Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L USM II mentioned [CR2]

28mm fan club here!

The Sony lens must be a big drive for Canon!
But from what I’ve seen the Sony lens has no Leica character like I love from my 28-70.

From what I can tell the Sony lens cuts corners and I also don’t love the ugly minimum focus look on the Sony - the canon only gets soft at 70mm <2m focus at f2.

In fact I prefer the 28-70 look at 35 over my 35mm f1.4 - the 35 looks boring and very green! - also the bokeh is rounder on the 28-70.

So for the next version I hope they outdo the optical performance of the Sony and please! For the love of god! No focus breathing compensation - such high abberation trade offs!

Del Paso said:

I too like 28mm focal length.
Yet, my experience clearly showed that 28mm can often be a bit "long" in the mountains. That's why I'd prefer the zoom to start at 24mm.
Nevertheless, my most often WA is neither a 24mm nor a 28mm, but a 35mm. But when I need wider, 28mm are just too close in this specific environment.
I don't even need f/2 or f/2,8, but experience has often shown that the much more expensive brighter lenses are usually better than their f/4 counterparts.
Landscapes are rarely shot wide open. But they need sharp corners!

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Did you ever consider the 15-35mm f/2.8, due to the ability to go to 35mm? You would have 35, 28, 24 and even wider.

I barelly use 35mm. I own the RF 35mm f/1.8, which unless I didn’t found useful for a few close-ups since this last summer, it would have been sold already — before that I just didn’t use it. I bought the lens because I found it at about €360 last year, brand new, and decided to give it a try.

I usually jump between 28, 50 and 70mm, as I love 28 and 50mm, so a 28-70mm works perfectly in my hands.

I have to say, I don’t need f/2 on a zoom as well, I’ve been shooting with 2.8 zooms for years, I just found a great deal on the 28-70mm f/2 and took it, it cost me less than €2000, brand new. I just couldn’t pass that deal

m4ndr4ke said:

Did you ever consider the 15-35mm f/2.8, due to the ability to go to 35mm? You would have 35, 28, 24 and even wider.

I barelly use 35mm. I own the RF 35mm f/1.8, which unless I didn’t found useful for a few close-ups since this last summer, it would have been sold already — before that I just didn’t use it. I bought the lens because I found it at about €360 last year, brand new, and decided to give it a try.

I usually jump between 28, 50 and 70mm, as I love 28 and 50mm, so a 28-70mm works perfectly in my hands.

I have to say, I don’t need f/2 on a zoom as well, I’ve been shooting with 2.8 zooms for years, I just found a great deal on the 28-70mm f/2 and took it, it cost me less than €2000, brand new. I just couldn’t pass that deal

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I not only considered the 15-35 f/2,8, but bought it. (Euro1700 from Panamoz). In France, it would have set me back Euro 2700...
I first rented both the 14-35 and the 15-35, tested them, and the choice was easy. My sample of the 15-35 produces very little coma wide open, and also very sharp corners. I love this lens!
A bit on the heavy side maybe, but very well built and, though I don't want to revive the current debate, it is optically corrected. Nothing against software improvement, but, when given the choice, I prefer optical corrections. Just like I prefer mechanical solutions over electronic ones.
PS: Euro 2000 is a price I too would have happily paid for the 28-70 f/2!

Del Paso said:

I not only considered the 15-35 f/2,8, but bought it. (Euro1700 from Panamoz). In France, it would have set me back Euro 2700...

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I've seen very good rebates here in Portugal, on a few first party Canon Portugal resellers. I've been manually tracking prices for several RF lens for the past two years or so, taking personal notes on their values, and that lens here has been down to 1820€, in the beginning of 2024.
My 28-70mm f/2 cost 1967€, the 35mm 359€, and the RF 70-200 f/2.8 2072€, taxes included in all of them.
Last month, November, I even found an open box RF 135mm for 1249€, that I sold for 1400€ within 24 hours.

It's been a very slow process, but I've been able to save a few thousand euros on RF glass acquisitions.

I just don't use the UWA lens enough to justify the purchase of a high end model, hence keeping the nifty RF 16mm f/2.8.

I don't have a definitive opinion on software corrections. I own lenses that use both types, and I feel they all get the job done. My only concern is if I import RAW files, that require software corrections for distortion, to an application that doesn't have profiles for them. I wonder how that will work in the long run, say, within 30 years.
I don't care as much for vignetting, many times I'd add it in post-production.