Lens Showdown: Canon RF 24-70mm vs Canon RF 24-105mm
Mirrorless cameras provide us with the opportunity to piece together a kit that best suits our style and skill set, from helpful camera accessories, to lenses that help us capture more pleasing photographs. This level of choice can be a little overwhelming for beginners, so we thought we would take a look at some lenses that many photographers have difficulty choosing between to see if we can decide which one is the best fit for you.
The two lenses being discussed today are the Canon RF 24-70mm f2.8 L IS USM and the Canon RF 24-105mm f4L IS USM. These lenses are compatible with Canon EOS R mirrorless cameras, and being standard zooms, people buy these with the hopes of keeping them on their camera for much of their daily shooting.
With such an important role, which one do you choose? Let’s see if we can get to the bottom of that.
First Contender: Canon RF 24-70mm f2.8L IS USM
- Maximum aperture: f2.8
- Fast USM AF motor
- Dust and Moisture-sealing & protective fluorine coating
- High-quality optical design: three Aspherical, three special LD and three glass-molded lens elements
- Image Stabilisation
The Canon RF 24-70mm f2.8 L IS USM covers a very usable wide to short telephoto focal range. It can be left on the front of your EOS R camera and trusted to frame most of the things that you will encounter on a daily basis, including street scenes, landscapes and portraits. Being an L-series lens, this lens features excellent optics, including a range of high-end elements to assure images are sharp and detailed throughout the entire zoom range. It is also a ruggedly built lens, with dust and moisture-sealing as well as a protective fluorine coating applied to the front element of the lens.
Second Contender: Canon RF 24-105mm f4L IS USM
- Maximum aperture: f4
- Fast USM AF motor
- Dust and Moisture-sealing & protective fluorine coating
- Image Stabilisation
As is obvious by the name of the lens, the Canon RF 24-105mm f4L IS USM ventures more into telephoto territory. While it might not sound like much, the extra 35mm of zoom provided by this lens is a considerable difference and can be a real advantage. With this extra reach you are less likely to encounter subjects that you can’t reach, so you won’t need to pack an additional lens in your kit. Despite having a slower maximum aperture of f4, this lens is still quite suitable for low-light shooting, thanks to its built-in Image Stabilisation.
So, which one should I Choose?
The Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L USM has the advantage of having a maximum aperture of f2.8, which is a full stop faster than the 24-105mm. This is better for low-light shooting and for producing shallower depths of field. Even at its most magnified, this lens can still produce stunning bokeh. It is also noted by Canon enthusiasts that due to covering less range, this lens performs well consistently and produces minimal distortion.
The Canon 24-105mm f4L on the other hand, is more capable of framing subjects at a distance, thanks to its increased zoom range, and it does this despite being a smaller lens and weighing 200 grams less than the 24-70mm.
In conclusion, both of these lenses are capable of excellent images and will please Canon shooters with different goals in mind. If you want the most versatile option that will help you frame the best composition of your image more often than not, the 24-105mm is a good choice, while if image quality is paramount to your work, the 24-70mm is the runaway winner.
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