The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM ($2,299) is the workhorse lens for many a Canon shooter. With a constant f/2.8 aperture throughout its zoom range, very good optical performance, and a fairly compact design, the lens pairs well with full-frame Canon cameras.

Announced in February 2012, the Canon 24-70mm ƒ/2.8L II USM is an update to its popular 24-70mm L-glass lens. The lens is completely redesigned, using a combination of UD and Super UD glass elements instead of aspherical elements.

The Canon company has always tried to offer standard, fast, professional zoom lenses. In 1993 the EF 28-70 mm f/2.8L USM was launched and in 2002 it was substituted by the EF 24–70 mm f/2.8L USM. As you can see there were nine years of difference between those two – small wonder near 2010-2011 rumours were circulating about the next successor. Canon made its users wait almost a decade and the new lens was presented only in February 2012. For several first months, though, you couldn’t find it in shops and it hit the shelves worldwide only during the holiday season. However in Poland it could be bought only in autumn. Finally we managed to obtain it and check its possibilities – let’s check how it fared in our testing procedures. Happy reading!

The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens is clearly the best performing Canon full-frame-compatible general purpose zoom lens available. It is the best from both an image quality perspective and from an AF speed/accuracy perspective. This lens is very sharp/has excellent contrast across the frame even at f/2.8 and is well built, focuses extremely fast and contains a most-used range of focal lengths. The cons? Price and lack of image stabilization.

We told you guys that the venerable Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 was great. But of course everyone wants a good comparison, so here's a big bonus in the way of a comparison between the 24-70 and the 24-105mm f/4 L and the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

Présentation C'est lors du CP+ 2012 que Canon a annoncé son nouveau zoom trans standard professionnel. Voici donc l'incontournable 24-70 mm à ouverture constante f/2,8 pour capteur 24x36 : un classique indémodable. L'optique entre dans la gamme EF.

The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM is an improved version of a respected wide-aperture lens, but how does it perform? Canon's new 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM is shorter and lighter than its forefather but is also even more costly. It also has a larger front element, with an 82mm filter thread in place of the previous 77mm. And internally there are now nine blades rather than eight to give an even more circular aperture-geometry for softer out-of-focus transitions.