I
recently saw that Canon had released a 24mm EF-S f/1.8 Pancake lens. I was very
interested in this lens. I have a full set of Nikon and Canon FD primes, but my
EF prime selection is lacking. Seeing that Canon released a low cost,
wide-angle “pancake” lens was just the push I needed to expand my EF’s.
The
First thing you will probably notice about the Canon 24mm EF-S lens is the slim
profile. This is achieved by the use of one aspherical element in the lens'
construction, which helps to minimize chromatic aberrations and produce notably
sharp images. The slim “pancake” profile of the lens also allows you to use the
lens in ways (and places) you cannot with a standard sized lens.
The
second thing you will probably notice about the Canon 24mm EF-S lens is the
price. At $150.00 it is ¼ the price of the standard Canon 24mm EF lens and is
really only lacking in the EF lens’s Image Stabilization.
Once
I got my hands on the Canon 24mm EF-S, I took it down to the beach to shoot
some photos. I immediately noticed how fast and quiet the auto focus on this
lens is. This is the result of Canon’s Stepping motor (which I learned can
easily be overridden by turning the manual focus ring without needing to switch
the lens to manual focus).
The
photos came out sharp and very nice. This gave me an idea, and I quickly rushed
of to do a comparison between the Canon 24mm EF-S and my other 24mm prime
lenses (a Nikon Nikkor 24mm, and a Canon 24mm L-series FD). To use the other lenses on my Canon T2I, I
use fotodiox adapters. The one for the FD adds a piece of glass that cuts light
and a bit of sharpness as well as increasing the focal length a bit (although
that never stopped the L-series 24mm from being one of my favorite lenses).
Below
I have added a photo from each of the three lenses, and as you can see, the
Canon 24mm EF-S Pancake holds up surprisingly well against it’s more expensive
partners.
Another great advantage of the Canon 24mm EF-S lens is it's great macro abilities. Canon claims the ability of this lens to focus on object about 6 inches from the lens. This photograph of some sailboat rigging seems to verify that claim. the photo has remarkable color clarity, and sharpness.
Overall,
I would have to say that if you shoot with a Canon APS-C camera, the 24mm EF-S
lens is good addition to your lens collection. It may, in fact, become my new
“goto” wide-angle prime lens.
Have
you tried the Canon 24mm EF-S prime lens? If so, tell us what you think in the
comments below!
