least 12 months. The first thing I did when I saw the pre-order price in the UK? Panic buy a second hand mark I. Who'd have thought I'd wait all this time just to get the current model... quite funny, really!

On the bright side I got a 6-month old 24-70 for around 80% of its new cost, and I can only assume the prices of the outgoing model will go up when version II is released. I'll probably upgrade to the mark II at some point in the future when prices are more reasonable, and after the reviewers get their paws on it.

[Thom Deevers]

Hey, I'll add another unsatisfied customer with the announced 24-70 NON IS. I guess the 2nd lens on the list to buy is now the first - 8-16mm.