Another Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L IS mention [CR2]

Canon Rumors Guy

Canon EOS 40D
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Jul 20, 2010
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We’re again being told that an image stabilized 24-70mm f/2.8L lens is coming. This source claims there has been a lot of internal discussions whether or not to release this lens for both RF and EF mounts.
I guess the argument could be made, that if you want people embracing the EOS R system, then providing compelling lenses not available in EF would be an interesting way to make that happen.
The flip side? Ticking off the millions of EOS DSLR shooters that have no immediate plans to move to a mirrorless system.
Our bet is we’ll see both an RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS and an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS some time in the next 12-18 months.

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Talys

Canon R5
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Feb 16, 2017
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Next 12-18 months? We may all be shooting Nikonos cameras by then...
Wait, we're going to be shooting with Nikon underwater film SLRs in 12-18 months? :D

I don't know what the big rush is for 24-70/2.8IS. It's going to be a heavy and expensive lens that a lot of the people wish for it are never going to buy, because it will be, well, heavy and expensive.

I think the right launch strategy is EF and RF at the same time. It's a high end pro lens, I'm going to guess $3,000, and there's going to be a lot of 1DX owners who would consider one. It would be cool to see an RF launched/announced concurrently with EOS R "Pro" next year, I guess.
 
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Hard to believe there is a debate. Not sure how R sales are going but they didn't seem to be flying off the shelves. Very little chatter on the pre-order threads, stores have them in stock the same day pre-orders start shipping and CPW had street price discounts day 1.

Right now I'm buying my life kit, I won't be buying again unless something fails. If Canon were the only game in town maybe a lens could swing me to R but 3rd parties are already at the plate with top notch EF mount lenses so there is no need to wait on Canon or let them push you in any direction. It's a shame Canon didn't release the IS along side the current 2.8, rumors have it they had prototypes in the field. They would have had my money years ago.
 
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Won't the high end R series eventually have IBIS?
I looked at the Nikon mirrorless full frame about a week ago in Samy's and the EVF had latency when you moved the camera around. Really unpleasant. Seemed to go away when the IBIS was shut off. Might be a reason why Canon didn't implement that.
 
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It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense for there to be any internal "debate" over which mounts to make it for. Lenses aren't mulled over for years then quickly slapped together at the last moment; if the lens was going to come out in 18 months, let alone 12, that would mean prototypes are already made and the optical formula, in particular, would already be mostly in place.

Which means if there is any question over the mount then the optics can't be optimised for the R system; what you're suggesting is they do like Sigma and simply build in the basic adapter onto the EF version of the lens. Considering they are selling four adapters (three w/ two SKUs for the filter adapter), and the whole selling point of the R system being the new lens mount allowing for better designs, it makes no sense at all for Canon to develop an EF lens then build an RF adapter into it. Either they're going to design the lens for the R from the ground up, which means an optical formula which won't work properly on EF mount, or they'd make just the EF version and have people buy the existing EF-RF adapters.

If you posted this report verbatim, then whoever your sources are don't know how lenses—or any technology product, really—are developed. If you paraphrased them and wrote the copy yourself then either they don't know how these things work and/or you misunderstood what they were saying. Either way, neither of you thought through the logic of these statements.

I'll reiterate, if the lens is supposed to be on store shelves in 18 months then that means they started designing it at least one year ago—if not two years, and potentially many more—and usable prototypes are currently out there. The last 3-4 months of a lens' development are spent entirely on marketing and getting units produced ready to be shipped out for release, and the year before that is spent testing the design and making incremental tweaks. If it's 18 months away from being in public hands then its mount and the majority of the optical formula and electronics would have been laid out sometime in 2017 or earlier.

You don't spend 2-4 years coming up with a lens then right at the start of UAT start questioning whether you've put the right mount on it or not.


Hard to believe there is a debate. Not sure how R sales are going but they didn't seem to be flying off the shelves. Very little chatter on the pre-order threads, stores have them in stock the same day pre-orders start shipping and CPW had street price discounts day 1.
FWIW, here in the UK it's selling at around the same pace as the 6DmkII, 7DmkII, D500, and the average Fuji body, according to the staff of the local branch of the main UK photographic chain store. (Who generally know what they're on about.) I.E. it's not breaking any new ground but it's doing "fine". Which is about what I'd expect given that, even though new lens mounts are what have always changed the photographic industry in the past, these days everybody is just focused on which sensor can eek out another .5 stop of DR.

