Canon officially announces the EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM

brad-man

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Made this before work this morning for what it's worth. Looking forward to putting it through its paces this weekend though:

It is a very unscientific first look at the lens.
Thanks for that! I've done very little video and never even considered doing any at night. Your night-time footage turned out remarkably well. I will most certainly be picking up this lens when the price settles down. By then there should be some quality second-party lens hoods available as well. It is certainly disappointing that Canon chose to not include weather sealing in the M series, but that's the market.
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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Any first thoughts other than "damn there's no pouch or lens hood"?
So far, I'm impressed. Very good IQ, even wide open. Build is good (lack of weathersealing notwithstanding), similar to the first three EF-M lenses (18-55, 22, 11-22). Only complaint so far is that the manual focus throw is seriously long.
 
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brad-man

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So far, I'm impressed. Very good IQ, even wide open. Build is good (lack of weathersealing notwithstanding), similar to the first three EF-M lenses (18-55, 22, 11-22). Only complaint so far is that the manual focus throw is seriously long.
Glad to hear it looks good wide open. This is more important since Canon chose to not include IS. Interesting comment about the long throw though, since that's usually reserved for manual focus and macro lenses. Is the the lens fast to AF? I suppose that's why they felt the need to include the focus limiter switch. I don't know if I'm more excited about this lens or that EF-M 53 f/1.8 IS that Canon will announce soon...
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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Glad to hear it looks good wide open. This is more important since Canon chose to not include IS. Interesting comment about the long throw though, since that's usually reserved for manual focus and macro lenses. Is the the lens fast to AF? I suppose that's why they felt the need to include the focus limiter switch. I don't know if I'm more excited about this lens or that EF-M 53 f/1.8 IS that Canon will announce soon...
AF is actually reasonably fast. It's maybe just slightly faster than the M22/2. With STM lenses and their focus by wire nature, focus throw is what the camera/lens firmware says it should be. Many newer M lenses have a variable throw where if you turn the ring fast the throw is shorter than if you turn the ring slowly. The M32 seems to lack that feature (which admittedly takes some getting used to), and that makes the throw seem even longer. It's something Canon could change with a firmware update if they want.
 
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brad-man

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AF is actually reasonably fast. It's maybe just slightly faster than the M22/2. With STM lenses and their focus by wire nature, focus throw is what the camera/lens firmware says it should be. Many newer M lenses have a variable throw where if you turn the ring fast the throw is shorter than if you turn the ring slowly. The M32 seems to lack that feature (which admittedly takes some getting used to), and that makes the throw seem even longer. It's something Canon could change with a firmware update if they want.
Faster AF than the 22 is quick enough for pretty much anything I'll be using the M5 for. I have the first four M lenses and haven't noticed the variable throw feature, either because they are too old, I am too old, or I just don't MF very often. That does bring up an interesting thought though. Any camera/lens combo that is FBW could have firmware introduced enabling complete customization of the action of the focus ring. Not really of interest to me, but it may be for some. I prefer to pick the focus point and let the lens do the rest. Just lazy I guess. Still, this combination should make for a formidable street camera.
 
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canonmike

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I really like my M50 and was looking fwd to picking up the EF-M 32mm but, after watching a few recent YT videos reviewing it, the autofocus looks pretty slow for a lens that costs almost $500.00. Adding to that, this is a proprietary lens that cannot be used on anything but M series cameras, so I'm now leaning more toward picking up a fast EF prime lens, which I can use on all my Canon bodies.
 
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I really like my M50 and was looking fwd to picking up the EF-M 32mm but, after watching a few recent YT videos reviewing it, the autofocus looks pretty slow for a lens that costs almost $500.00. Adding to that, this is a proprietary lens that cannot be used on anything but M series cameras, so I'm now leaning more toward picking up a fast EF prime lens, which I can use on all my Canon bodies.

I have the lens since a while and to be honest I expected more out of it, especially in low light. So you've got a good point not getting this lens. I feel it's the last 'effort' from Canon to give something to M users but I think the whole M system will be gone soon anyways.
 
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canonmike

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I have the lens since a while and to be honest I expected more out of it, especially in low light. So you've got a good point not getting this lens. I feel it's the last 'effort' from Canon to give something to M users but I think the whole M system will be gone soon anyways.
Thks for sharing your personal experience with this lens.
 
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canonmike

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I'm doing a follow up video in the next day or two after using it on three paid jobs for video and photos taken on two-weekend trips. The only thing it's missing to make it the perfect lens is IS. It is perfect beyond that.
Please let us know when you post that video. I'd like to see your take on it, especially if you can show us it's as fast as an EF prime. The YT videos I've seen, so far, show otherwise. Make a believer out of us. I can only hope you're right, by golly.
 
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canonmike

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Agreed, the M5 and M6 are outdated now that the M50 is out. The M50 may be lacking some knobs and buttons, but it's more advanced features like the fully articulating screen, revised sensor, better processor, better AF tracking (face + eye), 4K recording, electronic shutter, and slightly higher burst rate would really help an M5 Mark II and Mark M6 II stay competitive in the ever growing mirrorless camera market. The M3 and M10 were updated about two years after their initial launch, so it would be out of place for Canon not to update the M6 and M5 pretty soon. And seeing as the M6 and M5 are at the top of the M system, these would be Canon's mirrorless APS-C cameras to get full 4K recording (no crop) with Duel Pixel AF.
One can only help you are right. Meanwhile, I'm very happy with my M50. Unbelievable, how powerful such a small camera can be, albeit not perfect, as somebody else pointed out. I think it's one of the biggest Canon bargains out there. Moreover, it takes better photos than my gen 1 7D.
 
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Please let us know when you post that video. I'd like to see your take on it, especially if you can show us it's as fast as an EF prime. The YT videos I've seen, so far, show otherwise. Make a believer out of us. I can only hope you're right, by golly.

Hey bud,

I've been super busy so I wasn't able to do this properly, but I wanted to get this out to you so you can see how fast it is.


Cheers
 
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brad-man

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I have the lens since a while and to be honest I expected more out of it, especially in low light. So you've got a good point not getting this lens. I feel it's the last 'effort' from Canon to give something to M users but I think the whole M system will be gone soon anyways.
Since I intend to buy this lens and you already own it, I would very much like to hear how this lens failed to meet your expectations. It is the fastest ASP-C lens ever released by Canon and by all I have read thus far it is sharp wide open. Since I don't share your belief in the (foreseeable) future discontinuation of the M series, that aspect wont be a consideration of mine.
 
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dcm

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Finally received the ES-60 lens hood from Canon. Almost as long as the lens which I like since the front element is set back pretty far. With this much protection I can ditch the filter.
 

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