Canon 24-70 L f/2.8 vs. Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 vs. Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM

[talan]

Hi I will be soon in the market for one of these lenses. Reason is over the past week someone has very kindly lended me their 24-105 L f/4. It's a nice lens, with good autofocus, sharp and good range. The only letdown I found was the f/4. It simply didn't have a wide enough apeture with low light.

For this reason I have got the Canon 24-70 L f/2.8 on my mind. Less range, but 1 stop more apeture and as some people say a very sharp lens. But then I found that Sigma and Tamron both make similar range lenses, slightly cheaper than the Canon unit too.

Here's the info for the lenses:
Canon 24-70 L f/2.8 (http://www.canon-europe.com/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/EF_Lenses/Zoom_Lenses/EF_2470mm_f28L_USM/)
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 (http://www.tamron.com/lenses/prod/2875mm.asp)
Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 IF EX DG HSM (http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3362&navigator=2)

Anyone got some opinions on these lenses?

TIA

[Bailey]

I got the 24-70L in January, and it's very rarely off the camera. Hell of a weight - first thing I did was a 14 hour wedding shoot and my arm was like a limp noodle the next day - but it takes incredible photos, and looks extremely serious :)

[Haim]

canon should be better than those two manufecturers.............

why dont you buy primes?

i got the 24-70 nikon which is a 4k lens and i use my 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4 much more often when i do proper shoot!

[Redal]

I have used all three lenses,
My experiences with each,
Canon 24-70 - sharp wide open throughout zoom, fast focusing, and heavy.
Tamron 28-75 -sharp wide open throughout zoom, focusing is slow and had trouble tracking moving subjects. Also when you focus at 28mm and zoom you have to re focus. Lightest of all 3 by a mile.
Sigma 24-70- I have owned 2 and used another 1. I cant find any real positives with this lens, it wasn't sharp till f5.6-f8 when others were wide open, focus was faster than Tamron but still not that fast.

If you have the money go for the Canon, if you don't need fast focusing or reliable tracking go for the Tarmon.

I'm not anti-sigma , as i have 2 excellent sigma lenses ( 15mm FE and 20mm f1.8)

[talan]

Redal thanks for the insight.

I'm definately leaning towards the Canon and think that the resale value will hold better than the 3rd party lenses.

I wish Canon made a 24-70 with IS. I BET they will come out with the IS version like 6 or so months down the track after my purchase lol.

[tomberkley]

See what your saying talan. 2.8 is prity fast tho a, so you should be able to get away with hand holding. i have a 70-200mm f4 and can get fairly sharp images at 70mm at 1/10 hand holding inside my place with just window light. obviously at night have to up the iso, tripod or flash it up. but just saying you should be able to get some descent sharp images with that puppy.

[thirdkid]

Question. Is the canon 24-70 for a full frame camera and will it work on cameras like 400d, 500d and the likes?

[robo git]

Thirdkid: EF lenses will work on all Canon EOS cameras, and that is an EF type lens.

The only ones that are specifically for APS-C type cameras (eg EOS-range cameras like: 400D/450D/500D/550D/40D/50D/7D) are the EF-S lenses - don't use those on a Full Frame camera.

Basically if you use a lens on a full-frame camera then use it on a APS-C camera with the same lens settings, the middle 60-something percent of the full-frame pic is the APS-C pic - a similar effect to being zoomed in by 1.6X more (So a 50mm lens on an APS-C camera is like using a 80mm lens on a full-frame camera)

Hope that helps.

[jackinavox]

i am thinking of getting the 24-70mm 2.8 and 70-200mm 2.8 IS USM - one day when finances allow.

then all i'll need after is a 100mm macro.