Canon’s EF 24-70mm f2.8L USM is a favourite of pro portrait and wedding photographers, and is now more popular than ever in an improved Mark II version. It delivers a perfect range on full-frame bodies for events from group shots to single portraits, and is also great for cropped bodies if wide-angle isn’t important. The f2.8 aperture may not be as bright as short telephoto primes, but still delivers nice blurred backgrounds and as an ‘L’ model it features excellent build quality and smooth manual focusing. The Mark II version delivers superior quality to the original and is preferred, but it’s a shame there’s still no optical stabilisation; also beware the wider 82mm filter thread on the new model. Note Canon also offers a newer 24-70mm with stabilisation, but with a slower f4 aperture which makes it less attractive for portrait and low light work. Owners of Canon’s cropped-frame / APSC DSLRs may be interested in the older but still attractive EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM, while owners of Canon’s EOS R full-frame mirrorless system with a higher budget could go for the upcoming RF 24-70mm f2.8L IS USM both of which include image stabilisation. If you really want to push the boat out on something special though, EOS R owners can splurge on the RF 28-70mm f2L USM, the brightest full-frame general zoom albeit at a very high price.