Canon RF 24-70 mm f/2.8L IS USM
R-series bodies get the most popular standard zoom
Astandard zoom lens is part of most serious photographers’ kit bag, and the 24-70 mm f/2.8 holds a special place in the case of professional photographers. It is one of the most versatile focal lengths that can let you shoot from landscapes to portraits and a fast and stabilised lens such as this offers pleasing bokeh.
Design & Build Quality
Being an L-series lens, the RF 24-70 mm is expected to have a rugged construction and the lens certainly upholds this expectation. The lens exterior is constructed with sturdy engineering plastic and is dust- and weather-resistant. The lens mount, switch panel and lens joining sections have been sealed with rubber rings to prevent water ingress. Fluorine coating on the front element prevents dust and dirt from sticking to the surface.
The lens has a minimum overall length of 125.7 mm and maximum diameter of 88.5 mm. It weighs 900 g. The RF 24-70 mm lens has three switches including a zoom lock, focus selector (AF/MF) and stabiliser (On/Off) switch. Like all RF lenses, this lens also features a customisable control ring apart from focus and zoom rings. This ring is at the front, just behind the detachable lowershaped lens hood. The lens accepts 82 mm ilters.
Key Features
The RF 24-70 mm f/2.8L lens offers a closest focussing distance of 0.21 m and maximum magni ication of 0.30x. The AF is driven by a Nano USM system. This tiny chip-shaped motor provides fast, quiet and precise autofocus, making the lens versatile for stills and videos. The lens has a ixed aperture range of f/2.8 to 22. The diaphragm has nine blades, offering a circular aperture, which helps to render smooth and pleasing bokeh. The lens is constructed with 21 elements in 15 groups including three aspherical and three UD (Ultralow Dispersion)glass elements. While the aspherical elements help to maintain high optical quality from centre to the corners, the UD elements minimise aberrations and distortion. The elements are coated with Canon’s proprietary Air Sphere Coating (ASC), which prevents internal re lections and reduces lare and ghosting.
The RF 24-70 mm lens features Optical Image Stabilisation that is claimed to provide up to five stops of shutter speed advantage while shooting handheld.
Ergonomics
The lens balanced well with the EOS R5 that was provided for this review and was quite comfortable to operate. All the rings and buttons are within reach. The focus and zoom rings are inished with a straight-knurled rubber outer surface, while the control ring has a doubleknurled plastic outer inish. The control ring has soft click stops. This ring can be customised via the menu, assigning any of the various functions provided. The clicking mechanism can be removed at a Canon service centre for a fee. The lens extends just under 3 cm when zooming from 24 to 70 mm.
Performance
As mentioned before, we received the RF 24-70 mm lens with an EOS R5 body. Autofocus was fast and precise. The lens was able to refocus rapidly and lock on to the target quickly during continuous tracking. The operation was near-silent. Images appeared sharp edge-to-edge at all focal lengths. As we do in all our tests, all lens correction features were turned on. We did not observe any chromatic aberration under strong against-the
light shots. Similarly, we did not spot any distortion at any focal length. This could be the effect of the distortion and peripheral illumination correction, but since all R-series bodies offer this feature, we expect everyone to use this.
The lens produced beautiful, soft and circular bokeh. Canon claims a ive-stop advantage for the image stabilisation system, and we could indeed verify this.
Value for Money
The RF 24-70 mm f/2.8L carries a price tag of Rs. 2,00,995. Even though this lens offers image stabilisation, which is absent in the EF 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens, we believe that this is still steep.
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