Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens Review

In this video, photographer, Christopher Frost, takes a look at Canon’s RF 24-70mm f/2.8 IS USM lens for the EOS R camera range.

This lens is meant to be one of Canon’s most important RF lenses and the company has high hopes that this lens will become very popular, just like the latest EF version of the 24-70 f/2.8 was.

The lens is large and heavy – it weighs in at 1.98 lb / 900 g with nice weather sealing (although it does extend).  General build quality is pretty good but the zoom ring is a bit sticky and not too smooth to turn (at least on the sample review lens Frost used). The lens has image stabilization which is meant to give this lens up to five stops extra.

The AF while shooting in video is fast and silent and there is no breathing at 70mm but a bit more in 24mm. The AF in stills is fast and accurate. The filter size is 82mm and it comes with a nice hood.

As for sharpness, the lens is sharp wide open in the center at all focal lengths. The corners sometimes need to be closed down a bit to f/4 or f/5.6 for maximum resolution but even wide open the lens is very sharp in the corners and performs very well overall.

Both distortion and vignette are corrected in camera but if you turn this correction off you will see that both are quite prominent on this lens. Close up focus distance is very close at 21cm but you will need to stop down to f/5.6 for some decent sharpness and contrast.

Flare is not as controlled as some other lenses so it is recommended that you keep the hood on. Bokeh, on the other hand, looks great. Longitudinal chromatic aberration has way too much colorful distortion which is not great and you will need to close down quite a bit to reduce them.

As for pricing, the Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 IS USM is an expensive lens selling for $2300. You can also get the “higher-end”, faster and sharper Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L USM lens but that one will set you back almost $3000.

You can find many more previews and reviews on our Photography review section here on LensVid and you can find more of Frost’s videos here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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