HOW MUCH!!??? Canon, you do realise we are in a global recession? Ridiculous prices for the new 24-70mm, 24mm and 28mm!

It seems Canon are committed to putting enormous price increases on updated lenses! It started with the 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS MK 2 which was around $800 more than it's predecessor and now the new 24-70mm looks set to launch at $1000 more than it's predecessor, there's just no way this kind of price increase is justified, they haven't even added IS!

It's even more painful living in the UK when Canon normally just switch the $ symbol for a £ one and whistle innocently!

It gets worse, the new 24mm F/2.8 IS USM and 28mm F/2.8 IS USM lenses are between 2-3x the price of the forebears, they are undoubtedly superior lenses but I cannot imagine the price increase is justified, these are supposed to be the consumer grade primes! What's next? an 85mm F/1.8 MKII for $1000?

Sadly it seems that like Nikon, Canon have realised that there are enough deep pocketed people out there to make these kind of prices feasible, some people with less money such as I are happy to save up for an expensive lens but not when it suddenly becomes twice as expensive, the gap in the market for the likes of Sigma, Tamron and Tokina seems to be getting wider and wider!

I've been searching for a perfect standard zoom and have been through more copies of the 17-55mm IS than I care to think about with various quality control issues, I often think that maybe the MKII version will be a safer bet but I just know I will not be able to afford it, the same goes for the 100-400mm, the next version will probable be a twist zoom and have better quality control but I would be surprised if it isn't around $1000 more than the current version!