In 2019 I decided to finally retire my Canon t3i and upgrade to a full frame mirrorless camera. Aka the Canon R.  It still had some limitations like only one sd card and no in-body stabilization. I decided that when ever canon makes an upgrade to those two main things I’ll upgrade and keep the R as my backup. Surprisingly that upgrade and then some came the following year in the form of the Canon R5 and R6. I went with the R6 after selling my old camera, flashes and efs lenses.

I was going to originally stick with carrying some ef prime lenses: the nifty 50 and old ef 85 1.8(which I sold recently to cover the Rokinon 85mm 1.4 ) but then at the last minute I thought: “Hey why don’t I try renting out an RF L lens for a change?” So I went to borrowlens.com and rented out the popular and most talked about RF zoom: the 28-70mm F2. It was the only lens I took with me to Otakon 2021.

The Pros

So how was it? It’s probably my favorite zoom lens by far. Normally I would stay away from zooms and stick to primes, but this lens made me a true believer. You get a constant F2 from 28mm-70mm which no other zoom lens can do. It’s very sharp as well, even wide open. I know a lot of reviewers and owners of this lens that describe it as having 3-4 prime lenses in one and it’s true, it really does feel like that. It is super convenient too. You don’t have to worry about changing lenses going from semi wide angle 28mm to semi telephoto at 70mm. This allowed me to change composition and focal length on the fly easily. I was able to get shots I normally wouldn’t be able to get without changing the lens. And I did it all without really needing to move closer or further away most of the time.

The Cons

Of Course, this lens isn’t without a few downsides. The first two: Size and weight. This lens is huge and heavy. It’s a really big boy seriously. You will feel that weight after a while. It’s the kind of lens that would get attention from people. I had a few cosplayers commenting on how big the lens is. It also has no image stabilization at all which is understandable. Would probably make an already heavy lens even heaver. It’s a 28-70mm instead of a 24-70mm so you miss that extra wideness that the f2.8 lenses have. Also for some people an maximum aperture of f2 doesn’t quite give enough DOF and bokeh. And last but not least…. the price. As of now it cost $3,099.00 (without tax oof) It’s very expensive, yet is constantly sold out in stores and on back order ever since its release.

But for me and for a lot of people that either use or own the lens, none of those short coming’s matter. It’s well worth having a zoom lens like that. Not everyone needs an aperture that goes to f1.4 or 1.2. If I had to go to an event with one lens only, this is the one I would pick. At the semi telephoto end of 70mm at F2, I was getting plenty of out of focus background blur. But as much as I like it, I can’t justify paying that much money for it. Maybe if I had a full-time photography business instead of just part time, and was doing a lot of paid events, or just had tons of money to spend. But for now, I’m sticking to my prime lenses. Maybe I’ll rent it out once every year or two for a multi-day event but that’s it. I know some wedding photographers who love this lens and only carry it, and a second macro lens with them. So if you want a zoom lens that acts like 3-4 prime lenses in one, with an aperture of F2, and don’t mind spending quite a bit of money go for it.