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Tagged 24mm, Canon, Lens, Photography, Product review

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM – Lenses – Camera & Photo lenses

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM – Lenses – Camera & Photo lenses – Canon Ireland

Easy to take with you wherever you go.

A portable pancake lens ideal for travel and street photography. Its improved optical design delivers excellent image quality, while its large f/2.8 maximum aperture allows for handheld shooting in low-light conditions. STM focusing delivers smooth, near-silent autofocus when shooting movies.

View full specification list 

Benefits

• Ultra-thin pancake design

• Natural perspective, close to human vision

• Smooth and quiet focusing when shooting movies*

• Usage Large aperture for low light shooting

• Minimum focusing distance 0.16m

Detailed description

• Compact pancake design

  This portable EF-S 24mm f/2. 8 STM lens is just 22.8mm thick and weighs just 125g, allowing you to take your EOS camera anywhere whatever . Plus, the miniature design makes it almost invisible, perfect for street photography.

• Natural Perspective

  The 24mm focal length when used with an APS-C EOS camera provides the same angle of view as a 38mm lens on a full frame SLR camera. This provides an image that is close to the perception of the human eye, so the pictures look more natural and lifelike.

• Smooth, silent focusing

  Near-silent STM focusing is fast when shooting still images and provides smooth focus changes when shooting movies, ensuring there is no unwanted focus noise during shooting.*

• ohm lighting

  The fast f/2.8 maximum aperture lets in a lot of light, allowing you to shoot in low light without using a flash. It is also great for creating shallow depth of field effects, making your subject stand out against a soft, blurred background.

• Enhanced optical design

  Enjoy crystal-clear shots across the frame with powerful anti-flare and color fringing. Get as close as 16 cm to small subjects for incredible close-ups. * When used with compatible EOS cameras.

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM

Ratings & Reviews

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Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 Wide Angle Prime Lens Review STM

Canon EF-S mount lenses have a lot of interesting examples, and Canon EF-S 24mm f/2. 8 STM has every reason to be so.

The hero of our study is only three years old – for optics, this is a child’s age. This is probably why this lens has not yet become widespread in the photographic environment. But this will not be the case, we are sure. As a first illustration of the capabilities of the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM, here is a table of specifications according to the manufacturer.

Specifications

Full name	Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM
Bayonet	Canon EF-S
Focal length (35 mm film equivalent)	24 (38) mm
Maximum viewing angle (diagonal)	59°
Optical design	6 elements in 5 groups
Maximum aperture	F2. 8
Minimum aperture	F22
Number of aperture blades	7
Minimum focus distance (MFD)	0.16 m
Maximum magnification	0.27×
Autofocus Motor	stepper motor (STM)
Distance scale	no
Image stabilizer	no
Filter thread	∅52 mm
Dimensions (diameter/length)	∅68/23 mm
Weight	125 g

Three things make this lens so unique:

1. Pancake layout: smallest dimensions (length 23 mm) and weight (125 g) in the line of Canon EF-S 9 optics0016
2. Short minimum focusing distance (16cm) suitable for macro photography
3. Surprisingly low price

Construction

	The optical design of our hero is not as complicated as it usually happens with large professional lenses. It includes a total of 6 lenses, combined into 5 groups. One of the elements (rear) is an aspherical glass.
	The lens body is made of polymer composite. It is quite light, but there is no doubt about the strength. There are only two controls: a narrow manual focus ring located in the frame of the front lens, and a switch for focusing modes (automatic / manual). The lens does not have a distance scale – obviously, due to the ultra-small body length.
	If the Canon EF-S mount were not so large in diameter, our hero could be much smaller. The useful diameter of the front lens is clearly visible in this photo. In principle, the manufacturer could make the fitting thread for filters smaller than 52 mm, but this would change the design of our ward, not for the better.
	Bayonet mount metal, carefully crafted and durable.
	On the camera Canon EOS 7D Mark II, with which we tested our hero, he looks like a toy and outwardly does not show his serious abilities.
	On the MTF (frequency-contrast response) graph, the curves are shown in blue at F8, in black at maximum aperture. Thick lines – at a resolution of 10 lines / mm, thin – 30 lines / mm; solid lines for sagittal structures (S), dotted lines for meridional structures (M). Recall that, ideally, the curves should tend to the upper limit, be as flat as possible and contain a minimum of curvature.

