Some first, albeit unoriginal, impressions of the Canon 24-70 f/2.8...
- You certainly know there's something attached to the camera. Combined with the battery grip and 580ex... well, it's certainly not lightweight, but it's not bothersome either. I can't speak for shooting with it attached for 5-8 hours though.
- Incredibly useful focal length, imo, for shooting people - portraiture or candids - on a crop body. I have the 50 and 85 and the 50 was nearly always mounted for indoor/studio shots of my daughter. I longed for something wider 
This fills the void in my kit from 24-50mm. I think I heard my 50mm shed a tear as I put her back in the bag and mounted the 24-70. I don't intend to stop using the 50, it's an awesome lens (and light to boot) but the 24-70 is obviously a more versatile lens in terms of focal length.
- I'm not exactly used to using a zoom lens. I noticed myself still foot zooming with the 24-70 even though that function was right at my finger tips. That's probably a good thing though.
- The AF blew me away. I was messing around in a near-dark room (forget low-light, it was basically no light) and with the help of the 580ex, it locked focus on my daughter in an instant. The 50mm would have hunted... the 24-70 did not. This was probably what I was most impressed with, especially since that was one reason why I purchased it, giving up on my kit lens for studio work, because the damn thing took far too long to lock focus.
- IQ seems good. I haven't done any side by side comparisons with any other lens in my kit, but out of the camera, the pics look good (to me).
The only thing that kind of bugged me, coming from primes and all, is how close the zoom ring is to the camera body. However, it's probably just a matter of getting accustomed to using a zoom.
The 24-70 is a very nice lens, indeed.
... first shot... straight out of the camera:
http://www.photography-on-the.net …hp?p=2169403&postcount=17
| 
