Black Friday pricing for Canon lenses from authorized dealers is now live, and we have noticed the big discounts on Canon's two pancake lenses for the EF and EF-S mount.
- Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM $99 (Reg $149)
- Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM $129 (Reg $199)
You can save up to $400 for Black Friday on lots of other Canon lenses at Adorama, check out the other deals here.
image credit // Justin Van Leeuwen
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Yes, but in a brilliant marketing move, they will be called "flapjacks" instead.
Why not just go for the RF 35? No mount adapter needed, faster, semi-macro and IS.
I have the 40, bought it early on after my 5D3....thinking "Hey, cheap fast lens".
I've hardly ever used it. It is so small, it doesn't seem to work well with a full sized camera. Aside from it looking weird to me on a FF body, I find it annoying to manipulate when needing to do something on the lens itself. It is small and hard to find the right dial, etc.
I'm used to holding my camera with one hand and steadying it with the other hand holding the lens....even with primes I do this, it feels awkward with the pancake as there is no real place to grip it.....
Anyway, those were the reasons I never felt good using it. I think the images were ok, but really, it got put on my camera maybe 3 times and it has been gathering dust every since then.
So, for those of you that love the pancake lenses, can you tell me what you like about them and how they fit into your workflow?
Please try to change my mind, as that I hate wasting money and right now, my 40mm pancake is a wast of $$ for me so far.
TIA,
cayenne
For EF-S I think the 35 macro probably has the same effect in both cases since its front element is rather small also but I don't have it or the 24. I don't think any others have anywhere near the stealth factor as the pancakes. Anyway, that's just me, YMMV.
Hmm....I guess to me, it isn't the lens (unless it is a big white) that is the obtrusive thing, but the massive camera body you're holding ......but that's just how I perceive it.
I just see the big camera body someone is holding...and the lens is incidental unless HUGE tele.....I'd notice the pancake more, due to it just looking weird on a FF body.
But that is an interesting perspective I'd not thought of.....
Thanks for the input!!
:)
C
The 40/2.8 also makes a good body cap for my 1D X.
LOL..ok I can see that.
Hahaha...body cap....I like that!!
Thanks for the morning laugh!!
C
I had the exact same reaction with the 40. Sounded great in my heard, not so great in practice. On the other hand, the 22mm pancake practically lived on my m5, and the 28mm on my Fuji never comes off. Basically, if I was willing to carry the big camera over the small ones, then I didn’t mind a bigger, better lens.
I have the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 pancake lens, and it works so well as a handy lens on my APS-C DSLRs (I have a few DSLRs).
The EF-S 24mm is sharp, decent contrast and accurate colours. I find the focal length great as a walk-around.
I also find the EF-S 24mm is useful with its minimal distortions - handy for certain types of photography (e.g. street,. some architecture and panoramas).
(While on the topic of pancake lenses, the EF-M 22mm f/2 pancake is also great on my M5- a sharp, fast little prime that works as a super compact APS-C walk-around!)
Paul
P.S. I owned the EF 40mm f/2.8 lens for some time. It had good optical qualities. But I decided to sell it on, as I found having the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM meant I had too many closes of close focal length together.
Then I picked up the M5 and was using the 24 and 40 with the ef-m adapter. Another easy carry around. Excellent image quality and very inconspicuous for street photography. Once the ef-m 32 came out it replaced my EF 40, 2 stops faster and about the same size without the need for the adapter. It only took a few weeks to decide to finally pick up the ef-m 22 and lose the adapter altogether.
I like the pancake lenses but they lose their appeal if you need the ML adapter.
@cayenne, the 40mm pancake is for those of us who believe that size doesn't matter and it's how you use it that counts. It's a modern take on quite an old fashioned optical formula that exhibits quite severe field curvature and other aberrations. However this means that the lens does render well; to my eye it produces pleasing results. Its light weight and small size make my 5DS every light indeed, and on that camera I can crop into APS-c and still retain a 20 mp 64mm equivalent field of view lens, and I can use the camera in portrait orientation and make a three frame stitch giving me a 24mm FOV. So I've got 24-64 in a very light, small package. When I got the 35mm f/2 IS I thought i wouldn't use the 40 anymore, but in fact I do, it's a more characterful lens. Here in the time-honoured internet tradition of supplying irrefutable professional proof of a lenses prowess I'm posting a shot of my cat taken on the 40mm. I wonder if you'd see the difference with a $2000 lens ? :)