📷 Can the Canon 28–70mm f/2.8 Replace My Primes?
My wife and I headed up to Silverton, Colorado with a mission: test out Canon’s “budget” 28–70mm f/2.8 and see if it earns a spot in my bag. Spoiler alert: if I keep it, I’m selling off a couple other lenses to cover the cost — so this was a high-stakes road trip for my gear shelf.
👉 Watch the full video below for side-by-side shots, train cameos, and the one lens that shocked me more than it should’ve.
🧪 Real-World, No-Nonsense Testing
We stopped at the now-famous Colorado cabin to run sharpness tests with this lens at all focal lengths: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 70mm. Foreground, middle ground, background — it all went under the microscope.
Every shot was taken at f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO 100. No fancy charts. Just mountains, dead trees, and good ol’ pixel peeping.
🎯 Side Note: The cabin may be missing its fall colors, but it still made for the perfect test subject. I mean, it’s got texture for days.
🔦 Highlights
Weather-sealed design for rugged conditions
Premium L-series glass elements
Minimal focus breathing (great for video)
Exceptionally sharp across the zoom range
🔍 So… Is It Sharper Than My Primes?
28mm vs 24mm Prime
The primes held up — mostly. But those corner details on the 28–70? Crispy. Looked like Canon borrowed a little magic from the L-series glass here. Even the background haze didn’t hide it.
35mm Showdown
I love my 35mm f/1.8. But this new lens actually edged it out. Barely, but still. Even the trees and grass were whispering, “dang.”
50mm Face-Off
Honestly, this is where things got real. The 28–70 was not only sharper, it had better background separation and tree-trunk clarity that made my old 50mm feel a little... sleepy.
🎯 Banter Break: At this point in the test, I was starting to talk myself into keeping the lens, which is dangerous when you’re trying to be responsible.
🎬 How’d It Do for Video?
Back home, I threw the lens on for a 2.8 video test — head-to-head with my 35mm prime.
I expected my usual Canon Log 3 softness, maybe a little bit of haze.
But… it was like the 35mm had cataracts.
No joke, this new lens just cleaned up everything. It was punchier, sharper, and made me realize I’d been blaming the wrong gear.
🎯 TL;DR: If you shoot video and want clean, fast focus without sacrificing that creamy bokeh — this thing’s a beast.
🏁 Final Verdict
It’s heavier. It’s pricier. But it’s staying.
The Canon 28–70mm f/2.8 outperformed my primes in most categories — and matched them in the rest. I’ll miss that 24mm look, but honestly? I can take two steps back and call it good.
Next up: listing a few of my primes on eBay.
🎥 Watch the Full Review
👉 Click here to watch the full video on YouTube
(Side-by-side comparisons, video samples, Silverton landscapes, and some train action — because why not.)
🛒 Gear I Used
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