16-35II vs 24-70II IQ?

[EvilTed]

What Dylan said...

I really didn't care for the IQ of my 16-35 F/2.8 II and sold it to fund the 24-70 F/2.8 II.

Once I got the 24-70 II F/2.8 II in mu hands, I tested the 24 F/1.4 II that I had against it.
My 24-70 was sharper @ F/2.8 upwards than the prime, which left me with a prime that vignettes badly @ F/1.4 is usable at F/2 and not as good onwards.
I sold the 24 F/1.4 II the next day.

I've also had 2 copies of the new Sigma 35mm F/1.4 and neither of them could out resolve the 24-70 @ F/2.8.

I sold all my Canon lenses except the 70-200 F/2.8 II and the 24-70 F/2.8 II.
Both are excellent and nothing much in the Canon mount comes close.
I'll wait for the new Canon UW (12 - 24 or 14 - 24) to get the third part of the trinity.

ET

 

[AudioGlenn]

What Dylan said...

I really didn't care for the IQ of my 16-35 F/2.8 II and sold it to fund the 24-70 F/2.8 II.

Once I got the 24-70 II F/2.8 II in mu hands, I tested the 24 F/1.4 II that I had against it.
My 24-70 was sharper @ F/2.8 upwards than the prime, which left me with a prime that vignettes badly @ F/1.4 is usable at F/2 and not as good onwards.
I sold the 24 F/1.4 II the next day.

I've also had 2 copies of the new Sigma 35mm F/1.4 and neither of them could out resolve the 24-70 @ F/2.8.

I sold all my Canon lenses except the 70-200 F/2.8 II and the 24-70 F/2.8 II.
Both are excellent and nothing much in the Canon mount comes close.
I'll wait for the new Canon UW (12 - 24 or 14 - 24) to get the third part of the trinity.

ET

nice to hear i'm not the only one who did something like this. Although I still keep my 35L for when I really need the low light capabilities or for shooting video. I too am waiting for a new awesome UWA. In the meantime, I'm having lots of fun with the 8-15mm fisheye!

 

[wayno]

What Dylan said...

I really didn't care for the IQ of my 16-35 F/2.8 II and sold it to fund the 24-70 F/2.8 II.

Once I got the 24-70 II F/2.8 II in mu hands, I tested the 24 F/1.4 II that I had against it.
My 24-70 was sharper @ F/2.8 upwards than the prime, which left me with a prime that vignettes badly @ F/1.4 is usable at F/2 and not as good onwards.
I sold the 24 F/1.4 II the next day.

I've also had 2 copies of the new Sigma 35mm F/1.4 and neither of them could out resolve the 24-70 @ F/2.8.

I sold all my Canon lenses except the 70-200 F/2.8 II and the 24-70 F/2.8 II.
Both are excellent and nothing much in the Canon mount comes close.
I'll wait for the new Canon UW (12 - 24 or 14 - 24) to get the third part of the trinity.

ET

nice to hear i'm not the only one who did something like this. Although I still keep my 35L for when I really need the low light capabilities or for shooting video. I too am waiting for a new awesome UWA. In the meantime, I'm having lots of fun with the 8-15mm fisheye!

I still use and enjoy my primes. The 35L is an excellent compliment to the 24-70ii and I use it as much as the zoom.

 

[pedro]

Hello guys,

I will really appreciate your help telling me the IQ difference between EF 16-35 f2.8 II and the new 24-70 f2.8 II?

I plan to buy the 24-70 II these days and i'm really frustrated about the quality of the image from this lens.

The vignetting and distortion aren't a problem for me,
for me important is the Resolution and Focus Accuracy.

Thank you in advance for your help.

I suspect that the 16-35 is better at 16 then the 24-70 - and the 24-70 beats the 16-35 at 70. Sorry, not trying to be a jerk here but I don't think that is a comparison that makes a lot of sense. The new 24-70 is obviously a stellar lens from what I hear and read. I find it weird though that it is made with a plastic barrel and wouldn't buy it just for that.

It seems some people complain about the 16-35's performance every now and then. I'm sure it's a great lens as well though and will deliver great results if you need that focal length. And if you are comparing only the overlap between the two I'd go for a prime such as the EF24 or maybe even better the Zeiss 21 Distagon. The latter would be my choice instead of the 16-35. For a 24-70 I would always prefer the older version over the new one even though it's not quite as sharp.

Thank you for this decent post. I will go for the 16-35 this year. Had a 10-22 on my 30D. So, this is the FF equivalent to it.

