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Why has Canon Abandoned F/2.8?

Started Nov 18, 2014 | Discussions thread
Steve W Veteran Member • Posts: 6,999
Re: Why has Canon Abandoned F/2.8?

DavidNJ100 wrote:

A basic set of lenses consists of three zooms. For Nikon those were 12-24, 24-70, and 70-200 F2.8 zooms. For Canon they have been a 16-35, 24-70, and 70-200 F2.8 zooms. In both cases only the 70-200 have IS. Tamron and Sigma have 24-70 and 70-200 F2.8 zooms. Tamron has a 15-30 zoom coming out early next year.

Canon introduced the 70-200 in 2010 and the 24-70 in 2012 which makes them much newer than Nikon's lenses which date from 2007-2009. The two Tamron's on the market are from 2012.

Then in 2014 Canon introduced 16-35/4L IS. And it now appears we are moments from seeing a new 11-24/4L in early 2015. Canon's 16-35/2.8 dates from 2007.

Have Canon abandoned fast super wide angle lenses? For video and activities that have motion, including wedding photography, the shutter speed can't be dropped below 1/50th (video) or 1/80th second or so. Low light is often an issue.

Is Canon abandoning F2.8 under the assumption that a higher ISO can compensate? Do they expect their future cameras to have better high ISO performance?

Why do two new wide angle zooms, the EF 16-35mm f/4L IS and the EF 11-24mm f/4L, make you assume they have abandoned f/2.8? The 16-35mm f/2.8L II, while not the best landscape oriented lense is a great lens for photo journalism and events where the speed can really be taken advantage of.  Nikon had the 14-24 but no equivalent for event photography to the Canon.

For many years I used the f/2.8L II along side the Zeiss ZE 21mm and 18mm that gave me better performance for landscape work but the f/2.8 was a great lens to own.

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