EF 24-70 f/2.8L II final thoughts

Image: Upper Zion, Canon 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II
f/11, 65mm, 1/200 sec, hand held.

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  Image: White Pocket, Canon 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II 

f/11, 41mm, 1/160 sec, Tripod. 

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See my first impressions here

Resolution, this lens provides lots and lots of resolution, the higher the quality of the glass that is in a lens, the better the resolution provided by that lens, the new 24-70 f/2.8L II provides oodles of it.

Sharp throughout, little distortion and no chromatic aberration make this a keeper lens, color rendition and micro contrast are also excellent, it beats its Canon stable mates and is a great all around lens.

From portrait shoots to wide landscapes, on a Canon full frame camera you cant beat it, I'll take it over three f/1.4 primes any day. Paired with the EF 16-35 f/2.8L II and the EF 70-200 f/4L IS, I don't feel a need for any thing else for a shoot in the back country.

Only downfalls are weight and cost, I got it with the $200 rebate after the priced dropped a little.

Its missing Image Stabilization, is that a downfall? not if it increased the weight and size, I shoot all critical images on a tripod where Image Stabilization does nothing and even in low light Image Stabilization isn't much help.

 

Image: Redwood Forest, Canon 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II 

f/11, 24mm, 1/80 sec, Tripod. 

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Oh and corner to corner sharpness : )

Ross

Images In Light

Composition

5D Mk III, EF 16-35 f/2.8L II,  f/14 for 1 sec at 16mm.

Lee 2 stop GND filter.

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After getting back from my Utah/Arizona trip I Googled Horse Shoe Bend and to my surprise almost all the images that came up where shot in landscape mode, not the Portrait mode I saw while I visited precariously 1000 feet above the Colorado River, I'm thinking that most people want to get the cliffs on both the left and right sides of the canyon or want less sky (I was blessed with nice clouds) so I chose the above composition. 

I wanted some glow in the foreground rocks and tried to capture the fire in the sky, a Lee 6 inch graduated soft 2 stop neutral density filter held back almost enough of the light to not blow most of the sunset.

I came away from that one happy, it was kind of a last minuet decision to run down and shoot at Horse Shoe Bend as we where staying the night in Page. There must have been a couple dozen photographers perched on the edge of that drop that night, most had left by the time this scene had unfolded and the real color shown itself.

 Photog's at Horseshoe Bend

Ross

Images In Light

Slot Canyons less traveled

Buckskin Gulch, 5D Mk III, ef 24-70 f/2.8L II; 1/2 sec at f/5.6, 59mm ISO100,

on a tripod with B + W circular polarizer. 

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Buckskin Gulch, 5D Mk III, ef 24-70 f/2.8L II; 1/3 sec at f/8, 65mm ISO100. 

 on a tripod with B + W circular polarizer.

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A lot of us have heard of Antelope Canyon, well there are others, maybe not as beautiful, but they don't have hundreds of photographers jockeying for position and guides asking you to move on so some one else can have their turn.

Wire Pass, Buckskin Gulch and Paria Canyon in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is a series of slot canyons that allow for a peaceful hike that can last up to 6 days if you want with nary a photographer in sight if you get in far enough, spend some time in there and you'll come away with some beautiful images and you wont have to pay for the privilege, unless you decide to get a permit for an overnight trip.

Its located in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona and there are a great many other locations nearby like: The North Rim, South Coyote Buttes, The Wave, etc, etc... 


Ross

Images In Light

Sony DSC-RX100 Cyber-Shot

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 Sony RX100, f/5.6, 10.4 mm, 1/640 sec, ISO 125, Program; Landscape.

 Sony RX100, f/5.6, 10.4 mm, 1/320 sec, ISO 80, Program; Aperture Priority.

Sony RX100 with Richard Franiec Grip

 A lot of people have been extolling the virtues of the Sony RX100, for good reason too, it is a fantastic little camera that has become my go to pocket camera, it takes phenomenal images for such a small package.

If this is the future of pocket cameras, I can hardly wait for what larger format cameras will be able to produce, Sony has enabled this camera to expose a very wide range of color and light, while producing sharp, contrasty images with the Zeiss branded optics.

It has a few quirks, but most cameras do, one in particular is the ability to accidentally press the movie button, the menu system is a little complex, but far better than a lot of other manufacturers.

Its a little camera and I have sausage fingers, so I'm told, so I recommend the  Richard Franiec Grip

Ross

Images In Light

More from White Pocket

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Adobe's greed

Adobe wants us to go to a cloud based subscription for Photoshop, I for one will never pay Adobe on a monthly basis and will find other software that works, there is plenty out there, yes Adobe is the best but the others will improve to get our business.

sign this petition to let Adobe know your dislike for subscription based software:

Petition

Ross

Images In Light

The Brain

5D Mk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II 41mm at f/11, 1/160th sec
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5D Mk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II  27mm at f/11 1/40th sec
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5D Mk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II  41mm at f/11 1/160th sec
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Its nice to go on a shoot in a place you have pretty much never heard of, no preconceptions or iconic images to think about, just a clean sheet to work with. White Pocket is one of those places, I saw only a few images of it before going, its a very hard place to get to, way out a high clearance road in Arizona, miles of deep sand, each year the route can change depending on conditions, pretty much impassible in the wet season and white knuckle driving the rest of the year.

Worth every minute of the drive to see such a unique landscape, one I would love to visit again.

Ross

Images In Light