It's tack sharp on my 5d mkII at f/2.8, not sure where you heard that nonsense?
like a I said... a google search. I can't speak specifically as to the sharpness of your particular lens as I am sure you can't speak to the sharpness of other owners about their specific lens.
like a I said... a google search. I can't speak specifically as to the sharpness of your particular lens as I am sure you can't speak to the sharpness of other owners about their specific lens.
OK, just had a look on amazon.com, 165 people gave it 5*, 6 people gave it 1*, complaining about softness/focussing problems. I wonder how many amazon have sold, many thousands I would guess, and out of those only 6 had a major problem that annoyed them enough to slate it. It's not a soft lens, maybe there has been a few bad copies, but it is a very popular lens, so the chance of the odd bad one goes up accordingly.
There is a big difference between a lens being soft by design (i.e. every lens is soft), and having a sharp lens with rarely occurring bad copies.
This made me curious, so l searched a number of forums as well as some google searching, and I found many more favorable reviews on the 24-70 than not.
It's been my understanding that the 24-70 has been one of the choice lenses used by many wedding photogs!
I am no pro, but my lens is tack sharp!
I imagine with any lens there can be a few that are a soft copy. But as a whole, the reviews I've read on the 24-70 are very positive.
Also shooting wide open can present challenges for some to capture sharp images, no matter what lens is being used.
I think if someone is wanting to spend $1-2k to purchase an L series lens but doesn't know which lens they want, they should educate themselves, and even consider renting one or two before making their purchase. That's a large chunk of change to drop on a lens you're not even sure about. JMHO
OK, just had a look on amazon.com, 165 people gave it 5*, 6 people gave it 1*, complaining about softness/focussing problems. I wonder how many amazon have sold, many thousands I would guess, and out of those only 6 had a major problem that annoyed them enough to slate it. It's not a soft lens, maybe there has been a few bad copies, but it is a very popular lens, so the chance of the odd bad one goes up accordingly.
There is a big difference between a lens being soft by design (i.e. every lens is soft), and having a sharp lens with rarely occurring bad copies.
*shrugs* I said google search. try "canon 24-70mm soft wide open" as a key. seriously I am not just making it up to be argumentative. I 1st heard about it when sigma 24-70m HSM lens came out and they were comparing it to the 24-70mm L and nikkor version.
This made me curious, so l searched a number of forums as well as some google searching, and I found many more favorable reviews on the 24-70 than not.
It's been my understanding that the 24-70 has been one of the choice lenses used by many wedding photogs!
I am no pro, but my lens is tack sharp!
I imagine with any lens there can be a few that are a soft copy. But as a whole, the reviews I've read on the 24-70 are very positive.
Also shooting wide open can present challenges for some to capture sharp images, no matter what lens is being used.
I think if someone is wanting to spend $1-2k to purchase an L series lens but doesn't know which lens they want, they should educate themselves, and even consider renting one or two before making their purchase. That's a large chunk of change to drop on a lens you're not even sure about. JMHO
stella are you able to figure out a any lens of all the detail for how is perfect or whatever on short time?
it"s not easy i think
if i am asking and working on it long time that"s because spend lotof money on this economic isn"t easy. regards manuel
canon EOS 7D /canon 5d mark ll/ EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM/EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM/ canon lens 85mm 1.8
*shrugs* I said google search. try "canon 24-70mm soft wide open" as a key. seriously I am not just making it up to be argumentative. I 1st heard about it when sigma 24-70m HSM lens came out and they were comparing it to the 24-70mm L and nikkor version.
I just did the exact search you suggested. Seems like a mixture of:
1. People who say the lens is sharp
2. People who have soft images for other reasons (e.g. incorrectly focussed, camera shake, high ISO)
3. People who have a back focus issue with their lens (i.e. a faulty lens)
The 3rd group are by far the smallest. This is a very popular lens and thousands of professional photographers use it as their main lens at weddings etc. without any problem. My own copy is very sharp, even wide open, and that's on a 21MP camera.
