Canon RF 28-70mm f/2.8 IS STM lens review

Compared with the Canon RF 35 f1.8, which lens is more suitable for street photography?

Can you explain why lens is sharper on higher resolution FF sensor vs lower resolution crop sensor?

Been waiting for this review.

Basically an overpriced version of the Tamron 28-75G2 (maybe not as good). Thanks Canon 😁

Canon made a great $600 lens, the extra $500 is for the RF tax.

If i would not already own the RF 24-70 2.8 i would prefer this lens now. frankly the image quality is absolutely more than fine enough for what a standard zoom should do for me, its also lighter, smaller and despite the high price tag only costs half of the bigger brother. they even included IS which is very handy vor video work on an R5C or lower end R8 and on a gimbal the lower weight is also very welcome. i would actually be tempted to sell the 24-70 if its price stays relatively high and the 28-70 can be had for less than 1000€ at some point.

Not including a lens hood should be criminal. But that's Canon for you.

Aww man I wanted this lens for my R7 :(

No way that's worth over 1k

Hello Chris please do review on fujifilm 16-55 f2.8 mark 2

I would love a comparison of this lens with some of the more popular EF 24-70mm F2.8 lenses (Sigma, Tamron, etc), since they are all roughly in the same price range.

Curious how this compares to the RF 24-105 L since they are really close in price. Guess I’ll have to watch that now for a refresh

tamron 28-75g1 without purple fringing

Appreciate your time reviewing this lens. Just doesn't make send to buy it when the 24-105L is like 100.00 more. Yeah, the 2.8 is nice but for the money I'll manage with the F4 and enjoy the range more of the RF24-105L. Canon was out of their mind when making and pricing this lens...

A different reviewer did a very detailed four way comparison between this, the RF 24-105 4L, RF 24-70 2.8L, and RF 28-70 2.0L. The results were that this new lens basically edged out all of the L’s in terms of sharpness! And it stomped the RF 24-105L, which kind of shocked me TBH, as previous head-to-head comparisons indicated that lens is more or less in line with the other L’s in terms of sharpness. I am suspicious that his copy had become decentered / soft over time, though, and intend to find out for myself what the difference is. That, and vs. the RF 85 2.0 to determine which one is the best budget portrait RF lens right now. Fun times!

Thanks for the review, sold my r8, it would have been a good lens for this one, bit pricey. Went back to 100% apsc as sigma does offer now good options for canon. That said: if I would go back to Canon FF, this would be my goto lens. Compact, good enough image and video quality. The one and done small travel lens. Not bad. Thanks for sharing and have a great week, Chris 😊🙏🏻

Thank you for the review😃. I use the Canon R8 with the RF24-105 IS STM and RF24mm F1.8 IS STM for my product photography and Vlog. I am thinking of getting the RF28-70mm F2.8. Canon could provide us with a hood or fix the price at 999 USD. However, at the wider end, Canon also needs a budget zoom lens like the RF15-30mm F2.8. The APS-C needs a good kit lens instead of a night-blind RFS 18-45mm F4.5-6.3.

This lens will hopefully be considered for inclusion as a “kit” lens moving forward for all cameras like the R8 and R6…heck, even the R5 Mark II wouldn’t be hurt by this being a kit option. I’ve really enjoyed it a lot and I truthfully think it’s a magnificent alternative for users who possibly favor more budget friendly options, or even professionals looking for a smaller lens to bring around. I preordered one up at launch and have been very happy with this lens. Especially considering that this uses the same filter size as the new VCM primes, 67mm. Meaning I can toss this in my small sling back with the RF 35mm and have a pretty great combo…but once that 24mm and 50mm come out, I may have to consider what other lenses need to go! I’m really enjoying the balance of size/weight with this and the 35mm. It’s almost like these are the first focus that Canon made on delivering very small and light quality optics.

The price is way too high for a cut price budget men's L standard zoom.

I'm really hoping this one goes on sale for maybe $50-$100 off on black Friday. Otherwise may hold off. I think the $1100 is an alright price, but it could be better. A $999 price tag would make this a lot better deal.

IT'S ABOUT TIME 🤷🏿

£1250 and no lens hood! :-)

yessss
babe wake up Christopher Frost posted

Sharper than the tamron version haha

Imagine if that lens is offered as a kit on select camera bodies

Chris, would you swap the EF 24-70 f2.8 II L for this one? (considering that I absolutely don't care for the 24vs28 mm loss). I was thinking about doing it as soon as the RF's price drops a bit, but those corners at 70mm scare me; it can be ok not to be perfect wide open, as in real life scenario that part would be out of focus anyway, but what I don't like is corners never get better even when stopping down, which isn't good in the studio when I may need good corner to corner sharpness for certain close-up portraits and /or details.