The lens is well designed. It is compact, lightweight and easy to use. Let’s see what the tests in the laboratory show us.

Lab tested

The resolution curve is very stable. The maximum resolution is achieved in the f / 3.5-f / 5.6 region and is 85%. In the rest of the range, the lens works out the sensor by about 80%, both in the center of the frame and at the edges. Only at f / 16 the resolution drops to 70%, which can still be called a high result.

There are chromatic aberrations in the center of the frame, but they are very weak: they can be easily removed in the editor during development. At the edge of the frame, the spectrum shift effect is slightly stronger, but also not striking. The lens exhibits a slight barrel distortion, but at this focal length and the physical dimensions of the lens, this is forgivable.

To be honest, the results of the laboratory test exceeded our expectations. From such a baby, you can’t expect high and stable resolution, and even more so minimal optical defects. At the same time, the lens looks like the cheapest “fifty kopeck” EF 50 1.8, but it works much more smoothly (thanks to the autofocus drive). And for the money that the manufacturer is asking for, this is generally a mandatory tool of choice for an amateur photographer.

Practical photography

Real-life photography was done in conjunction with a Canon 7D Mark II camera. Before starting work, the following shooting parameters were set:

• aperture priority,
• center-weighted exposure meter,
• single-frame autofocus,
• center focus,
• automatic white balance (ABB).

Captured images were saved to storage media as uncompressed RAW files, which were subsequently “developed” using Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) using an appropriate lens profile to correct vignetting, distortion, and chromatic aberration. The resulting images were converted into 8-bit JPEG files with minimal compression. In situations with complex and mixed lighting, the white balance was adjusted manually. In some cases, in the interests of the composition, they resorted to cropping the frame.

Optical properties

Here is the first series taken at different apertures. This is the famous Church of the Intercession on the Nerl, standing on the Bogolyubsky meadow (Vladimir region).

Sharpness in the center is good even at maximum aperture, at the edges it is satisfactory. As the aperture increases, the sharpness increases, and at F8 the difference between the center and edges of the frame is no longer determined. Vignetting is pronounced only at F2.8, but it is completely leveled by applying the lens profile when developing in ACR. And starting from F4, vignetting is no longer detected by eye.

Barrel distortion noticeable from F2.8. It is completely removed when processing a photo with a profile, but is not compensated by the aperture of the lens. 9The 0005

Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM captures all the richness of the midtones perfectly, with great details in both bright highlights and deep shadows.

In general, the results are very good, even somewhat unexpected, since our hero clearly does not belong to the category of premium optics, but demonstrates qualities that are quite close to it.

The next series was filmed in the fields of the Vladimir region.

The picture is similar to that which we observed in the first series of images. However, with a strong aperture, traditional “diseases” begin to appear: sharpness at the periphery and in the center drops starting from F11 and reaches a maximum at the minimum aperture (F22). Note that in the latter situation, the blur reaches such a high degree that the images become unsuitable for any purpose. In our opinion, the correct measure would be to limit the aperture to the maximum value of F8.

Low light operation

Now let’s turn to the possibilities of working in low light conditions. The following photographs were taken in the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal. We shot them with an emphasis to avoid “blur” at a fairly slow shutter speed (1/5 s), which, in turn, was chosen to prevent ISO from rising above 100 units.

We really liked how the lens performed. Of course, the sharpness at the periphery leaves much to be desired, but still it is quite decent – at least it can compete with the edge sharpness that professional wide-angle lenses provide at a similar aperture. Yes, and the color reproduction is quite correct, which did not require our intervention when converting RAW to JPEG.

Blur

Obviously not a record maximum disclosure of our ward complicates its use for blurring the background. However, let’s try to find out what effect can be achieved. The pictures below were taken in the meadows of the Vladimir region. We specifically chose such a spotty background to be picky enough about the quality of the picture. Focusing was done on hemlock inflorescences in the lower foreground.

F2.8; 1/1250s; ISO 100

The lens did everything it could, but it did little. Blurring does not reach the desired degree, and the structure of the bokeh turned out to be too annoying and “nervous”. Well, it’s not the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM’s fault, but technical limitations.

as a control sample, here is another photo taken in the same place, with the same parameters, but with a different frame arrangement.

No, unfortunately, nothing highly artistic can be obtained here either. We will not demand from our ward an excellent result of the work for which, in general, he was not created.