My new Canon 16-35mm f2.8 III wide angle zoom lens finally arrived this week and so it was time to shoot another unboxing video, screw on the PolarPro Variable ND filter and head out to the park across my street to shoot some B-Roll with this incredible piece of glass.
Is the Canon 16-35mm worth 2000$?
Ok, let me tell you – I’m super hyped because this is actually my first Canon wide angle zoom lens since I made the switch from Nikon last year. I choose to go for the f2.8 version that unfortunately comes at almost 2000$ because I’ll be using it a lot for concert photography and therefore I need fast lenses that perform well in low-light situations. If low-light performance isn’t that much of a concern to you because you primarly shoot let’s say – landscapes or architecture during daytime – you can get away much cheaper with the f4.0 version coming at half that price.
A killer lens for filmmaking
Anyway, I didn’t buy this lens for photography only. The 16-35mm focal range works great for any sort of filmmaking and run n gun videography. You can shoot steady footage out of the hand because shooting that wide tremendously reduces camera shake. For videography I’ll use the 16-35 mostly in combination with my PolarPro Variable ND filter I already showed you in another video. This filter allows me to maintain a cinematic-looking shutter speed and shoot with wide-open apertures in bright daylight at the same time.
What’s inside the box?
The Canon 16-35mm f2.8 III comes in the classic gray L-Series box that I already know of my 24-70mm and right on top in the box there are some warranty cards followed by the gray Canon lens bag everybody has and nobody needs. Of course this wide angle zoom lens comes with a lens hood but I won’t be using it that much either because I need access to the stop adjustment ring of the ND filter I’m going to use on this glass.
It’s quite a heavy lens, but it feels super good and that is exactly what I want to feel when I’m spending two grand on glass. If you change the focal length everything happens inside. It doesn’t extend like my 24-70mm and that’s very cool in my opinion. The zoom and focus rings are pretty much the same as on my 24-70mm and so is the thread size. We’ve got a 82mm filter thread here ready to take on my PolarPro Variable ND filter.
B-Roll Test and final thoughts
Check out the video on top of this article and watch the B-Roll sequence I shot in a park right across the street where I live. So far I’m very happy with this incredible piece of glass and I can’t wait to use it on upcoming projects. Spending 2000$ on a lens is a huge investment but the solid build quality and superb optical quality instantly get you a smile on your face every single time you take the lens out of the bag, mount it to the camera and shoot with it.
