dmacmillan Offline Upload & Sell: On
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We went to Europe last summer and I had a focal length gap from 40-70mm.
I considered the 24-70 f2.8 II. When doing research, mention of the f4.0 IS kept popping up. While one stop slower, IS was claimed to let you set shutter speed three stops lower than you'd be able to hand hold otherwise. The 2.8 is supposedly sharper, but not by much. Of course the f4.0 IS wins on size, weight and price.
I was almost, but not quite convinced. I'd never used a second generation IS so I was skeptical. I decided to rent the f4.0 IS from LensRentals. I received a flawless copy from them and ended up shooting most of my photos with it. It was available for purchase and the cost of rental applied to the purchase price. I bought the lens instead of returning it.
The IS worked much better than I expected, to the point I now regret not spending the extra when I bought my 70-200 f2.8. I have some photos shot at 24mm @1/2 second that are sharp when viewed 100%. 1/30 70mm is no problem and if you're careful, you can get good results @1/15.
I was going to suggest the 24mm Sigma Art as a possible alternative, but I see you didn't like the 35mm because of size and weight. I guess I look at size and weight differently after schlepping around 16mm Frezzolinis and Eclair NPRs when I worked in TV and 4x5 Sinars and Mamiya RB67s when I did commercial photography full time. My Europe kit consisted of a 5D, 17-40, 24-70, 85, 135 f2.0 and a 70-200 f2.8 plus flash, batteries, etc. My iPhone said we averaged walking 8 miles a day with some 10-12 mile days thrown in. Not bad for a 66 year old!
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