This lens for weddings?

I am very intrigued by the new 24-70 f/4L IS because of the newer optics, design, IS, and macro mode. My question is will this lens be sufficient for weddings being f/4? I have the older 2.8 version but I understand the optics of the f/4 might be better and the macro mode might be awesome for wedding details instead of switching lenses to a dedicated macro which takes time.

What are your thoughts on this lens for wedding use?

f/4 might be a little slow.

even with IS I wouldn't use a f/4 lens for weddings.Churches are always so dark. a lot of time I even find 2.8 to be to slow...thats when I throw on a 1.8 or 1.4 lens.

My thoughts were for a ceremony, since people don't move much, that the IS would benefit more than the 2.8. The drawback I see is for receptions for dancing etc, but I position speedlites around the room for sufficient lighting and shoot F/4 a lot with this lighting set up.

I use my 24-70 a lot at f2.8, I would not want to sacrifice that to gain IS.

Image stabilisation is great to help with camera shake but sod all good for subject movement.

Shooting indoors I will quite often find myself at the limits of the cameras ISO at my widest aperture trying to maintain a decent shutter speed to freeze movement, an f4 lens would make my operating window smaller.

Having IS is irrelevant when you need about 1/100 th to freeze even the slowest of movement at a reception. 2.8 is much better.

i have the 24-105 f/4 which is my holiday lens and never see the lights of weddings. this should sum up my usage.

I see 3 issues here;

1. It's not the quintessential wedding lens mainly because f4 will not give you that shallow DOF often required.
2. In regards to the lens not being fast enough , high ISO eliminates that issue on todays cameras such as the 5Ds.
3. Also worth noting and need to remind myself of this frequently, IS stabilises camera movement, not subject movement.

It really depends on the lighting condition.

Inside churches, I am typically at f2.8 1/120 ~ 1/160, ISO1600-6400. When I am at f2.8, 1/120, ISO6400. this means an f4 lens would yield either half the shutter speed or double the ISO. Neither a desirable solution, at least for me.

As others have mentioned already, IS won't help you stop subject motion. It would be a completely different story if you had a short prime, but you don't, and offing that 24-70L is something I wouldn't recommend doing.

Depends on your cameras and venues. If you're ok with an extra stop of high ISO then sure, no problem. The main challenge will be slower focusing in low light.

I personally find F/2.8 too slow for most of the indoor ceremonies I shoot.

snakeman55 wrote in post #15518261
I personally find F/2.8 too slow for most of the indoor ceremonies I shoot.

I agree and find myself in the 1.2 to 2.0 range quite often. It seems that brides want to make the venue as dark as possible these days. I LOVE outdoor receptions with lots of light before the sun sets but those seem to be few and far between for me.

Here in NZ F2.8's fine, though I do end up at ISO3200 or very occasionally ISO6400. I don't like narrower depths of field than that anyway.

The last wedding I shot I was at F2.8 ISO 3200 for the entire ceremony to maintain shutter speed, and still had to use 1/60th for the ceremony itself in places.

The next wedding I'm shooting (next weekend in a similar church) I'll be using my f1.4 lens probably at f1.8 to keep a higher shutter speed. ISO 3200 photos were ok for me quality wise, but I wouldn't go any higher on the 7D/60D sensor.

I have purchased this lens (Canon 24-70f4IS L), but its yet to arrive. But I also do have 35L which I use most of the time.

Looking forward to receiving this lens and testing it out.