Are there alternatives to the latest Canon lenses?

With the launch of the new EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM and EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM Canon has updated three existing lenses from their range, however the updates come at a price premium that does mean you might want to weigh up the alternatives that already exist in the range.

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM

EF 24-70mm f2.8L II USM

Of the three lenses this is the one that most folks won’t question or seek alternatives. Many professionals buy the standard set of three fast f/2.8 lenses to get them from 16mm to 200mm. Actually this is why the Canon Professional Services (CPS) program wants three pro lenses in it’s eligibility criteria. Most pros will have them plus a main and spare pro body, hence two bodies and three lenses.

The older 24-70mm f/2.8L USM is a good lens but the most recent batch of high-megapixel cameras have started to show it’s shortcomings. At 70mm the old lens is not so good – shame as it’s often used for portraits – and the press release makes particular note of the improvement of the new lens at 70mm. Another benefit of the new lens is the reduction in size, 10mm less overall length at 113mm is always helpful. Though possibly less helpful is the move to a pretty rare 82mm filter thread. If you’ve tried looking for or pricing 82mm circular polarisers for the EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM you’ll know the cost. Also it means that the three standard pro lenses now have 82mm, 82mm and 77mm lens filter threads, when not so long ago they were all 77mm meaning one filter would fit any of the lenses. All it needs now would be a “Mk III” version of the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS to sport an 82mm filter thread.

Thew new lens weighs in at 805g, some 145g – 15% lighter than the old model, but the features a new 9-blade aperture assembly that should ensure smooth bokeh.

EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM - mtf chart

The optical performance indicated in the MTF charts show that Canon has paid a lot of attention to overal quality improvement and also particularly the edge performance. If you compared the chart above to that of the old model the lines are higher and flatter. An ideal lens would be a flat line at the top of the graph.

Price

It’s a bit early to see where market prices actually end-up, and so comparing current market prices with full list prices is mostly unfair, however some places you can find the list prices of the old model too.

• New lens, £2,229 list price
• Old lens, £1,539 list price, under £1,000 in store

What’s more there seems to be some different approaches to currency conversion, in the USA Canon lists the lens at 2,299 USD, and in Germany it’s 2,299 EUR – of course European and UK prices include sales tax at around 20% whereas the USA prices don’t, but I can’t hope but wish that in Japan the lens sells for 2,299 YEN! What this means is the new lens is around 50% more in list price terms than the outgoing model at the time of writing.

Is f/2.8 worth it?

Some photographers will say is that the EF 24mm f/4L IS USM is a much cheaper alternative and the Image Stabilizer (IS) fitted means that you can handhold the cheaper f/4 lens at slower shutter speeds. However you cannot get faster shutter speeds for freezing motion with an f/4 lens, also the AF system in just about every Canon EOS camera has a centre AF point, and maybe others, that is 3x more accurate with f/2.8 lenses. So if AF accuracy, lower light focus, & faster shutter speeds for freezing subject movement are your needs then f/2.8 is the way to go.

The new world’s first wide-angle prime lenses with optical Image Stabilizer are an interesting pair. With 4-stop IS units they make handholding possible at shutter speeds that make me think subject movement will get a lot of blame for blurred images.

4-stops on the EF 24mm works out as 1/25s – 1/13s – 1/6s -0.3s – 0.6s

Clearly the older lenses these replace have been in the line-up for many years and were in need of an update, plus there’s an increase in attention and use of prime lenses by photographers so probably a good time for an update. Small lightweight lenses that get plenty in will appeal to landscape photographers and photojournalists for sure, prices may not.

EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM

EF 24mm f2.8 IS USM

This lens has possibly the toughest task, can it be an alternative to the EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM, one of Canon’s recently updated pro-spec prime lenses. The new EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM is more than double the price of the old model, and yes you get 4-stop IS, 7-blade aperture and much better optical performance however pushing the price towards the L-series lens it’s going to be a qeustion of low-light needs. If you want to shoot at lower ISO and you have moving subjects in the dark then the L-series is the one to go for as you get 2-stops more shutter speed. If you’re a landscape photographer stopping down for depth of field and using a tripod then i’d be tempted by the slightly better optical performance of the cheaper lens.

EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM - mtf chart

EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM

EF 28mm f2.8 IS USM

The EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM has quite a different competitive landscape, Canon has an interesting f/1.8 USM lens in the 28mm range that is quite old but actually quite good and cheaper. Will the new f/2.8 with IS win over people with APS-C sized sensors in the cameras? 28mm on a 1.6x crop makes a very nice 45mm effective focal length. Looking at the MTF charts it’s clear that the new EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM is a good lens, currently the best performing Canon prime at 28mm so expect great things. The use of the special glass and the IS would likely win over against the cheaper and heavier 28mm f/1.8. If I want a small discrete lens then I want one that is sharp, compact and light – the EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM fits the bill nicely.

EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM - mtf chart

Even more choices

Canon’s line up has over 60 lenses and so there’s often alternatives to be found to the latest and greatest new products. At EOS Netwok we think there’s two other lenses you might want to check if either of the 24mm f/2.8 IS USM or EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM lenses appeal. Firstly the pro-spec weather sealed, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM. Currently selling in the UK for less than the list price of either of the two new prime lenses it’s a cracking lens and also would count as a qualifiying lens for CPS program membership. Currently the new IS lenses are not listed as qualifying for CPS membership.

Secondly if you use a camera with an APS-C size sensor then the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM might be the alternative for you. Giving the same filed of view as the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM and providing IS and f/2.8 aperture. Priced close to the point of one of the new primes and much cheaper than the new L-series zoom this could be the one that actually covers all three of the new lenses. The new primes and the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II USM zoom have better optical performance over the APS-C sensor area so that is likely to be the reason for their selection.

Bit of a long post, but if you’re still reading then have your say in the comments, are the new lenses on your shopping list or off?

Prices sourced from online vendors and manufacturer sites: 14/Feb/2012. Park Cameras (UK), Fotokoch (Germany), Canon USA