Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L Review: The Sharpest Zoom Lens on the Market

Last Updated on 05/13/2024 by Chris Gampat

Be careful what you wish for: at least, that’s what I thought about the Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L lens when I reviewed it. For a long time, I’ve dreamed about something like this — though I’ll admit, I never dreamed of owning one. Canon’s major innovations come from their lenses, and this one is no exception. After two weeks with it, I can this with confidence: it’s the most Sigma-like lens Canon has. That means that you’re going to need to do a lot of exercise if you’re dreaming about carrying this lens around for a long gig. Don’t skip leg day — or bicep day, or core day. In fact, get swole. If you think I’m joking about the statement, you’re not prepared.

The Big Picture: Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L Review Conclusions

The Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L is an incredible lens. Overall, this is perhaps the sharpest zoom lens that I’ve seen from Canon. In fact, I’d rate this the sharpest zoom lens overall that I’ve tested in a while. That’s a good thing for many of you who want to do a lot of post-production or don’t mind doing it. I, on the other hand, much prefer their prime lenses and the gentle beauty they bless the heroes of your photos with. But I absolutely cannot deny the incredible innovation Canon has with this lens. No one else on the market has it. And if you’re a hybrid production shooter, then you’ll probably really like the Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L.

When I put it in the hands of many others, they loved it overall. Indeed, considering the autofocus, build quality, responsiveness, and image quality, this is the best Canon lens that we’ve seen from a technical standpoint. From a technical standpoint, it’s also much better than the f4 variant. But if you want to be nimble and realize that the image quality won’t matter all that much when you’re not pixel peeping, then you’ll be find with the Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L.

I only fear that Canon is going to start making lenses too sharp — which would break my heart as I adore many of their L lenses.

The Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L receives five out of five stars and our Editors’ Choice award. Want one? Pick it up at Amazon, Adorama, Lensrentals, or Ali Express.

Pros

• Super sharp
• One of a kind
• Hybrid Functionality
• Internal zooming
• Solidly built

Cons

• Do your pushups

Who Should Buy the Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L?

The Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L is for event photographers and photojournalists. If you own the F4 variant, I’m not sure that I’d upgrade. Carrying two Canon cameras with two lenses for a long gig will be pretty painful on your back and core after a while. I’d personally prefer to be quicker on my feet with a 24-105mm f4 and raising the ISO up or using a flash. As it is, I really like using a flash.

Innovations

The Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L is unique in that it’s the first lens of this type designed for hybrid shooting with a constant f2.8 aperture within this range.

Gear Used

The Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L we used was a loaner from Lensrentals. We used it with the Canon R5 and Canon R3, which are long-term loaners provided by Canon. We also included the Canon EOS R, Profoto B10, and Elinchrom One, which are our own units.

Hardware

This is a big lens. Seriously, I couldn’t fit it attached to any of the Canon cameras I’ve got around the office inside a camera bag. Instead, I’d have to detach them each and every time I wanted to store the two away. That, immediately, is a bit annoying. But once you’ve got the lens attached to a camera, everything else from the other camera brands feel like the inferior puny water bottles stuffed with glass that they are.

I’m kidding — Sony’s lenses are allergic to water.

Of course, there’s a lot to think about with this lens. The Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L has a bunch of controls. There’s an aperture control towards the back — which doesn’t work for still photography in my tests. In front of that is the zoom ring, which is well-placed. In front of that is the manual focus ring and the clicky function ring. On the side are tons of switches to control the lens even further. Plus, there are buttons on the lens, too.

By all means, this is a big piece of hardware. You’re not going to want to use this for a really long period of time. I strongly suggest bringing this lens out when you need it and then switching back to a 24-105mm f4 or the 50mm f1.2 L. The latter is my favorite lens from Canon as of the publishing of this lens review.

We took the Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L out into a small rainshower, and it held up against the rain with no issues. We expect this from Canon’s L lenses.

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Focusing

Autofocus on the Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L is fast, snappy, and accurate. In fact, I didn’t miss a single shot with this lens at all. However, that has more to do with Canon’s cameras — and in this case the lens a first-party option. Even in low light, the Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L could find people of color with melanin in their skin when paired with the company’s cameras.

More importantly, we mostly shot with this lens in Servo mode — and it didn’t disappoint. Even when shooting in single autofocus mode, it performed stellar. That just makes sense for a $3,000 lens.

Any event photographer would be well served by this lens.

Ease of Use

There are lots of rings, buttons, and switches on this lens. And truly, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that isn’t an experienced photographer. It’s still a set-it-and-forget-it style of affair when shooting. However, the weight will mean that it’s difficult to work with at times. Also, for what it’s worth, it’s huge. I’m pretty sure I whacked a few people in the face with it.

My friend enjoyed nearly killing me when taking me for a ride in his mid-life crisis mobile — otherwise known as a Miata. As he did donuts in Long Island’s suburban streets, I tested the Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L at slower shutter speeds. The shot above was done at 1/30th with my arms pretty outstretched. After being unwillingly reminded of what my lunch tasted like, I realized that the Canon EOS R5 and Canon RF 24-105mm f2.8 L did a great job together at 1/30th while also driving pretty damn fast.

For the record, in order to be part of Phoblographer’s review team, you have to be able to handhold a camera and lens for longer than a second and get no camera shake. I could easily do it with this combo.

Image Quality

Let me be frank, the sharpness of this lens doesn’t need to be increased at all — especially when shooting portraits and using a flash. It’s already very sharp. You also don’t need to add clarity to your images. Due to the close focusing, you’ll appreciate the bokeh you can get. It’s really pretty beautiful, and it’s also the reason why you’d buy a lens like this. When running the images through Capture One, it also couldn’t find any issues with distortion at all.

Truly, these days, image quality is a negligible factor. The other members of TIPA and I all came to that conclusion at this year’s conference.

Extra Image Samples

The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.

Unedited

Edited

Tech Specs

Taken from the Lensrentals listing.