24-70 II

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Wow, just saw some RAW samples taken on the wide end, stopped down, testing landscape-type performance. And wow they looked good. Never seen any zoom ever deliver that on FF before, well at least not any wide or standard range zoom (some of the 70-200 and 70-300 type zooms have been pretty amazing for some time).

While canon sensor division sleeps and their body division largely stumbles and milks (other than putting 1DX AF into 5D3 which was genius) their lens division carries on as always, charging ahead, hitting new performance marks, always innovating. Looks like they did deliver the best standard zoom ever (maybe there is so esoteric brand or scientific something but ignoring that stuff)! Wow, really impressive looking, looked sharp to the extreme edges and even extreme corners looked very solid. Yes, stopped down, but try that at 24mm or 28mm on any other zoom on a FF and you get mush to one degree or another.

Canon has really been on a roll recently with one amazing lens after another.
Well done.

[Invertalon]

Link to these samples?

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Link to these samples?

nearish the end of this page:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1143272/8

[Invertalon]

Thanks!

I opened them up and surprised at the distortion... Mustache like, a little disappointing actually. Also see some CA toward the edge of the frame.

Resolution looks good for the most part. Hope when I get mine I am happy with it!

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Thanks!

I opened them up and surprised at the distortion... Mustache like, a little disappointing actually. Also see some CA toward the edge of the frame.

Resolution looks good for the most part. Hope when I get mine I am happy with it!

yeah the distortion was a bit of a shock, way more than the 24 1.4 II and even more than the 24-70 I it seems, but no worse than the tamron 28-75 or 24-105 (not that that says much) and it does seem to be a mustache type which is a bit messy (that said the fabled zeiss 21mm has some) a bit unfortunate but maybe it lets then get the amazing sharpness to the corners

Yeah, it has a touch of CA but even the 24 1.4 II has a bit, only the 24 T&S II is really free of that and it's a lot less than the 24-105 has

And the sharpness to the edges looks great, way better than 24-105 and clearly better than 24-70 I and tamron 28-75 too.

[Invertalon]

I know the 24-105 has barrel distortion, but nothing like that...

But this is coming form somebody who uses a Samyang 14mm with the most epic mustache distortion around... I just fix up those images that require it.

That being said, for a $2300 optic, I wish they were able to do a bit more correction with the distortion. But I am guessing it would take away the sharpness they were trying to obtain, or something of the sort.

I have mine pre-ordered... But I just hope I feel it is worth it. I see very mixed sample shots with this lens that worry me a bit and if I should just keep my trusty 24-105!  Worst case scenario is I return the 24-70 II and get my pancake lens back for a mid-range f/2.8 lens.

[Marsu42]

I opened them up and surprised at the distortion... Mustache like, a little disappointing actually. Also see some CA toward the edge of the frame.

Could this be due to production and qc issues? The long delay of the lens indicates they had problems with it, and maybe it's naive to assume they fixed them at last - the alternative is that they simply couldn't get away with another delay and just started selling it.

The other possibility is that they're currently also selling sub-par lenses because of the huge demand from people who sold their mk1 half a year ago and pre-ordered the mk2. Maybe the second batch after a few month might be better?

[Invertalon]

Highly doubtful... I really think that is just to be expected with this lens design. There will be slight copy variation lens to lens, no doubt... But distortion is generally not one of those variations.

What is being made now is most likely what is being made years from now... Very very small changes in production, possibly. But they would not release sub-par products early on, that is just silly and stupid for a company to do. Imagine if that was the case? Canon can get a TERRIBLE bad reputation extremely quickly if found out.

The delays in product are just normal. Maybe they had other priorities on the product lines (5D3, 1DX, super-tele's, etc...) before they switched over to the 24-70 and had to make upgrades to robotic equipment to produce the lenses or something of the sort. I don't think it will have to do with actual changes to the lens, just the methods to build the lens. Just like some car manufacturers, they must upgrade production and assembly lines for new car models. Canon probably had to do the same. The delays could simply be just due to this reason and nothing at all with the lens design. Everybody assumes it has to do with the design or final tweaks to the lens itself but I honestly think it was final tweaks to the production equipment more than anything. Most likely once that was figured out, they tested with test lenses and made sure production was outputting ideal lenses to spec. Once that was complete, they start mass production which we will have in our hands once orders get filled.

I would not think much into it though... This lens is finalized and complete. Production is running and I am sure a few containers on ships and planes are currently en-route to the US and other countries to start fulfilling demand. I don't think the lens itself will change internally at all, unless a fault is discovered and most likely be "recalled" and repaired at local facilities if your lens is apart of that said batch.

I wouldn't worry about early copies, though. Canon does not tend to have issues like Tamron with elements falling out

[drjlo]

After my experience with pre-ordering from Canon, namely 5D III with its "light-leak," issues with compatibility with third party accessories (e.g. teleconverters, wirless triggers), and the recent sudden price drops, I have learned NEVER to pre-order any new product from Canon, especially something this expensive. 

I plan to see how things really shake out in the next 6-12 montsh with 24-70 II..

[Invertalon]

Light leak? Really 

That was basically a made up issue as far as I am concerned... It has been found to happen to the past few generations of bodies, not just with 5D3. It was not until the 5D3 did people actually find it. Mostly because they wanted to find fault in it (very few faults). So the best they found was light leak and banding in shadows.

My 5D3 has the light leak and yet to show any signs of hurting my images... I shoot with my cap off! So non-issue. Canon has my 5D3 currently and I did not request the fix to be done for free, as it is a silly issue to rip the camera apart.

But I do agree on price... This lens will prob go down to $1899 or so after 6 months or so. So best to wait, if you can.

[risc32]

since when is it canon't job to make it's products work well with third party accessories?

[hambergler]

Anyone that ordered this month from one of the big etailers get theirs yet? (Amazon, B&H, Adorama, Crutchfield etc.)

I am just wondering how far back I am in the queue and wondering how many have shipped so far.

I ordered on the 13th from Crutchfield and am hoping to get it at least a couple weeks before Halloween.

[HughHowey]

Anyone that ordered this month from one of the big etailers get theirs yet? (Amazon, B&H, Adorama, Crutchfield etc.)

I am just wondering how far back I am in the queue and wondering how many have shipped so far.

I ordered on the 13th from Crutchfield and am hoping to get it at least a couple weeks before Halloween.

I've noticed Amazon's page for the 24-70 doesn't specify version II, but it does have the high price. The release date is wrong. Any idea if you order this lens you're getting the newer one? Last I checked, it said there were a few left in stock. Not sure what you're buying, though.

[Marsu42]

I've noticed Amazon's page for the 24-70 doesn't specify version II, but it does have the high price.

Most certainly the old one, Amazon will be very specific. The price of the mk1 has gone up ridiculously lately, it'll only drop when the mk2 is on the shelves in numbers.

[Invertalon]

I picked up my 24-70 II last night from PC Nation... I just called and confirmed they still indeed have stock and not a fluke with the online status. Mine is being shipped tonight and overnighted to me (just got off phone with them just now). Since I was a first time customer they did a verification over the phone to my house phone number, that way they could release the order faster and ship it ASAP.

I have learned to never pre-order... Same thing with 5D3... I got it before Adorama/B&H/Amazon through The Imaging World. They had stock one day and had it the next. Best to just find through another vendor if you want it quicker than a pre-order list (esp if not at the top of it).