Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 M IS STM Coming April 5, 2017 [CR3]

[hne]

If you have an EOS with a crop sensor that has Auto ISO, try this.

Fit an EF-S 24mm STM f2.8. Set the camera to manual, set the camera to Auto ISO, set the shutter speed to 500, set the aperture to f10. Now focus on an item 10 feet away. Then switch the lens to manual focus.

Now you are ready to go and enjoy composing great pictures.

Just concentrate on the composition and ignore everything else, when you are happy - press the shutter button.

Your will take perfectly exposed pictures because you are using Auto ISO.
Your will take perfectly sharp pictures because of the shutter speed selected.
Everything will be in focus between 5 feet and infinity because of the aperture selected.

No. It won't be in focus. The resolution at 5 feet and infinity will be reduced to roughly the equivalent of 1.5Mpx. Sure, clearly enough to not be limiting for recognizing people, but you would have issues telling me it's sharp.

I don't have the EF-S 24/2.8, but I followed your method with a Sigma 18-35/1.8 A set at 24mm (OK, 23 according to EXIF), f/10 on a 70D in manual mode with auto ISO (evaluative metering) and an AF target measured out by 160cm (5.25 ft) office desks and got.... let's just say less than stellar results.
So, what's the company logo on that mug placed 155 centimeter (5 ft) from the sensor? Hint: it's printed in a rather bright orange.

Btw, I wouldn't say it's overly sharp either. There is actually very little change to the mug if you downsample the image to 1000x1500 pixels and then upsample it again.

There are lots of ways to get acceptably sharp photos but this is not one of the better ones.

 

[scyrene]

If you have an EOS with a crop sensor that has Auto ISO, try this.

Fit an EF-S 24mm STM f2.8. Set the camera to manual, set the camera to Auto ISO, set the shutter speed to 500, set the aperture to f10. Now focus on an item 10 feet away. Then switch the lens to manual focus.

Now you are ready to go and enjoy composing great pictures.

Just concentrate on the composition and ignore everything else, when you are happy - press the shutter button.

Your will take perfectly exposed pictures because you are using Auto ISO.
Your will take perfectly sharp pictures because of the shutter speed selected.
Everything will be in focus between 5 feet and infinity because of the aperture selected.

The idea that everything will be in focus at f/10 doesn't tally with my experiences. Of course what we're discussing is whether subjects are "acceptably sharp", which means different things to different people. Remember, whatever the aperture, there is a plane of focus and then a zone either side where things may seem as sharp (viewed at a given output size etc) - it's not the case that everything outside the "in focus" zone is blurred, and everything inside it is sharp - things get less sharp the further from the plane of focus you get, however deep the depth of field. And in my experience even subtle differences can throw a picture, when the plane of focus is not where I wanted it (so, say the focus is just behind the subject, even at a narrow aperture, the subject will seem less sharp than the background and that leaps out as an error to me).

I appreciate some people want to think about as little as possible when taking photographs, and that's perfectly valid. But talking about 'composition' as though it doesn't involve shutter speed, focus, depth of field etc. is a narrow view, and misses a lot of the possibilities your relatively expensive DSLR can offer. Someone above said 'why not just use a phone?' and they have a point. Sure, a DSLR can provide better image quality than a phone in many (most) circumstances, but if the style of shooting is bright daylight, everything in focus, then a small sensor camera (including phones) is not a bad choice.

And once again, each person's choice may be valid for them, but I would say a DSLR isn't a great choice overall for a point and shoot experience. When I first got one, I was frustrated by some shots looking great and others not. I had to learn how to use the camera in order to get the results I wanted - these are fairly complex devices, after all. If you want a fire and forget experience, other devices are more forgiving. What I can't stand is people who clearly are interested in photography, but pretend that eschewing certain modern technological advantages is 'purer'. Not using IS doesn't make one a better photographer, nor does turning everything to auto make compositions better.

 

[Talys]

If you have an EOS with a crop sensor that has Auto ISO, try this.

Fit an EF-S 24mm STM f2.8. Set the camera to manual, set the camera to Auto ISO, set the shutter speed to 500, set the aperture to f10. Now focus on an item 10 feet away. Then switch the lens to manual focus.

Now you are ready to go and enjoy composing great pictures.

Just concentrate on the composition and ignore everything else, when you are happy - press the shutter button.

Your will take perfectly exposed pictures because you are using Auto ISO.
Your will take perfectly sharp pictures because of the shutter speed selected.
Everything will be in focus between 5 feet and infinity because of the aperture selected.

Sorry if I sound overly critical, but this sounds like a terrible idea. It's just saying: "If you care about nothing but keeping the picture in focus, step down your aperture to a tiny pinhole and lots of stuff will be in focus."

Just to point out the obvious, why use a 2.8 prime, if you're going to shoot at f10? Why not just use a 5.6 zoom kit lens with IS? It will produce about as good pictures stepped down that far anyways, and IQ can't possibly be at the top of you mind, if you're using auto ISO to control exposure.

But the biggest problem with auto ISO is that ISO 400+ gives you pictures of a quality MUCH worse than ISO 100. At ISO 800, 1600 the noise is horrible. But almost as bad, most Canon bodies that are "consumer" priced -- I think every xxxD -- is going to constrain ISO to jumps in doubled increments - 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400. That means exposure jumps in are equivalent to full stops (each jump in iso allows twice/half as much light, just like a full f stop). So some of your pictures will be underexposed, and some of your pictures will be overexposed.

If your goal is to have a very deep depth of field, why not use Aperture Priority and vary shutter speed instead? If it's too dark to hold a 24mm still at a low ISO, you're never going to get an amazing picture anyways. If you want brainless, why not turn on touch shutter, turn the dial to the green square, and touch whatever you want focused?

And anyways, 1/500 is such a crazy, arbitrary shutter speed. Why 1/500 on 24mm lens? You should be able to go much slower even without IS. With 4-stop IS on short focal lengths, I regularly take handheld shots at 1/15 and 1/30 that are perfectly focused. With 3-stop IS, 1/60 is still very easy to get 2 good to perfect shots out of every 3. 1/500 is also too fast for a lot of speedlites/strobes, and too slow to capture a lot of things that are moving.

But anyways, this defeats the entire point of an ILC/DSLR investment. You don't need a DSLR to make a clear, in-focus photograph. You need a DSLR to have the sort of control to create the best photograph you can, and you invest in other gear to help make the most of whatever/wherever you are. If looking at the brainless EV +/- is too much work, much less checking the histogram... I would suggest saving a whole bunch of money and not using a DSLR

Not to mention, not wasting time and money on 35mm 2.8 prime lens, whatever that M may mean

 

[SkynetTX]

By the way, STM motor makes no sense in a dedicated macro lens where real FTM support is a must. I always try to focus before turning the camera on and with the STM motor this is not possible. :'(

 

[ahsanford]

By the way, STM motor makes no sense in a dedicated macro lens where real FTM support is a must. I always try to focus before turning the camera on and with the STM motor this is not possible. :'(

+1. Focus by wire is not ideal for stills, and that's doubly so for macro work.

But at least give Canon some credit: the priciest STM lens I can see at B&H is $599 for the 24-105 non-L. Canon is not jamming STM / FBW focusing on to the better lenses like Sony is. I am appalled that Sony is asking for ~ $2k for FBW lenses when Canon and Nikon can deliver far better FTM mechanical focusing for the same (or in many cases, lower) prices.

- A