Dusk with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens

Since the weather has been unpleasant (i.e. Tropical Storm Andrea, now 95 degrees) I haven’t gotten to play much with my fancy new 24-70 outside. It is literally like a sauna out there. I took these pictures around 7:00-8:00PM this evening and the moment I walked outside my lens fogged up. *Grrr*

In between lens wipes and swatting away the billions of germ carrying gnats, I was able to catch a few shots of the boys. Did I mention I loved this lens? It is ridiculously sharp for a zoom lens and the colors are fantastic. Even with the dark rapidly approaching, this lens delivered images more beautiful than any of my previous lenses. And on the light hungry 6D? *Swoon*

One of the main questions I kept coming across in reviews of this lens: “Is it worth it?” I won’t lie, it really hurt my feelings to buy a lens this pricey, but I am starting to see that it is, in fact, worth it. For months I have longingly been staring at this lens on Amazon, waiting patiently for the price to drop. It hasn’t, I became impatient, and I finally made the decision to just jump right in after my 60D kit sold. They have a 30 day return policy, right?

The day it arrived the weather was total crap and I was having serious buyers remorse. Now, however, I’ve decided I am ditching my other zoom and adding it to my bag permanently. The build quality of this lens is absolutely amazing — if someone ever attempted to steal it, you could just whack them upside the head with it and next thing they know they’ll be sitting in front of Saint Peter (or Elvis) having to explain what they’d just done. It is fast, sharp, intuitive, quiet. I like the extra full stop with the f/2.8, which is where the 24-105mm f/4L IS falls short for me. I’m happy to give up the 70-105 zoom range for the full stop of f/2.8. It’d only be perfect if it had IS. With that being said, we all know there’s no such thing as perfect… but this is close.

I love this picture. It was just how I saw it… except BETTER because there is no drool in my lap! Thor says “PLEASE! Throw the ball. Throw the ball. Throw the ball.”

Dirty slobbery Thor at dusk even looks beautiful through this eye

Trying out the zoom on Duncan since he won’t come near my camera. He’s so lovely. And I can practically SMELL the grass in this picture it is so crisp and sharp! *Sigh*