Right now I'm buying my life kit, I won't be buying again unless something fails. If Canon were the only game in town maybe a lens could swing me to R but 3rd parties are already at the plate with top notch EF mount lenses so there is no need to wait on Canon or let them push you in any direction. It's a shame Canon didn't release the IS along side the current 2.8, rumors have it they had prototypes in the field. They would have had my money years ago.
As it happens, I'm in a similar position but looking at the R specifically because of the lenses it offers. I'm hoping to change up my work in the new year so I won't have such high demands on gear and can go more with what I'm comfortable with rather than what fits the technical requirements; I hope to get everything done with one system and I hope to not have to update that system. Getting the next ten years done with one bag's worth of kit is my goal. "Life kit" may be stretching it, but long-term, certainly.
And to that end, the 28-70 f/2 can get a helluva lot done in just one lens, and nobody else has anything like it nor even rumoured to be working on such a lens. If that lens didn't exist or if other companies had equivalents out or upcoming, I wouldn't look twice at the R; I'd just expand my Fuji gear and buy a couple of X-H2s when that body comes out. But the RF 28-70 f/2 is keeping the R on my radar. If Canon can hurry up with a more pro-grade body (two cards, IBIS, better battery life, further sealing) in the next year then I'll go all-in on the R and that f/2 zoom.
 
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Lens IS has worked great for me--both with stills and video. And while I've never used a camera with IBIS, I have seen some absolutely horrible videos/vlog footage using IBIS over the last few years (including Sony--DRoc filming Gary Vee, to be more precise). Maybe it's gotten better by now with the current models--tech is always improving--but it seems to me there's a big risk in using it and having some of the footage look weird.
 
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It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense for there to be any internal "debate" over which mounts to make it for. Lenses aren't mulled over for years then quickly slapped together at the last moment; if the lens was going to come out in 18 months, let alone 12, that would mean prototypes are already made and the optical formula, in particular, would already be mostly in place.

Which means if there is any question over the mount then the optics can't be optimised for the R system; what you're suggesting is they do like Sigma and simply build in the basic adapter onto the EF version of the lens. Considering they are selling four adapters (three w/ two SKUs for the filter adapter), and the whole selling point of the R system being the new lens mount allowing for better designs, it makes no sense at all for Canon to develop an EF lens then build an RF adapter into it. Either they're going to design the lens for the R from the ground up, which means an optical formula which won't work properly on EF mount, or they'd make just the EF version and have people buy the existing EF-RF adapters.

If you posted this report verbatim, then whoever your sources are don't know how lenses—or any technology product, really—are developed. If you paraphrased them and wrote the copy yourself then either they don't know how these things work and/or you misunderstood what they were saying. Either way, neither of you thought through the logic of these statements.

I'll reiterate, if the lens is supposed to be on store shelves in 18 months then that means they started designing it at least one year ago—if not two years, and potentially many more—and usable prototypes are currently out there. The last 3-4 months of a lens' development are spent entirely on marketing and getting units produced ready to be shipped out for release, and the year before that is spent testing the design and making incremental tweaks. If it's 18 months away from being in public hands then its mount and the majority of the optical formula and electronics would have been laid out sometime in 2017 or earlier.

You don't spend 2-4 years coming up with a lens then right at the start of UAT start questioning whether you've put the right mount on it or not.


FWIW, here in the UK it's selling at around the same pace as the 6DmkII, 7DmkII, D500, and the average Fuji body, according to the staff of the local branch of the main UK photographic chain store. (Who generally know what they're on about.) I.E. it's not breaking any new ground but it's doing "fine". Which is about what I'd expect given that, even though new lens mounts are what have always changed the photographic industry in the past, these days everybody is just focused on which sensor can eek out another .5 stop of DR.

As it happens, I'm in a similar position but looking at the R specifically because of the lenses it offers. I'm hoping to change up my work in the new year so I won't have such high demands on gear and can go more with what I'm comfortable with rather than what fits the technical requirements; I hope to get everything done with one system and I hope to not have to update that system. Getting the next ten years done with one bag's worth of kit is my goal. "Life kit" may be stretching it, but long-term, certainly.
And to that end, the 28-70 f/2 can get a helluva lot done in just one lens, and nobody else has anything like it nor even rumoured to be working on such a lens. If that lens didn't exist or if other companies had equivalents out or upcoming, I wouldn't look twice at the R; I'd just expand my Fuji gear and buy a couple of X-H2s when that body comes out. But the RF 28-70 f/2 is keeping the R on my radar. If Canon can hurry up with a more pro-grade body (two cards, IBIS, better battery life, further sealing) in the next year then I'll go all-in on the R and that f/2 zoom.


I have no doubt that we will see a lot of lenses designed originally for the EF mount used on the RF mount without any change at all in the optical formula. To think otherwise would be to vastly, vastly overestimated Canon’s capacity to bring to production new lens designs. The question comes down to whether or not Canon wishes to wave its arms and make incantations, pretending that products like a 24-70 is f/2.8 are bonafide rf designs.

The debate referred to above may well be among those A) who wish to be most efficient and release ef glass as it comes out in ef mount only, as it is easily adapted with no significant downside versus B) those who realize the market will perceive the rf mount as being anemically supported if they can manage only 4-6 new lenses a year with real rf redesigns. Canon has not additional capacity.
 
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marathonman

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Aug 29, 2016
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If it's 18 months away from being in public hands then its mount and the majority of the optical formula and electronics would have been laid out sometime in 2017 or earlier.

You don't spend 2-4 years coming up with a lens then right at the start of UAT start questioning whether you've put the right mount on it or not.
.

Genuine question. Wouldn't they have been planning the EOS R for a while now too?
 
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