24-70 f2.8L is 6 years old....

luben solev

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Can it handle the resolving power of the 21MP sensor?

Luben

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'There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.' - Ansel Adams

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'There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.' - Ansel Adams

http://solev.net

 
Unfortunately optical technology hasn't developed much in that time and even lenses Canon claims to have developed for high resolution sensors such as the 16-35II don't really outclass earlier lenses. The 24-70 is a good design, a redesigned lens may improve its resolution a little but it still wont compare with a prime when wide open. Try a 35L or the perhaps new 24L if you want to do justice to the latest sensors. Of course you dont need the last word in lenses unless you're printing really big or pixel peeping.
 
--

'There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.' - Ansel Adams

http://solev.net

 
I don't plan to print that big (A3 size max I guess, maybe occasionally do a bigger canvas print), so I guess the improvement won't apply to me.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Luben

--

'There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.' - Ansel Adams

http://solev.net

 
I have to disagree. I found my 24-70L to be wonderful on my 5D, and
is uninspiringly soft wide-open on my 1DsIII.
Original poster: note the words "wide-open". No lens is at its best when used wide open. Expect the lens to perform very well at e.g. f/4 to f/8.

(Yes, I do know that DoF will become larger when stopped down. But if you wanted shallow DoF, you wouldn't be using an f/2.8 lens anyway, would you?)

Kind regards,
  • Henrik
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And if a million more agree there ain't no great society
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I have a 50 f1.4 prime, so for shallow DOF I could always use that.

I expect that for my weddings/exhibitions I'll use f4 or greater most of the time.

For landscapes, I'll probably be using the lens between f8 & f16 (depending on the amount of DOF required by the scene). Here diffraction and not the quality of the lens will come into effect.

Thanks again for your thoughts

Luben

--

'There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.' - Ansel Adams

http://solev.net

 
Unfortunately optical technology hasn't developed much in that time
and even lenses Canon claims to have developed for high resolution
sensors such as the 16-35II don't really outclass earlier lenses. The
24-70 is a good design, a redesigned lens may improve its resolution
a little but it still wont compare with a prime when wide open.
The two new nikons, the 14-24 and 24-70 are razor sharp at F2.8 even on 300, which equals 28MP FF. Canon simply hasn't done enough to improve lens design (I hesitate to say they have done all they could).
Try a
35L or the perhaps new 24L if you want to do justice to the latest
sensors. Of course you dont need the last word in lenses unless
you're printing really big or pixel peeping.
I do have high hope for the 24L II. It's a new design not a rebadged old one like the 85II. Also it has the new nano-coating so anti-flare should be improved. You don't want to shoot into strong light with the old 24L.
Max
 
The two new nikons, the 14-24 and 24-70 are razor sharp at F2.8 even
on 300, which equals 28MP FF. Canon simply hasn't done enough to
improve lens design (I hesitate to say they have done all they could).
The fact that it is on the 300 will help the corners. My 17-40 is razor sharp corner to corner and shows little to no vignetting or distortion on my cropped 20D. On full frame it's a different story. FF is far more demanding on lenses (in the corners). That said the 14-24 is supposed to be a stunning lens (in its class), but note the previso. Any lens that wide will struggle in the corners.

Luben

--

'There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.' - Ansel Adams

http://solev.net

 
Looking at the 20D & the 5DII side by side shows that both have the same pixel density (2.4MP/cm2). So if the lenses can resolve the 20D, they should be able to resolve the 5DII.

THat of course does not look into corner performance on the FF cam, which is a whole other challenge for lenses.

--

'There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.' - Ansel Adams

http://solev.net

 

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