Canon Greek Trilogy

Nikon users have their Holy Trinity or Hebrew Trinity of lenses. You know, Three Nikon zoom lenses 14-24 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8 VR covering the Ultra Wide Angle, Standard Zoom and Telephoto Zoom. A wonderful Trinity indeed.
Since St. Nicholas delivered a 5D Mark III under the tree, this Greek has been looking to complete his Trilogy of Canon zoom lenses in the 16-200 range for his new Full Frame Body.
Act Three; Telephoto Zoom. This Act of the Greek Trilogy is in place with the wonderful 70-200 f/2.8 L IS Mark II. His understudy is the 70-200 f/4 L IS. A tough act to beat.
Act Two: Standard Wide Angle. This act is kind of a quandry. One possible Character may be in place, the 24-105 f/4 L IS. Possible new Characters are the new 24-70 f/4 L IS and the 24-70 f/2.8. The debate of Image Stabilization vs. One Additional stop leads to epic battles.
Act One; Ultra Wide Angle. This Act on paper, and bag, is completely open. The Characters, 16-35 f/2.8 L and the 17-40 f4 L.
Additional Stop of Light vs. Lighter Weight and Less Dracmas.
So there it is. Like a Fine Wine, this Greek Playright is going to sit back, take in your replies and enjoy the journey of completing the Canon Greek Trilogy in my camera bag.
This author relies on everyone's input as we are all in this together. Enjoy.

your question is pretty easy.

canon makes both a 24-70 and a 70-200. so, there you have it, buy those.

canon has no offering to match the 12-24, so you either buy it and MF, or buy a 16-35 as the closest alternative.

if budget is no concern, just get the 16-35,24-70 II and 70-200 II. although I would personally just get the 17-40 and wait until canon answers with their 14-24

Jerobean wrote in post #16596771
your question is pretty easy.

canon makes both a 24-70 and a 70-200. so, there you have it, buy those.

canon has no offering to match the 12-24, so you either buy it and MF, or buy a 16-35 as the closest alternative.

Or you consider the Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 which is similar to Nikon's offering at half the cost.

Or you can skip the UWA and go for the 200-400mm f/4.

I have the mark3 too and I have the 24-70 f2.8 II. I much prefer having that one extra stop over IS. I don't think I've run into any situations where I wished I had IS.

As for the 70-200, I don't have one but I've used one for 2nd shooting a couple weddings. I found almost all the shooting I did with that lens was at or around 135. You can get the 135L f2 and a 200 f2.8 for slightly less than the 70-200 f2.8. Again the only issue is no IS. The 24-70 would cover the 70 and then you would have the 135L and 200 f2.8L to cover the rest. I don't know what kind of shooting you do but for me that's what I plan on doing. I already have the 24-70 and the 135. Just need to pick up the 200.

My suggestion would be to try and rent the lenses you are interested in and go from there.

Theres a lot of possibilities here. My trilogy is

Canon 24-105mm L
Canon 70-200 f/4 L
Canon 400mm f/5.6 L

Καλησπέρα σε όλους,
(Hello to all),

Είμαι ο Θεός Δίας από τον Όλυμπο και η σωστή τριλογία Canon είναι η παρακάτω!!
(I am Zeus from mount Olympus and the proper Canon trilogy is

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II

Μίλησα....
(I've spoken...)

borg-1977 wrote in post #16596885
Καλησπέρα σε όλους,
(Hello to all),

Είμαι ο Θεός Δίας από τον Όλυμπο και η σωστή τριλογία Canon είναι η παρακάτω!!
(I am Zeus from mount Olympus and the proper Canon trilogy is

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II

Μίλησα....
(I've spoken...)

Well, that settles it then.

Sorry.
Act 3 in case you did not pick up on it is in the bag. Both are wonderful lenses and part of my collection.
Acts 1 & 2 are in debate.

Nick5 wrote in post #16596638
Nikon users have their Holy Trinity or Hebrew Trinity of lenses. You know, Three Nikon zoom lenses 14-24 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8 VR covering the Ultra Wide Angle, Standard Zoom and Telephoto Zoom. A wonderful Trinity indeed.
Since St. Nicholas delivered a 5D Mark III under the tree, this Greek has been looking to complete his Trilogy of Canon zoom lenses in the 16-200 range for his new Full Frame Body.
Act Three; Telephoto Zoom. This Act of the Greek Trilogy is in place with the wonderful 70-200 f/2.8 L IS Mark II. His understudy is the 70-200 f/4 L IS. A tough act to beat.
Act Two: Standard Wide Angle. This act is kind of a quandry. One possible Character may be in place, the 24-105 f/4 L IS. Possible new Characters are the new 24-70 f/4 L IS and the 24-70 f/2.8. The debate of Image Stabilization vs. One Additional stop leads to epic battles.
Act One; Ultra Wide Angle. This Act on paper, and bag, is completely open. The Characters, 16-35 f/2.8 L and the 17-40 f4 L.
Additional Stop of Light vs. Lighter Weight and Less Dracmas.
So there it is. Like a Fine Wine, this Greek Playright is going to sit back, take in your replies and enjoy the journey of completing the Canon Greek Trilogy in my camera bag.
This author relies on everyone's input as we are all in this together. Enjoy.

borg-1977 wrote in post #16596885
Καλησπέρα σε όλους,
(Hello to all),

Είμαι ο Θεός Δίας από τον Όλυμπο και η σωστή τριλογία Canon είναι η παρακάτω!!
(I am Zeus from mount Olympus and the proper Canon trilogy is

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II

Μίλησα....
(I've spoken...)

this is why I love this board - y'all are funny!

but I think that every god worth his divinity would agree that it would depend on your shooting habits, subjects etc....
and If you choose incorrectly, you understand that Zeus is a mean one...
you will be turned into a rock shaped man next to a rock shaped camera far enough away from you - eternally out of date - and the wrong focal length for the gorgeous sunrise/set that you will see until the end of time!!!

borg-1977 wrote in post #16596885
Καλησπέρα σε όλους,
(Hello to all),

Είμαι ο Θεός Δίας από τον Όλυμπο και η σωστή τριλογία Canon είναι η παρακάτω!!
(I am Zeus from mount Olympus and the proper Canon trilogy is

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II

Μίλησα....
(I've spoken...)

καλοψημένο
Well done

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II

Game, set and match over.

Scrum.
Lovin that 24-70 f/2.8 L are ya?

Best lens I own. I'm blown away by the sharpness, the contrast and the color rendition. $1500-1600 is a lot of money for sure, but it's a purchase I'll make again in a heartbeat if I need to.

Nick5 wrote in post #16598967
καλοψημένο
Well done

i love google translate. "καλοψημένο" is used for meat (as well done, rare etc). Μπράβο or Εύγε would be the best translations

As for the question, i'm not quite sure there's a trinity in Canon lenses. Or at least, if there's one, the 24-70 is the widest lens as in

24-70 f/2.8 II
70-200 f/2.8 IS II
200-400 f/4 IS

Unfortunately we don't have an exceptional Canon uwa lens