Obviously if a small but significant number of these lenses are leaving the factory with a fault, that is a problem, but it doesn't mean the lens can be labelled a soft lens.
The 24-70mm f2.8L has always been a controversial lens, and obviously the controversy continues! The main issue has been the variability in calibration from the factory. There are also plenty of comments about it only being sharp stopped down from wide open.
I owned one and sold it because I was never happy with the sharpness. I replaced it with the 24-105mm f4L IS USM, and very pleased I did! The 24-70 is an old lens, and the quality, reliability and performance of the newest lenses from Canon have improved appreciably. For instance, I can get better low light shots with the 24-105 than I got with the 24-70. All 2.8's are not equal, or any aperture for that matter, across lenses. I thought the 24-70's 2.8 performance pretty useless.
However, the 24-70 produces the most beautiful color that I have ever seen.
I think you need both a good prime and a good zoom for weddings, preferably each on their own body. You obviously don't intend to use your 70-200mm f2.8 for weddings, so you will need another good zoom as well as some good prime like the one you have been debating here.
Comments
like a I said... a google search. I can't speak specifically as to the sharpness of your particular lens as I am sure you can't speak to the sharpness of other owners about their specific lens.
14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
http://www.danielkimphotography.com
OK, just had a look on amazon.com, 165 people gave it 5*, 6 people gave it 1*, complaining about softness/focussing problems. I wonder how many amazon have sold, many thousands I would guess, and out of those only 6 had a major problem that annoyed them enough to slate it. It's not a soft lens, maybe there has been a few bad copies, but it is a very popular lens, so the chance of the odd bad one goes up accordingly.
There is a big difference between a lens being soft by design (i.e. every lens is soft), and having a sharp lens with rarely occurring bad copies.
It's been my understanding that the 24-70 has been one of the choice lenses used by many wedding photogs!
I am no pro, but my lens is tack sharp!
I imagine with any lens there can be a few that are a soft copy. But as a whole, the reviews I've read on the 24-70 are very positive.
Also shooting wide open can present challenges for some to capture sharp images, no matter what lens is being used.
I think if someone is wanting to spend $1-2k to purchase an L series lens but doesn't know which lens they want, they should educate themselves, and even consider renting one or two before making their purchase. That's a large chunk of change to drop on a lens you're not even sure about. JMHO
*shrugs* I said google search. try "canon 24-70mm soft wide open" as a key. seriously I am not just making it up to be argumentative. I 1st heard about it when sigma 24-70m HSM lens came out and they were comparing it to the 24-70mm L and nikkor version.
14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
http://www.danielkimphotography.com
stella are you able to figure out a any lens of all the detail for how is perfect or whatever on short time?
it"s not easy i think
if i am asking and working on it long time that"s because spend lotof money on this economic isn"t easy. regards manuel
I just did the exact search you suggested. Seems like a mixture of:
1. People who say the lens is sharp
2. People who have soft images for other reasons (e.g. incorrectly focussed, camera shake, high ISO)
3. People who have a back focus issue with their lens (i.e. a faulty lens)
The 3rd group are by far the smallest. This is a very popular lens and thousands of professional photographers use it as their main lens at weddings etc. without any problem. My own copy is very sharp, even wide open, and that's on a 21MP camera.
Obviously if a small but significant number of these lenses are leaving the factory with a fault, that is a problem, but it doesn't mean the lens can be labelled a soft lens.
I owned one and sold it because I was never happy with the sharpness. I replaced it with the 24-105mm f4L IS USM, and very pleased I did! The 24-70 is an old lens, and the quality, reliability and performance of the newest lenses from Canon have improved appreciably. For instance, I can get better low light shots with the 24-105 than I got with the 24-70. All 2.8's are not equal, or any aperture for that matter, across lenses. I thought the 24-70's 2.8 performance pretty useless.
However, the 24-70 produces the most beautiful color that I have ever seen.
I think you need both a good prime and a good zoom for weddings, preferably each on their own body. You obviously don't intend to use your 70-200mm f2.8 for weddings, so you will need another good zoom as well as some good prime like the one you have been debating here.
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix