Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 35mm Primes

Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 35mm Primes 

DESCRIPTION

Highly popular wide-angle lens featuring a large aperture. Good for casual snapshots as well as perspective shots. Floating rear focusing system corrects astigmatism and gives high contrast and sharp delineation.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 24  
[Feb 07, 2020]
jeffbozo


Strength:

This lens is a massive, eye-opening improvement from the original EF 24mm F/2.8. Sharpness is dramatically improved, flare reduced, improved color, and IS added. At this focal length, IS is less useful for general shooting, but still can be used for certain types of specialty shots and video. Also, while it is not as sharp as the EF 24-70 f/2.8L II in the corners at f/2.8, it is MUCH smaller and lighter than that lens. And, at f/4 and above (where you'd most likely use it) it basically matches the performance of the EF 24 f/2.8L II and EF 24 f/1.4L. In fact, in some ways it exceeds them in terms of being much less prone to flare than either of the more expensive L lenses. Thus, I am quite impressed with this lens. It is not the best quality 24mm that exists, but it certainly is the best under $1000 and it offers a level of portability that higher priced 24mm lenses do not.

Purchased:
Used  
OVERALL
RATING
4
[Aug 11, 2004]
towerphotography
Professional

Strength:

Beautiful image quality; sharp; small; light; works great on 10D; an ultra wide angle bargain

Weakness:

ancient design (Nov 1988); lots of flare without a hood; no fulltime manual focus

I love this lens. I got this cheap off eBay for a slightly wider view on my 10D. I am utterly shocked at the image quality. For an extremely old design, this lens is outstanding. For landscapes, this lens is awesome. Focusing is super close at only 8 inches. A piece of cake to handhold because it is so light. AF is suprisingly fast, though quite loud. Who cares though, this lens is for landscapes. Sharpness easily matches the far more expensive 16-35 2.8L, though is not quite as sharp as the awesome 24 1.4L.

Similar Products Used:

16-35 2.8L, 17-40 4L, 24 1.4L

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 05, 2004]
james231176
Intermediate

Strength:

great build, solid looking, fast focus, superb optics, i woul dpay full price even if i knew what this baby could do for me !!! F2.8 is excellent - i was out at dawn when sun was down and photos came out great !!! F2.8 helps use alot of exsistin light in sky

Weakness:

nothing, other than some would complain about noisy focus motor, who cares !!!

I bought this lens for $255 off ebay (2nd hand) new it retails for $859 in Australia, and although it had some scratchs on front glass element, i took some "quick" test photos and i was absolutely shocked to see how amazing it is !!! the colours !!! the colours were simply un-speakable - even better than my 50mm f1.8 !!!! i am amazed really !!! its super sharp, 24mm is the best angle i believe as any more makes things look fake....

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 11, 2004]
Jeremymc
Intermediate

Strength:

Depth of field is great. The horribly wrong autofocusing is quick, and f/2.8 ain't bad either. Build quality is great. It feels like you could throw it at someone, hurt them, and pick it up and use it again.

Weakness:

Here's the main problem: It brutally overexposes everything on my 10D. It's not reliably "x stops off" of you would simply set some exposure compensation whenever you mount it on your camera. It's very hit and miss. I've had some great shots with it and about 75% horribly, uncorrectably wrong shots with it on the 10D, even in RAW. On my ancient film Rebel it seemed OK on 4x6 but that doesn't satisfy most of us pixel-peepers. It's also the worst AF on my 10D of any lens, front and backfocusing wherever it pleases. My 10D has been factory serviced for the dreaded AF issue.. It's still terrible for anything that isn't @ infinity. For f/11 landscapes it's totally fine, for close f/2.8 bugs on a flower, not so much. I thought it might make an interesting perspective for near-macro work since it can focus quite close.

