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Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L II USM
The Canon EF-24-70mm F/2.8 L II USM is a professional-quality standard zoom lens. It is designed for use with the Canon full-frame and Canon APS-C DSLR cameras. It features a quick f/2.8 max aperture within its zoom range.
It comes with advanced Super Spectra coatings, features an ultra-sonic focus motor, a robust 9-blade circular aperture, extremely silent high-speed AF performance, and impressive full-time manual focusing and moisture-cum-dust resistance.
Features of Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L II USM Lens
Dimensions
The Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L II USM lens is a professional-level L-series standard zoom lens. It is significantly big and bulky, with a hefty weight of 805 grams and measures nearly 11 cm in length at a 24-mm setting.
Compatibility
Although this lens can be used with the smaller APS-C body camera to get a 38-112MM equivalent angle of view, the balance is not what you may desire. However, this lens is perfect for professional-level full-frame cameras, such as Canon 5D Mark III and others.
Ease of use
Some might argue that the lens is relatively expensive. However, the overall excellent build quality makes it worth the money. Besides, Canon’s L-series lenses are among the company’s premium product range, which justifies the significantly higher price tag.
The overall feel of this lens is quite solid when being handled, and this is true even when the outer barrel and filter thread seem like they are made from plastic. The focusing ring is ideally sized and comes equipped with a rubberized, ridge-pattern grip band for optimal ease of use.
The lens does not come with an aperture ring, which does not affect its performance unless you want to use it with an old film camera.
The Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L II USM lens also has a clear distance scale etched into it. However, the lens lacks auto image stabilization, which you can in other lower-cost lenses, such as the Canon EF 24-70MM F/4 L IS USM lens.
Focus Lock
The lens comes equipped with a Lock Switch that activates the Lock function. This is useful when setting the focal length to 24MM and moving it back to the lock position to prevent it from creeping forward or backward when the lens is stored or pointed down while being handled.
Additionally, the lens barrel has a focus mode switch with AM/FM settings. However, it would be best if you remembered that this lens also offers manual focus despite the engaged AF feature.
In addition, the rubber ring on the lens mount makes it ideally resistant to moisture and dust, thus allowing you to use it in rough terrain and varied weather conditions.
Protection
The lens comes with a petal-shaped lens hood (EW – 88C) along with a protective drawstring lens case for additional protection.
Angle of View
The Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L II USM offers an angle of view of 74° at 24MM focal length while it offers a 29° view at 70MM focal length.
Focusing
The lens has a sufficiently wide focus ring with three hard stops at both ends of the range. This makes it easier to focus on infinity. Those who use polarisers will find it useful that the lens’ 82MM filter thread does not rotate with focus.
The auto-focus feature of this lens is truly incredible and fast. It takes around 0.15 seconds to lock onto the subject when used with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera.
Light Fall-off
Using this lens at f/2.8, the slight light fall-off is noticeable in the corners. To remedy this, you can stop. However, to get rid of this problem completely, we advise you to use an f-stop of f/5.6 and lower.
On the other hand, barrel distortion is not too noticeable at the 24MM wide-angle focal length, as it disappears completely at the 35MM focal length.
Technical Specifications of Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L II USM
- Max Format Size – 35 mm full-frame
- Focal Length – 24 – 70 mm
- Diagonal Angle of View – 84 – 34° (full-frame)
- Max Aperture – F/2.8
- Min Aperture – F 22
- Lens Construction – 18 elements (13 groups) / 2 UD glass element / 1 super UD aspheric element
- No. of Diaphragm Blades – 9 (rounded)
- Min Focus – 0.38 m
- Max Magnification – 0.21 x
- Auto-Focus Motor – Ring-type Ultrasonic Motor / Full-Time Manual Focus
- Zoom Method – Rotary, Extending
- Focus Method – Internal
- Image Stabilization – No
- Filter Thread – 82 mm / does not rotate on focus
- Weight – 805 grams (28.4 oz.)
- Dimensions – 88.5 mm (diameter) x 113 mm (length) / 3 inch x 3.7 inch
Applications and Uses of Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L III USM
Being a standard zoom lens, the Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8 L II USM lens is ideal for wedding photography as well as landscape photography because it requires large-scale and sometimes ultra-long distance focusing. This means it can also be used for candid street photography and even some modeling assignments.
Conclusion
The Canon EF 24-70 mm F/2.8 L II USM lens is one of the best-in-class standard zoom lenses, which is ideal for use with full-frame DSLRs.
It comes packed with incredibly powerful features that make it ideal for photographing outside, such as wedding photography, event photography, landscape photography and similar purposes.
Feel free to drop in a comment below and let us know how your experience was using the Canon EF 24-70 MM F/2.8 L II USM lens.
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