Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake

[drmikeinpdx]

I went to a motorcycle art show today in Portland.  I assumed the lighting would be poor and that I would need a fairly wide lens.  It seemed like a good time to have some fun with my pancake lens.  I compared notes with a fellow Canonista who was armed with a 70-200 and a speedlight with diffuser.  We definitely approached this project in different ways.

I set my 5D3 to AUTO ISO and set shutter speed and aperture manually.  It seemed to work pretty well.

ISO 3200  1/200  F/3.2  40mm pancake on 5D3



ISO 1600 1/200 F/3.2 40mm 5D3



ISO 2000  1/100 F5.0  40mm 5D3


Here's a crop from that last image.  You can see there is just a bit of grain at ISO 2000.

[Hobby Shooter]

I went to a motorcycle art show today in Portland.  I assumed the lighting would be poor and that I would need a fairly wide lens.  It seemed like a good time to have some fun with my pancake lens.  I compared notes with a fellow Canonista who was armed with a 70-200 and a speedlight with diffuser.  We definitely approached this project in different ways.

I set my 5D3 to AUTO ISO and set shutter speed and aperture manually.  It seemed to work pretty well.

Nice pictures and really cool bikes 

Was it mainly classic bikes?

[drmikeinpdx]

Hi Hobby Shooter,

I'm not sure how you define classic bikes, but they were all pretty old!  LOL  I think there was one brand new Ducati, probably related to the fact that Ducati was one of the sponsors.  I think just about every brand I know of was there except there were no Vincents.  One guy brought his home made scooter that was quite bizarre looking.  I had to google the brand name "Klausmann" which turns out to be the name of the guy who built it in his garage.  Pretty funny.

They must have had over a hundred old bikes there and a lot of art photography too.  The place is at 420 NE 9th in Portland, OR and the show will be there tomorrow too if you want to check it out.

[Hobby Shooter]

Hi Hobby Shooter,

I'm not sure how you define classic bikes, but they were all pretty old!  LOL  I think there was one brand new Ducati, probably related to the fact that Ducati was one of the sponsors.  I think just about every brand I know of was there except there were no Vincents.  One guy brought his home made scooter that was quite bizarre looking.  I had to google the brand name "Klausmann" which turns out to be the name of the guy who built it in his garage.  Pretty funny.

They must have had over a hundred old bikes there and a lot of art photography too.  The place is at 420 NE 9th in Portland, OR and the show will be there tomorrow too if you want to check it out.

Hi,

by classic I meant 20? years old basically. I really like the looks of older bikes. Fun about Klausmann.

Yeah, it would have been nice to get there, but I live in South East Asia so might not make it in time 

[noncho]

Before I got 40 2.8 I didn't expected something special...

But now I have it and I know - it's great little lens!
I have test it on my 60D and friend's 5d II. My friend is stock photographer and he was impressed by image quality from such small lens. Great for walk around on 60D, I used 60mm macro for that before. For 149$ is a bargain, 199$ is still worth it. In Europe is pretty expensive... 

The only thing that can make me sell it is if new Sigma 30 1.4 have great image quality and it's not too expensive(I have 50 and 60mm lens).

[florianbieler.de]

I bought that lens for when I went skiing some weeks ago just to save some space and I was absolutely not disappointed. Great sharpness, easy to use and dirt cheap. I returned it afterwards though because I got a Tamron 24-70 2.8 which magically covers the focal length of 40mm and I saw no real reason for keeping it besides the size, which I do not need that often, because I carry around my stuffed camera pack anyway.

[prjkt]

I bought that lens for when I went skiing some weeks ago just to save some space and I was absolutely not disappointed. Great sharpness, easy to use and dirt cheap. I returned it afterwards though because I got a Tamron 24-70 2.8 which magically covers the focal length of 40mm and I saw no real reason for keeping it besides the size, which I do not need that often, because I carry around my stuffed camera pack anyway.

I have both, used to use the 24 & 28 mm focal lengths on APS quite often, so when I upgraded to the 6D, the 40mm magically sits between the two
Depending on my work (mostly nightclub and party photography) I'll often have the 40mm on for weight considerations, or the 24-70 if I need versatility

[drmikeinpdx]

Re: walking around lenses...

I hate walking around with a big zoom on a full sized body.  I can't enjoy my walk, or my vacation that way.  And it's not just the weight, I worry about letting the camera/lens bump into stuff or being stolen.

The pancake lens is a great way to reduce weight and bulk for "walking around" or as I call it, doing the tourist thing.  I like to put it on my little T2i which is super lightweight itself.  Now that really is a walking around combo!