Canon's RF mirrorless lenses have received lots of praise for pushing optical boundaries and for their great image quality. This great video review takes a look at one of those lenses, the RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM.
Coming to you from Gordon Laing, this excellent video review takes a look at the Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. The 15-35mm f/2.8L comes with two Ultra-Low Dispersion elements for reduced chromatic aberrations, three aspherical elements for reduced spherical aberrations and distortion and improved sharpness, Air-Sphere Coating for reduced flaring and improved contrast, image stabilization of up to five stops, Nano USM for quick and nearly silent autofocus with full-time manual override, a customizable Control Ring, and fluorine coating on the front and rear elements to resist smudges. It also comes with a nine-blade diaphragm for smoother bokeh. Beyond the optical features and improvements, the RF version also comes with an extra millimeter on the wide end over its EF cousin, extending its versatility. Altogether, the RF 15-35mm f/2.8L looks like a fantastic upgrade over its EF predecessor and a great addition for many photographers using Canon's mirrorless system. Check out the video above for Laing's full thoughts.
Canons RF lenses are what will keep them number 1 in the imaging market.
And with the up and coming EOS R cameras working with these lenses, the future of photography and videography is going to get more exciting.
The review misses the biggest problem of this lens, which is the ABSURD vignetting it has at f/2.8.
It's close to 5 stops in the extreme corners, which makes it a poor choice for astrophotography or other low light applications, fields where on paper it should excel.
Vignetting is so bad that given the same exposure time in most of the frame the old 16-35 for DSLR at f/4 gathers MORE light than the 15-35 RF does at f/2.8, which is kinda crazy and makes you question why would you buy an f/2.8 given the extra bulk and cost. One might say "well, just step it down to f/4", but even then the old 16-35 has less vignetting!
The only sensible advantage over an f/4 ends up being the shallower DOF, but given the focal lenght that usually implies genres of photography that don't care too much about it I don't think this lens makes too much sense, especially for the price.
Hi, I have the 'old' 16-35mm and ordered this week the new 15-35mm RF. I saw tons of tests and reviews befoe taking this decision, and I never crossed with nothing close to your observation. Do you have any article regarding the vignette and low light transmission?
Review from TheDigitalPicture https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Lens-Vignetting-Test-Results...
Thx!