The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM is the kind of lens that's always going to be held up to high scrutiny - it's the company's flagship standard zoom for professional photographers, and is expected to deliver top-notch results under all conditions. Happily, that's exactly what it does.

Superb; almost flawless optics; Impressive flare resistance; Fast; silent; and accurate autofocus; Excellent build quality including weathersealing

Unpleasant vignetting in the 50-70mm region at F2.8 on full frame; Noticeably lower image quality at close focus distances; No image stabilisation; Very expensive

The EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM is a near-flawless lens with optics that come very close to matching a set of top-quality primes. With fast, accurate autofocus and weathersealed construction, it's difficult to find any really serious faults at all.

Professional and serious enthusiast photographers looking for the best possible optics in an 'everyday' standard zoom lens.;

Photographers who shoot a lot at close focus distances;

This lens is incredible well designed and built. If you are looking for a canon standard zoom lens, it is the right choice. The only disadvantage for this lens is its price. It has very solid body and quite good IQ (compared with the former version, and it is far more greater than 24-105L).

I had now several standard zooms on Canon. All of them left much to deserve wide open. When comparing with the Zuiko 14-35 and the Sony Zeiss ZA 24-70, no Canon standard lens was close to them. Today I can positively remark, this Canon 24-70 made my day.

Tack sharp; design; AF speed; IQ wide open

prica tag

There's not much to add that the test results don't already show: Canon has made dramatic improvements to this lens series, which is sure to become the darling of Canon wedding shooters around the globe.

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?

Excellent sharpness; Build Quality

Slight colour fringing at short focal lengths

Regardless of brand, two f/2.8 zooms have for many years dominated professional photographers' camera bags, covering the 24-70mm and 70-200mm ranges. In Canon's case, these are both no-holds-barred lenses that are designed without compromise to meet the needs of the most demanding users.

Excellent sharpness; Build Quality

Slight colour fringing at short focal lengths

Handling and features Performance Verdict Specification A professional standard zoom lens covering the popular 24-70mm focal range, which sports a constant fast maximum aperture of f/2.8 and silent focusing with full-time manual focus override.

Very good build quality; Excellent sharpness; Relatively lightweight; Low CA; Low distortion

Reassuringly expensive; Falloff at 24mm is quite pronounced at fast apertures and doesn't even fade out until f/8

This lens is way better than my 24-105 f4 I sold. It meets and exceeds my expectations. I always wanted the 24-70 mk I but hated the weight and reverse zoom. now I have a lens that looks like a normal zoom but is extremely light and sharp.

2.8 that is light and extremely sharp wide open

price no IS

The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L 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.