Author Topic: Canon 40mm STM lens  (Read 9417 times)

  • Offline zpyder

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Canon 40mm STM lens
on: May 17, 2013, 09:14:26 AM
Anyone else used one?

I ended up replacing my nifty fifty with it. The 50mm broken when my camera came off my tripod in the kitchen. The soft plastic casing probably helped cushion the blow and protect the camera body. Took me a while to decide to replace it, and opted for the 40mm as a smaller, lightweight lens.

I actually find that 40mm seems to be more 1:1 through the viewfinder than the 50mm was on the 7D.

Image quality I think is also pretty good. The electronic manual focusing is a bit weird though. Even though the lens isn't a macro lens by any means, trying to do minute manual adjustments can be tricky. I've found autofocus struggles a bit more than other lenses when trying to focus on things that are either very small in the frame or have something in front. Eg, a blade of grass often results in the camera focusing on the background, even with pinpoint focusing enabled.

All that said though, I'm happy with the results. The size and tiny weight of the lens makes it feasable to carry around the 7D+40mm in my bag now.

Sample shots yesterday evening, conditions weren't quite ideal as the garden was mostly in shade by this point and it was pretty windy.


Rhododendron flower bud by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Tulip flower by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Rhododendron flowers by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

This one taken at work to ID the species.

IMG_3648 by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

Re: Canon 40mm STM lens
Reply #1 on: May 17, 2013, 18:45:59 PM
Had to google the lens to see which it was.. damn... its tiny!!

Re: Canon 40mm STM lens
Reply #2 on: May 17, 2013, 20:17:18 PM
Canon call that a pancake?

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-da-40mm-f-2-8-xs-pancake-lens-review-18844

that's a pancake.

Random brand one upmanship asside though, they're fun aren't they? my Dad has the Pentax 21mm limited pancake and he loves it, coupled with his *istDL2 it's pocketable.

Re: Canon 40mm STM lens
Reply #3 on: May 17, 2013, 20:52:24 PM
Fair play to canon though this is there first pancake lens in decades isn't it? I was tempted to get one but when mk2 nifty fifties are £70 I couldn't justify the cost.

If you're doing macro shouldn't you want 100mm+ at least to get the proper depth of field effects?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2


Re: Canon 40mm STM lens
Reply #4 on: May 17, 2013, 20:53:03 PM
Those shots are lovely and sharp, the size is awesome there's no excuse at all not to carry it around everywhere with you just a shame that Nikon don't do one doh

  • Offline zpyder

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Re: Canon 40mm STM lens
Reply #5 on: May 17, 2013, 21:50:15 PM
If you're doing macro shouldn't you want 100mm+ at least to get the proper depth of field effects?

I have a 100mm macro lens which is also a heck of a lot of fun. My statement about macro on the lens was more to do with trying to adjust the focus manually in tiny amounts, as you would doing macro shots. Moving the focusing ring slowly a set distance does not adjust the focus the same amount as it would if you moved it the same distance but faster, if that makes sense.

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