I bought this lens to widen the views possible on my EOS 10D. The build quality is great. It feels like a little tank compared to the 50mm f/1.8. It's only sliiightly larger but nicely heavier than that lens. But, check the weaknesses.... However, AF and overexposure issues make this lens untrustworthy for anything that isn't a throw-away snapshot or bracketed in underexposures.

Customer Service

None needed.

Similar Products Used:

Canon 50mm f/1.8, 28-135, 100mm macro, Tamron this and that.

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
[Jan 02, 2004]
Van
Intermediate

Strength:

Small and light. AF speed just fine.

Weakness:

Soft corners, should be ok if you do not create big prints. Distortion evident.

I just got back a 16x20 print shot with this lens on a tripod with mirror lock up. The film used was Tecpan shot at ISO 25 and developed with Technidol. Based on this print I can say that the lens has very good center resolution but not very good edge resolution. However, the bigger problem is distrortion, which is evident in even smaller size prints.

Customer Service

Not needed for this lens

Similar Products Used:

Various EF lenses

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 11, 2003]
pemartin
Intermediate

Strength:

optical quality solid build- except MF ring common size 58 filters compact and lightweight

Weakness:

chintzy manual focus ring

I purchased this lens to use with my Elan 7 in preparation for a trip to Yosemite. I needed an inexpesive, light, wide angle lens capable of taking sharp pictures of huge subjects. After looking at the results from the valley I can say that I was completely satisfied with its optical performance. My only gripes are the manual focus ring which is rather cheesey and the fact that it lacks FTM focus- not a huge deal. Yes, USM would be nice as well, but not important for landscapes. I'd rather get the break in price!

Customer Service

unrequired

Similar Products Used:

50 1.8II 28-105 3.5-4.5 70-200 4L

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 12, 2003]
matan
Expert

Strength:

light and compact. fast AF due to internal focusing mechanism. well controlled flare. unless your subject is a white wall, acceptable optical quality at f2.8. very good from f5.6 up to f16). will not viggnet with a thin CPL mounted on another filter. close focusing (without loosing optical performance!) price.

Weakness:

non USM.- AF is fast for sure, but when doing people photography I wish for full time manual override.

after testing the lens at various situations and using it for people and landscape photography, here is my review:

Similar Products Used:

canon 17-35/f2.8L USM sigma 17-35/f2.8-4 sigma 21-35/f3.5-4.2 (manual) canon 28-105/f3.5-4.5 USM nikon 28-70/f2.8 AF-S nikon 28-105/f3.5-4.5 D

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 06, 2003]
JFT
Intermediate

Strength:

Optical quality for the price, sharp, colour replroduction, no vignetting with polariser. Lightweight, reasonable build quality for the price. Fast focussing with EOS33 (Elan 7).

Weakness:

At Singapore prices, no complaints.

Now a permamanent fixture in my travel kit after a trip to Nepal. Very pleased with results after shooting landscapes and street scenes on mixture of Velvia and professional B&W print films.

Customer Service

Cathay Photo will give you an email quote before you arrive in Singapore (no hassle with haggling the price) and they give full Canon international warranties and good advice. I bought 2 lenses and a Leica projector from them, will return again, no question.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
3
[Jan 03, 2003]
Ralph Wagner
Intermediate

Strength:

Size, weight No distortion Lens quality

Weakness:

None USM, but not needed most of the time.

Great compact lens that does not exhibit distortion like wide angle zooms. Wide enough for me. Even w/o USM focusing is fast enough for most situations. (unlikely you will be using this lens for sports) Be sure to use the hood.

Customer Service

To date not used

Similar Products Used:

Canon 28mm/2.8 Canon 35mm/2.8

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 25, 2002]
samw
Expert

Strength:

- Optical Quality - Common 58mm filter size - Versatile focal length

Bought this lens used with hood (recommended). Super sharp, light and compact. No complaints about this fantastic lens. USM would be nice, but is not necessary. I feel that 24mm is the most versatile single wide-angle focal length.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
Showing 1-10 of 24  

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