EF 24-70 2.8L II

This thing is sooooooo sharp wide open

Love it!!!!

SOOC JPG - Landscape Mode - 70mm/ISO 160/F2.8 - Handheld 1/60th

I have only very recently got mine, but initial results are very promising. At the same time I bought the Canon 16-35 F4 L IS. These were to upgrade my Canon 17-40 L and 24-105 F4 L IS.
As I said I have only just got them but, so far, I am very happy with both!

I got the 2.8 because I'd read that the F4 hunts a bit in low light. Since I'm still on a 5D2 (and do some indoor event shoots for school/charity), I thought I'd play it safe and get the 2.8. Let me tell you I'm glad I did. This version 2 focuses faster, and is smaller & lighter than my trusty version 1 and I can't even feel it now. Maybe my muscles got developed on the other lens

If I'd had a 5D3, I may have considered an F4, but then I thought light gathering is a function of the F stop, and no amount of cross type focus points can compensate for that; isn't that true?

Anyhoo, now I'm debating whether to get a 70-200II or a 16-35II first. The same question arises with the 16-35 ... F4 or F2.8.

Actually what I need to do first is sell all the redundant glass I have

* P.S. I'm no scientist, and don't have any measurements to show, but it it possible that my new 24-70 is better at light gathering than my old one? I ask because it seems to me that my ETTR is doing a little more ETTR than before. My method, process, and workflow is the same, but lately I've had to dial down my exposure on scenes that would have exposed properly with my version 1 24-70. Am I hallucinating?

** P.S. I also need to download the 24-70ii profile for ACR.

alphamalex wrote in post #17528478
I got the 2.8 because I'd read that the F4 hunts a bit in low light. Since I'm still on a 5D2 (and do some indoor event shoots for school/charity), I thought I'd play it safe and get the 2.8. Let me tell you I'm glad I did. This version 2 focuses faster, and is smaller & lighter than my trusty version 1 and I can't even feel it now. Maybe my muscles got developed on the other lens

If I'd had a 5D3, I may have considered an F4, but then I thought light gathering is a function of the F stop, and no amount of cross type focus points can compensate for that; isn't that true?

Anyhoo, now I'm debating whether to get a 70-200II or a 16-35II first. The same question arises with the 16-35 ... F4 or F2.8.

Actually what I need to do first is sell all the redundant glass I have

* P.S. I'm no scientist, and don't have any measurements to show, but it it possible that my new 24-70 is better at light gathering than my old one? I ask because it seems to me that my ETTR is doing a little more ETTR than before. My method, process, and workflow is the same, but lately I've had to dial down my exposure on scenes that would have exposed properly with my version 1 24-70. Am I hallucinating?

** P.S. I also need to download the 24-70ii profile for ACR.

My uses are a bit different to yours. I changed from the 17-40 and 24-105 to the 16-35 F4 and 24-70 F2.8 V2 purely for image quality. I use the Canon 1DX so I am quite happy to just let the ISO fly if it gets a bit dark!
Having said that I did, on occasion look for a bit more subject separation than I could get with the 24-105 F4 so the 24-70 F2.8 V2 was the natural choice.
Since getting these two lenses I have noticed a couple of things. The 16-35 F4 is produces FAR less distortion (at the short end) than the 17-40 did as does the 24-70 F2.8 V2 compared to the 24-105. On both of my new lenses the edge of the image is significantly better - especially in the case of the 16-35.

As to your 1st PS. I have noticed that some lenses do seem to gather more light for a given aperture. For example my 600 F4 L IS was faster than my 300 F2.8 + 2 x extender when both were set at F8. Also my 300 F2.8 at F5.6 gave higher shutter speeds than my 300 F4 L IS did at the same aperture. I am sure there are others here who could give some insight into this - but I just accept it and get on with taking pictures. It is probably something to do with the number and quality of the lens elements.

As it stands I think that you have the best, currently, available 24-70 lens going. I have only used mine a couple of times so far but I am very happy!