 

[christianronnel]

Thank you guys, i'm really conscious about comparing
two different focal range lenses and that's not comparable,

But i'ts about image IQ, it's to have an idea of what delivers
as image quality, to have an idea of what to expect comparing my 16-35 II

Thank again

+1 to PWP, not good to compare these two lenses, very different uses and composition.
and I agree with Dylan regarding the image resolutions from both of these lenses.

I know these are two very different images but I hope they give you an idea how much sharper and more contrasty the new 24-70II compared to the 16-35II. Both images were sharpened for screen when uploaded by Lightroom, in low setting.

EF16-35II @ 16mm, F11 on a tripod and manually focused using live view

Frigid Vernal Falls by Christian Ronnel, on Flickr

EF24-70II @ 24mm, f16 on a tripod and manually focussed using live view (one would think @f16 that diffraction will lower the resolution of this lens to the same level as 16-35 at f11)


Golden nugget and cotton candies... by Christian Ronnel, on Flickr

It's a little difficult to see the difference on the monitor but I can definitely see the resolution difference when I printed both at 20x30. My copy of 16-35II, at 28-35mm, the edges are noticeably soft even stopped down to f5.6-f9, but it's decent at the wider end where I need that lens to be useable. I should add though that resolution is not the most important thing. There are just those scenes that you can only get with a UWA lens that you can't reproduce with a 24mm. So like Neuro said, there's a place for both these lenses in your kit. You need both until Canon graces us with an even better UWA lens.

 

[LifeAfter]

Thank you all of you for all these feedbacks,
I just bought the 24-70 II two days before,
while i didn't have time to try it as i would want
Today i'm going at ski station Leysin Switzerland
and take some shots... But with several photos
that i took at home i'm allready impressed by its
quality. It HAS better IQ than my 16-35 II.

 

[Dylan777]

Thank you guys, i'm really conscious about comparing
two different focal range lenses and that's not comparable,

But i'ts about image IQ, it's to have an idea of what delivers
as image quality, to have an idea of what to expect comparing my 16-35 II

Thank again

+1 to PWP, not good to compare these two lenses, very different uses and composition.
and I agree with Dylan regarding the image resolutions from both of these lenses.

I know these are two very different images but I hope they give you an idea how much sharper and more contrasty the new 24-70II compared to the 16-35II. Both images were sharpened for screen when uploaded by Lightroom, in low setting.

EF16-35II @ 16mm, F11 on a tripod and manually focused using live view

Frigid Vernal Falls by Christian Ronnel, on Flickr

EF24-70II @ 24mm, f16 on a tripod and manually focussed using live view (one would think @f16 that diffraction will lower the resolution of this lens to the same level as 16-35 at f11)


Golden nugget and cotton candies... by Christian Ronnel, on Flickr

It's a little difficult to see the difference on the monitor but I can definitely see the resolution difference when I printed both at 20x30. My copy of 16-35II, at 28-35mm, the edges are noticeably soft even stopped down to f5.6-f9, but it's decent at the wider end where I need that lens to be useable. I should add though that resolution is not the most important thing. There are just those scenes that you can only get with a UWA lens that you can't reproduce with a 24mm. So like Neuro said, there's a place for both these lenses in your kit. You need both until Canon graces us with an even better UWA lens.

Beautiful photos christianronnel

 

[RS2021]

Comparing these two lenses as noted before is rather unfair...and they are really two very different animals. I am not at all surprised the 24-70 II is sharper...it is newer and is 'more' tele compared to the UWA zoom.

There are things the 16-35II can do that the 24-70II is not going to be able to with the FOV and the "look" of the UWA... and obviously the UWA is never going to be able to do head shots to the extent the standard zoom can... different tools for different tasks.

I have said before while the 16-35II is great, all things considered, it is not exactly tack-sharp. But I am not sure that sharpness is all there is to any lens either.

 

[RS2021]

A couple from 16-35II...

From a recent outing...

 

[RGF]

Hello guys,

I will really appreciate your help telling me the IQ difference between EF 16-35 f2.8 II and the new 24-70 f2.8 II?

I plan to buy the 24-70 II these days and i'm really frustrated about the quality of the image from this lens.

The vignetting and distortion aren't a problem for me,
for me important is the Resolution and Focus Accuracy.

Thank you in advance for your help.

I don't understand what you are saying. If you are frustrated with the IQ from the 24-70, why would you consider buying one?

Focus accuracy can be adjusted in the camera