Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L II

[DJL329]

$2300 and no IS...interesting.

I don't see any price listed in their press release or on their website. Can you link the source?

http://usa.canon.com/cusa/about_canon/newsroom?pageKeyCode=pressreldetail&docId=0901e0248044cf6e

After the 4th paragraph:

"The EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens is expected to be available in April for an approximate retail price of $2,299.00."

[Positron]

$2300 and no IS...interesting.

I don't see any price listed in their press release or on their website. Can you link the source?

http://usa.canon.com/cusa/about_canon/newsroom?pageKeyCode=pressreldetail&docId=0901e0248044cf6e

After the 4th paragraph:

"The EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens is expected to be available in April for an approximate retail price of $2,299.00."

Yikes. 

[ferdi]

http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/ef_lens_lineup/ef_24_70mm_f_2_8l_ii_usm

About 150g less heavy? That's not too bad, I wonder if they left out the front element again.
I think I'll start saving up for this lens (or just sell my 7D and 17-55), especially if they also fixed (or reduced) the field curvature. But I will wait for the some proper reviews first, and by that time the price might also have dropped a little.

[briansquibb]

You can assume that the street price will be much less than the rrp. I would guess about $1800 at most on the street

[sanj]

Disappointed!!
Doubt if Tamron will have same IQ at 2.8 where it matters.
Guess I will stick to my 24-105. 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I looks that the II vers. is much sharper in the corners as the I vers.
I will be interesting how the new Tamron will perform. Is there a MTF Chart from the new Tamron around?

Canon 24-70 II on the left - Canon 24-70 I on the right:

Yes the performance appears as if it may be truly stunning. For an even bigger shock compare it to lenses such as the 24 2.8 IS, 24 1.4L II, 70-200 2.8 IS II, 70-300L IS and yikes but it pretty much appears to match or beat them all! Crazy.

[Gcon]

I'm super excited about this lens! I'll buy it for whatever $ tag they put on it!

I've been studying MFTs and wow - great stuff! I have the new 8-15mm fisheye and the color, sharpness and punch blew me away when I took test shots. Simply stunning! After I took the shots I learned how to read MFT and yep - it's way up there. This new lens has similar MFTs so I know what to expect now, which is why i'm so pumped!

Edge/corner sharpness. The release says "crisp clear edges around the subject". Woohoo! - finally Canon are doing something about this horrible issue! I so hope they update their f/2.8 and f/4 wide angle zooms to improve edge-to-edge sharpness like the new 24-70 and new fisheye. The signs are there.

So they've updated the 70-200mm f/2.8 (I bought it) and it's sensational (in hindsight a 82mm would've been good!). Now they have updated the standard f/2.8 zoom.  Next on the hitlist - Canon get your act together and bring out a decent f/2.8 wide angle zoom! (one that has a filter thread please!). It surely has to be in development!

PS. I was right about my earlier post about the switch being a zoom lock

PPS. I'm putting my 24-70, 24-105 and 100L macro on ebay as soon as I get this new lens.

[DzPhotography]

Meh. I'll probably gonna buy it anyway, sooner or later...

[cps_user]

An interesting observation from DPreview:

"Ultimately, the most interesting thing about these launches is the fact that Canon feels the need to update various full-frame lenses, almost as if something likely to test the quality of its existing versions was in the offing."

[EchoLocation]

2300 dollars.... pretty harsh. I was expecting/hoping for more like 1800/1900 and be able to buy for 1500 or 1600 eventually... looks like 1800 will end up being the discounted price.  One of the major reasons for me to favor Canon over Nikon was their reasonable lens prices... With this one, i'm not feeling too thrilled about that anymore.
I'm hoping the 5DX comes in at 2500 dollars or less!

[waving_odd]

I looks that the II vers. is much sharper in the corners as the I vers.
I will be interesting how the new Tamron will perform. Is there a MTF Chart from the new Tamron around?

Canon 24-70 II on the left - Canon 24-70 I on the right:

Yes the performance appears as if it may be truly stunning. For an even bigger shock compare it to lenses such as the 24 2.8 IS, 24 1.4L II, 70-200 2.8 IS II, 70-300L IS and yikes but it pretty much appears to match or beat them all! Crazy.

Exactly!  At corner when wide open and at 70mm end, this 24-70 II seems to have both better contrast and resolving power than that of 70-200 f/2.8 IS II which is arguably the best Canon zoom lens ever made.

http://usa.canon.com/CUSA/assets/app/images/Lenses_2010/EF70-200mm/profile/ef70-200lisiiu_wide_mtf.gif:

[KitH]

 Canon site:  "The lens also features a zoom lock lever to secure the zoom position for safe transport" 

so is it only there to secure the lens at it's shortest length whilst travelling, rather than being a lock to keep the lens at any focal length?

[cps_user]

guess you can use it for both? You should be able, for 2300 big ones

[candyman]

I looks that the II vers. is much sharper in the corners as the I vers.
I will be interesting how the new Tamron will perform. Is there a MTF Chart from the new Tamron around?

Canon 24-70 II on the left - Canon 24-70 I on the right:

Yes the performance appears as if it may be truly stunning. For an even bigger shock compare it to lenses such as the 24 2.8 IS, 24 1.4L II, 70-200 2.8 IS II, 70-300L IS and yikes but it pretty much appears to match or beat them all! Crazy.

Exactly!  At corner when wide open and at 70mm end, this 24-70 II seems to have both better contrast and resolving power than that of 70-200 f/2.8 IS II which is arguably the best Canon zoom lens ever made.

http://usa.canon.com/CUSA/assets/app/images/Lenses_2010/EF70-200mm/profile/ef70-200lisiiu_wide_mtf.gif:

If Canon is able to create a lens that performs so well, who knows we may see updates of other lenses soon?
Still, I love to see reviews and sample images based on real use of this lens.

[DarkKnightNine]

$2300 and no IS...interesting.

Yeah, it looks like someone at Canon has a sense of humor or are just out of touch with the economic times. Nowadays customers expect more for less, not less for more.