I won’t be giving up my 24-105 but with its size, range, and aperture this 28-70 might be the perfect travel lens.

I don’t get the focus breathing comment. Zoomed it focus breathing was similar to zoomed out???

怎么和 适马28-70 2.8的结果这么像

I'm interested, but won't pay the full MSRP price. Will wait for special seasonal discounts or even used copies. This should do well on my 24mp R8. On R7 it's soft probably because the lens cannot resolve higher megapixel count, as in higher pixel density. 32mp on R7 is the equivalent of 83mp full frame.

Price is fine. If Tamron 28-75 cost $899 (without on sale), Canon charge $200 more is small amount to me. First party lens always cost a bit more.

wonder how this lens compares to EF 24-70mm 2.8 ii

Nowadays diffraction kick in faster. Back the dslr days, f11 is when lens reach best sharpness.

You are very smart and you your lenses , I use my 28 pancake RF ,40 mm Ef 2.8 with RF Adapter ( this lens is something else !!! ) and the RF 85 f2.0 mm ( best for the money ) this are my 3 favorite street lenses. I'm thing adding the Laowa 15. F5.0 cupcake pancake etc.. for RF mount and that will finalize my lightweight setup. Great reviews as usual thank you.

Reminds me quite a bit of the 17-55mm f/2.8 IS. I think the IS really is a critical feature to justify the price, actually pretty rare on a 2.8 standard zoom. Still though... hugely pricey for a lens I'd feel a little insure using for pro work as it looks very budget.

Thanks for the full review!
I'm thinking about buying this one or the 24-105 f4 and I think I'll simply wait for the price of this lens to drop a bit.
About the review itself, it was a bit speedy compared to other reviews from you, and I hope it's not because you're getting stressed or something.
I appreciate your work very much and I wish you all the best!

Can't believe they charge 1200 pounds and still continue with their ancient antics of not including a lens hood for non-L lenses. Come on Canon! It costs you 3 quid max per hood!

I bought this lens in preference to the 24 to 105 f4L because of its faster aperture, smaller size and lighter weight. I use it for hillwalking and travel. It never gets left behind for these reasons. After 3 weeks I am delighted with the results on my rp and r6 cameras. Much better than my old ef 24 to 105 f4L mk1.

Kudos to Canon, they made a lens that covers a full frame sensor at the wide end.

9.02 m, beautiful

I was going to buy this lens when it was announced for my wife. I am a very good husband. Then I saw the price tag in Canada ($1500+tax) and I am NOT THAT GOOD, nor rich. Yikes! Besides size there is nothing wrong with her Canon EF 24-70mm f4 IS L. That lens besides kinda slow is still amazing in 2024.

Looks good, especially since the bokeh seems and it works well at night. Still, all things considered it really does seem a bit overpriced. Great review as always !!!!

Hello! Can any of you please suggest a lens to buy for ZV E10. Got a budget of 2-300 USD.

Mostly for clients' interior design videography for social media. Please suggest some good lenses in this budget for my use case.

Would be great if you can suggest any affordable, sharp lenses that can be used for proffesional work.

Good to see Canon is digging in on overcharging for lenses with under corrected geometric distortion. This lens is worth $800 max.

Hey, Christopher! Love your articulate and insightful content.❤

As someone switching from mobile videography to camera, your content has helped me understand a lot about the kind of lenses I might need.

I have an EOS RP and this lens on such a small camera body is appealing to me for travel, it packs a pretty good punch for its size! I wish it was $800-900 though

I don't understand why they went away from the 24-70 range. I know it's only 4mm but for me I mostly go ether all the way to the widest or all the way zoomed in and 24mm seems to me like a great place to start with landscape.

Sigma has to offer an affordable 28-70 f2.8 lens as well, belonging to the contemporary series, with good sharpness in relation to its price for E and L mount

Thank you for your very detailed review! How good is the weather sealing? You mentioned that it's sealed around the rear and the control rings. Does it mean that the extending lens barrel and the switches are not sealed? How does it compare to the weather sealing of e.g. the 24-105 f/4 L?

Seems tempting, but every zoom lens I've ever owned except the 70-200 II L 2.8 broke in some weird way, Either ribbon cable or zoom ring. I even have the last EF 24-70 2.8 & the aperture blades stopped working when I mostly shoot indoors & mostly food. Hence why all my lenses except the 8-15 f4 are Primes.