24-70 or 24-105?

You should be very happy with your decision.

JohnnyG wrote in post #2188479
I'm in need of a new lens and have looked strongly at the 24-70 and the 24-105. Since they're about the same money, I can't use that to help in my decision. I have reviewed many photos taken with both and they look great.

If you were going to buy one of these, which one would you get and why?

Or, is there some other lens I should consider?

Thanks,

John

Do what I did: Get both.

JohnnyG wrote in post #2212421
Okay, due to all of your suggestions I went with the 24-105. The reach and IS made up my mind for me and all the recommendations too.

Thanks a lot!

Congratulations. I can say I hope you're as happy with your lens as I am with mine, awesome lens for what I shoot.

Let me know how it works. I am replacing my kit lens, and I split my time between portraits (in/out) and landscape...

I am interested to see what kind of bokeh I can acheive with the 24-105 for portraits...

It's a great lens. To be honest, my 85mm f/1.8 is still my first choice for portraits, but for flexibility last week I did a couple of shoots (both with the same model) both with the 24-105 and was pretty happy with the bokeh - it was really bright and didn't have an ND so couldn't go much wider than f/4 anyway.

I just don't care for a lens slower than f/2.8. If you wish to maximize the AF abilities of your 20D (as I did) you need f/2.8 or faster. I have the 24-70L.

I went for the 24-105 as well. If i want more Bokeh I will go for primes

I couldnt decide, so I bought both. Both should come next week. Im hope to only keep 1 of them. I really hope that one of them will stand out to make my decision easier. Ill you guys know what happens.

I have been through the same research on these two lenses - my final choice as well

MegaTron wrote in post #2216723
I couldnt decide, so I bought both. Both should come next week. Im hope to only keep 1 of them. I really hope that one of them will stand out to make my decision easier. Ill you guys know what happens.

I did the same thing...

I bought the 24-105 and wasn't impressed with it in the 24-50 range. I got another copy of the 24-105 to see if there would be any difference, and there wasn't.

Thinking it may be me, I continued to test a range of different shots, including an indoor Christening Party (which came out pretty well except for a few out of focus images- which I am willing to assume was user error). Overall those pictures came out quite well. I was also testing out my new 70-200 2.8 at the party which isn't a fair comparison .

After another week, I went out and bought the 24-70 to test against the 24-105 (so yes, I currently have 2x 24-105 and a 24-70 and still have no idea which one I am keeping...).

I went out today and did some shots side by side and amazingly, I am no closer to making a decision... As many have stated, they are both excellent lenses, and most people would be happy with either one in their bag (or on their camera).

Since I have the 28-135 IS, I figured I could talk myself into keeping the 24-70 for portriats and low light or action shots and use the 28-135 if I needed IS and a wider focal range in a single lens.

I have been looking at pictures for the last 4 hours and have a headache... I guess I'll head back out tomorrow and take more shots.... I really need to make a decision before the return period lapses and I end up with all 3....

These two must be among the most compared and discussed lenses in Canon's lineup.

Well, good luck to the hundreds of others out there pondering the same decision...

Thanks for scaring me Bryan. I really only want to keep one of them, damn it.

Im not much of a pixel peeper, and I dont even print photos that often. Im just looking for good colors, and "pop."

I guess ill see how it goes.

I would choose the 24-70...actually I already did and it is great. It is a great multi-purpose lens with the 2.8 aperture.

I was in the same boat. I liked the 24-70 and the 2.8 but I wanted the extra reach and knew that I could gain the 2.8 with the IS.

I went with the 24-105 f4L IS and never looked back. The 70 might be a little sharper but I love my 24-105.

any of the two are great