24-105 F4 vs 24-70 2.8 Compared for Portraits and Travel - (Canon RF - Free RAW Files)

Outside, the 24-105 is a clear winner. Sadly most events I’ve worked professionally are indoors with the worst lighting imaginable. The 2.8 can save you in situations like that, and the extra stops of light is what makes that lens a good option for people. Yes I use a flash as well, and have used a flash indoors with the 24-105, but always found indoor lighting to be that lens’s biggest opponent. 24-105 is my favorite lens in any other shooting condition.

Thank you for your excellent video. Well planned out and presented. Switching over to mirrorless & full frame, from Canon 90D APSC.. Awaiting arrival of R6 Mark 2 + 24-105. Your video assured me I made the right choice of lens. Really good examples from both f4 & 2.8. Have a small channel & looking fwd to upping the visual quality of my videos. Thanks again and all the Best from Fremantle West Aus 🙂

I bought the RF 24-105 because the RF 24-70 was more than I wanted to spend. In hindsight, after watching your video, Im glad I picked up the 24-105. It's just as sharp and more versatile. Thanks for the content!

I have the 24-70 and at times drives me nuts not having that extra reach, but I do a lot of events and losing that 1 stop might make a difference doing church events, thought about the 105 2.8 but the price ouch.

24-70 2.8 win for me budget my budget goes to 24-105 F4 for me im good in that result but if u have superb ugly background i think prime is the way to go like 35mm 1.8 RF and F2 85 RF

2.8 always if you care about your craft

Great video, good job!

Am I wrong to want a 24-105mm, and the 85mm f/2?

Surprised you didn't compare the 28-70 2.0

A very helpful video thank you. Went for the 24-70 in the end its great.

Great video! Which lens did you mainly use to film the video? There's really hardly any difference when taking photos, but what about filming? Which lens would you prefer for travel videos?

24-105mm f2.8 vs 28-70 2.0 Portrait DOF Comparison Needed💖

the question is can the f4 lens keep up in low light conditions.. thats the decision i try to make at the moment

NOW you can have 24-105 f2.8 ! combine both lens and get rid of both.

I've recently picked up the 24-105mm 2.8 Z, which is a beast along with the R5C. But I think I'll pick up the 24-105 f4 as a smaller version for light travel—it seems nice.

one of the most helpful reviews ive ever seeeen thank youuu

24-105mm is epic

Canon rf 24-105
Parfrom at F4 hazi &not Sharp
at 5.6 little improve in sharpnis
& at F8 nice sharp but f8 in low light 🚨 bad 😔 it my honest review.😢

Canon is the next Nokia 😂

Dear sir i buy canon rf 24-105 f4 lens
This parfrom at f4 not well Sharp.
I m dispiont this giving us good sharpnis at f5.6& f8 this is a big problem in night events & weddings😢

I have the RF24-70L2.8, and if I need to get a bit closer, I just switch to the 1.6 crop option on my R6Markii or switch to my RF70-200L I think if you already own the RF70-200L then it would make more sense to go for the RF24-70 2.8.L

the 24-70 is so much sharper as you can see in the close ups. both lenses are very cool. the price difference is the sharpeness difference. thanks for the comparison... :)

I have rf24-105 f4L(rf16 f2.8,rf35 f1.8) for travel,walk around and general purpose.And i have rf28-70 f2L and rf85 f1.2L for my portrait work.

Maybe the comparison with the 24-105 f4-f7.1 would be usefull, to see what we loose with a cheap and light glass compare to heavy and expensive 24-105 f4.

Through stumbling upon some deals too good to pass up, I own both the 24-105 and the 24-70. I've tried to love the 24-105. Maybe my copy is a mediocre one, but it is just not in the same league as the 2.8 lens - sharpness, color, and it just lacks that hard to describe pop of a great lens. My 24-70 does have it. It's stunning. The 24-105 is "OK." I recently got the RF 14-35 f4, and that is also better quality than my 24-105. I first got my 24-105 when all I had was my RP, and I was so underwhelmed by the RP. I just couldn't get sharp images. So I got an R5 and love it, but it makes me wonder if the RP was as uninspiring as I thought. Maybe it was my 24-105 holding it back. So, I''ve retired the 24-105 and will probably sell it. I have the RF 70-200 2.8, so for everything other than travel with lots of walking, I use that if I need something longer. Frankly, in at least half of your shots in this comparison, I find the IQ of the 24-70 to be noticeably better, in contrast to your comments. I'm interested in the new 24-105 2.8. If it's as great as I nope, that may be the ideal lens for me. We'll see.

Now we don't need to choose :)

In the 5 plus years that I was photographing events that covered weddings, baptisms, birthdays, portraits and family photos i found that having a F 2.8 zoom lenses like the 24-70 mm along with a selection of fast prime lenses essential for that type of photography, you tend to be working with less light and it gives you more background separation than an F4 lens. You can use the 24-105 or 120mm f4 for portrait shooting but you have to be more mindful of your background. So if you want to photograph events professional level than the 2.8 and lower is a better option.

I'm interested in one of these lenses for business photography for websites, I will undoubtedly need to shoot a lot indoors and would like to be able to shoot both interiors and portraits, I'd also like to be able to shoot in a candid style as they go about their work so the extra zoom might be useful - the only thing holding me back from the 24-105 is that it may struggle with the lower light indoors. Any advice???

Hi James, in the daytime is one thing, how about doing a comparison at night I think a lot of ppl would like to see that including myself!

