Jul 5, 2012
Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM review
Categories: Personal
Written By: admin
Playing with my new lens.
Just added a couple new Canon 5d Mark IIIs to my arsenal as well as a tiny little Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM ‘Pancake’ lens.
It’s hard to motivate myself to take photos on my day off taking photos…so in order to make testing the 5d III & 40mm STM Pancake lens fun, I had to step back and remove all traces of my technical working practice, and become free from the pressure to perform.
How did I do that? Easy, but first of all I used a black marker to debadge the whole dam set up (advertise what I have in my hand, for Canon? NO!). Then I set the ISO to auto, stuck her in Aperture Priority (AV) mode at f5.6 – put the astonishing auto focus into mindless mode, and my absolute favourite option was to turn the f stop to F5.6 and get down and dirty. F5.6 neither here nor there thus concentration on the good stuff; the moment!
The following photos where shot on a rare day off and document a few of the things that surrounded me: my family, and my Lifeguard buddies down at my local beach Porthtowan. I also shot some random objects just to test the sharpness of the Canon 40mm f2.8 STM lens… Which turns out to be wicked sharp and only £200. This lens is going to be so much fun, especially for travelling light and keeping it simple.
The new Canon 5d mark III has a multi shot mode which merges two photos in camera. The next couple of shots are an example of this multi shot feature. I found it’s best to shoot one of the frames with a lot of negative space (sky, plan wall etc). Here they work well in telling the story of a lifeguard watching over his flock..
July 9th, 2012 at 22:45
seems to be a sharp lens, nice shots
July 11th, 2012 at 11:54
have been looking at this 40mm and wanted to see some real world examples – those beach shots have convinced me – they look great – did you do much post-production?
July 17th, 2012 at 11:27
i have become very much impressed after seeing all these samples of photographs that i have already ordrered one for myself.
July 17th, 2012 at 19:39
awesome…thanks for getting me pumped up.. i just ordered my pancake lens to go on my 5d3.
just wondering, in keeping it simple, did you shoot jpeg or raw, and how much post work did you do?
July 18th, 2012 at 08:11
I actually shot in S2 mode which bangs out a 1980 px wide 600kb JPG. I did a little fast post prosessing. I was far from interested in spending anytime on these.
1 month on and the lens keeps impressing me, as does the 5D3 apart from the rediculous – fail of the year – black focus points…
July 20th, 2012 at 08:14
Lovely review and great photos to illustrate this lens’ performance. I also bought one last week (same 5D Mk III ‘parent’).
How did you manage to time the shot of the two dogs both bounding simultaneously?
Cornwall looks great!
July 27th, 2012 at 10:12
Great review. Managed to knock one out over the bath photo
July 27th, 2012 at 10:30
The wife will be thrilled she’s still got it…
August 2nd, 2012 at 05:55
Hey there, i found your review on the fm forums as i am looking to purchase this lens. You demonstrated well what the lens can do and I am going to pick one up later this morning.
on a side note, do you know your wife’s breast is showing in one of the pictures, she ok with it? hehe. my wife would kill me if i had to put a pic like that up.
anycase, nice photos
August 2nd, 2012 at 11:19
Thanks for taking time to comment Phil. I’m glad the review helps towards your decision to buy the lens. It’s a fantastic edition to any camera bag.
Regarding the touch of breast. We’re both fine with it. Too be honest I couldn’t really think of a reason why this is a problem… but she is half French and I am quite hard to offend. Wish the world would catch up…
August 2nd, 2012 at 22:33
i am now using this lens for last two weeks and has become very much impressed with the clarity and sharpness of the lens and the quality has remained even after cropping and enlargement. i am seriously thinking of buying the other new lens 18-135mm stp
as well. i have not tried movie-shooting yet.
August 22nd, 2012 at 15:59
Love these shots, my type of thing………….great stuff.
August 30th, 2012 at 13:41
GREAT shots. I really wish there was some video up there as well to get a feel for the lense in that type of situation. but the pictures that you have are very impressive and have me really considering this for my next lense. Thanks for the time spent sharing your experience.
November 28th, 2012 at 22:21
Fantastic work – it makes fun to look at these photos!
I also bought this lens – using it on the old lady 5D – it´s a perfect team.
Keep on this blog and your fine photos.
Cord
from Germany