After returning home from an early morning run, I noticed the Arizona sunrise illuminating the blooming Myrtillocactus cactus in the backyard. As such, I thought it would be interesting to shoot some blooms using both the Canon 24-105/f4L IS and Canon 24-70/f2.8L lenses. Since I use the 24-105/f4 IS as my main walk-around lens, the 24-70/f2.8 has been sitting around collecting dust.

I prefer the 24-105/f4L IS over the 24-70/f2.8L as a walk-around lens because it is smaller, lighter, has longer focal length and, most importantly, offers about 3-stops of Image Stabilization, which is extremely beneficial for hand-held, ambient-light shooting. On the other hand, the 24-70/f2.8L is an excellent portrait, candid-street or event lens where shallow depth of field is desired. Although the 24-70/f2.8L may be a tad sharper, the colors and contrast of the two lenses are similar.

Following are a few hand-held photos of the same cactus bloom using both lenses. All photos with both lenses were shot wide open at maximum focal length.