What is the depth of field of a 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom at each end?

At the same f/2.8 and the same 5-meter subject distance, a 24-70mm zoom produces roughly 13.5 meters of total depth of field at its 24mm wide end, but only about 82cm at its 70mm long end — the single lens spans from near-everything-sharp to a genuinely shallow portrait-style rendering, purely by zooming.

Why the Same Lens Behaves So Differently at Each End

At 24mm f/2.8, the subject sits close to the hyperfocal distance (roughly 7.16m at this aperture), which is why the far limit reaches so much further than the near limit — the classic wide-angle, near-total-sharpness rendering. At 70mm, the same 5-meter distance sits far short of that focal length's much longer hyperfocal distance (roughly 60.7m), so depth of field behaves the way telephoto lenses always do: a comparatively thin band symmetric around the focus point.

What Changes This Comparison

Moving the subject closer narrows both ends' depth of field, but the effect is proportionally larger at 70mm, where the sharp zone is already thin. Stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 widens both, though the wide end will still comfortably out-depth the long end at any shared aperture and distance — that's a property of the focal-length difference itself, not the specific f-number chosen.

Compare both ends directly for your own distance in the DoF & Hyperfocal Calculator — pre-filled at the 24mm end; change focal length to 70 to see the long end.