When will you be testing the 24-105 f2.8 ?

24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 will do job for most of the people and with great quality. No need to keep changing all those prime lens, or continuously change your position forward or backward while taking photos. Most of the time, having less number of lens (means having zoom lens) actually helps.

What presets are you using for editing these photos? I love the colours.

Finally this video helps me to select RF24-105 f4 but RF35 f1.8 will be the next.

Thank you for this very interesting video. It really helped in my decision on buying the RF 24-70 2.8. I already owned the 24-105 F4. I like the versatility of the longer zoom range and what it can do for me in an outdoor, walking-in-the-city-or-nature situation. But what triggered me to purchase the 24-70 in addition to the 24-105, is that indoor I there are a lot of situations where the F4 will not do the job for me. And added to that, the more limited DOF in 2.8 in portrait situations, is not to be neglected.

I tested both zooms at the camera shop and was completely convinced after two shots: one with each lens at their widest aperture, shooting a portrait of the not-so-happy shop employee (deleted both pictures). The results were pretty convincing, so I swiped my card.

It might seem that "good enough" brings satisfaction. But I don't like my foto's just good enough. I would like them to be great. Photography, as it always has been, is for a great part about getting to the limits of what your camera setup can do. Currently digitizing my old negatives collection. Shots with which I was very happy in the old days seem technically obsolete these days, though als a memory of the past these old pictures are great. My point is: the 24-205 will do well. But I believe, in a lot of situations where you want to shoot in low apertures, the 24-70 will do better. And then the thought comes to mind: why don't buy the canon 28-70 f2... For the way I take photo's that zoom is too bulky and heavy to walk around with, but i'm sure that in some specific situations, that one might be the better option.

For now I indulge myself in luxury by keeping both lenses, where I expect to take the 24-105 with me when walking around situations and the 24-70 for close-ups like portrait shooting and less light situations. And after all: the best camera is the camera you have with you. Sometimes that might by your smartphone.

I carry a pack with an R5 and two lenses for travel. Walk around, indoor and outdoor, the RF 24- 70 f2.8, a little heavy, but my absolute go to. For landscape reach, RF 70- 200 f4. This is a marvelous light and compact lens to pack, given its versatility and image quality.

105 MM makes the model's face look too wide though

Great video! I have the 24-70 2.8 RF and the 70-200 f4 RF and therefore I'm able to get that great compression on landscape and headshots with the ultra light 70-200 f4. Here is my BIG question though, James. I'm assuming that is your wife in all these videos.......how do I convince my wife to be the subject in my videos? Although I'm an architectural photographer, boy...having a real person besides me in the video would be nice ;)

Good I bought the 24-105 for video content.

can you share footage from the lens as well ? thank you

as someone still clinging on the 5D3 and EF versions. I do think the 2.8 is favourable, for porait focla length, when the 70-105 section is preferred, one always have a 70-200 F4 IS for the job done even better, but in lower light, the F2.8 is always that extra stop of light available, which can't be replaced, and someone with L glass I think would always pack that light 70-200 for real mid telephoto shot anway

A good and helpful comparison. My takeaway from this video is that you can fudge the background blur with the slower lens if able to back up a bit and if you're OK with the flatter perspective. The older considerations about low light just don't apply to modern cameras under normal lighting scenarios because of how well they perform at high ISO.

It was not mentioned, but we're assuming here that both perform well at their extremes of 24mm and 70/105mm in terms of vignetting or chromatic aberrations or barrel distortions??

I like the idea of the 24-105 for versatility and then use a prime once you've discovered your favorite focal length for whatever you frequently shoot with. I'm also tempted by the 85, not because of its macro or IS or even because it's faster than either of these, but because it's a safe bet I'd likely prefer 85 for most portraits anyway.

The 24-105mm lens is not at f/4 above 24mm. It gets to f/7.1 or something at 105mm.

What would you recommend for an APSC body

Awesome Video ! i can´t dicide if i wanna buy a 24-105 or a 24-70 (panasonic) so this video comes very handy with the comparison, even its canon i will awesome at some point all the brands kinda work in the same way. The 24-70mm at 24mm 2.8 is the clear winner no doubt in my opinion BUT i am shocked how awesome the 24-105 performce the further you zoom out until the point at 70mm when it beats the 24-70mm and then has even 35mm more to spare.

If you want to do a side by side comparison, put the camera on a tripod.

Sorry for stopping 1/2 way through, but could not keep eating you hold the camera out like it was a snake.

Thanks for at least putting out a video, though you would figure someone willing to pay for the f/2.8, they would know the difference between f/2.8 vs f/4 for DoF.

You didn’t talk about if you are shooting a crop or full frame sensor. Sensor size would affect the true affect of the zoom.

Thank you so much my friend!

It was one of the best video that i have seen already about comparation of those lenses. Thank you so much God Bless you and your way.

I photograph lots of kids doing lots of activities, and the 24-105 is hands down the better option for me.....70mm sometimes wouldn't be long enough.

One thing people don't speak much about is the F4 gives you a bit more depth of field around the focus area. I find I have more usable images, because for subjects that are active like kids, I don't have the luxury of focusing on their eyes, so I need a bit more depth of field because I sometimes I only have time to focus on an ear or a shoulder. If I really need a blurry background, I just use the longer focal length.

When I was taught to shoot weddings, we shot mostly at F8, and we had to learn composition techniques to eliminate distracting backgrounds. I feel that skill is being lost these days.

Thanks for posting!