Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Attention pancake lovers: while not making as splashy an entrance as Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Lens, the 24mm EF-S is a terrific addition to your lens arsenal. In a nutshell, the 24mm STM pancake provides excellent optics at a highly usable focal length, encased in a quality compact chassis making this an ideal walk-around prime for crop sensors. Here is a break-down of the reasons why I think you should own this: Pros: -FOCAL LENGTH: At 24mm on crop sensor(Canon t4i, t5i, t6i, t6s, 70D, 7D), the effective focal length is 38mm, which is an excellent frame size for general all around shooting. (Hence I believe this lens will do for crop sensors what the 40mm did for full frame.). The 40mm pancake is just too narrow on the crop sensor as a general purpose lens making it difficult to take indoor photos (you will back up into walls). -APERTURE: Aperture is f2.8 which is a full stop larger than the f-stop on kit lens 18-55mm at the equivalent 24mm (recall the kit lens minimum of f3.5 is only available on at 18mm and increases as you increase focal length). This means the 24mm pancake delivers better bokeh thru smaller depth of field to separate your subject from the background. It will also let in greater light for better indoor pictures without flash. Of note, while the f2.8 is the same on both the 24mm and 40mm pancakes, the DIFFERENCE of aperture size compared with the kit lens is much greater on the 40mm (f5.0 on kit lens at 40mm and f3.5 at 24mm). This makes the relative improvement greater on the 40mm than on the 24mm, but still a good improvement over kit lens. -SIZE: SMALL! Yes, this is probably the number #1 reason this lens is of interest. What good is a bulky DSLR that you don't carry? Trim the space to this incredible size and you are more likely to carry it with you! -OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Quality optics, Canon does not disappoint here: Excellent sharpness, minimal chromatic abberation, no significant vignetting. You are getting a very nice lens! -FOCUS MECHANISM: Uses an STM stepping motor, while not as fast or quiet as several of the other lenses of the STM class, it is still an improvement over non-STM lenses. Also has full-time manual focus. -MINIMUM FOCUS DISTANCE: Minimum focus distance is 6" so it can be used as a semi-macro lens. (See my video for close ups) -BUILD QUALITY: Excellent construction. Has the exact same high quality, durable frame, metal mount and solid feel as the 40mm pancake. No doubt the lens will last a long time. -FILTER SIZE: Small filter diameter 52mm, allows you to purchase better filters for less money. -COST: At $150, it's an incredible bargain. (Note: there are several sellers charging far greater than the retail price. If the Amazon price is high, wait a day or two to order as the typical sellers replenish their stocks.) Cons: -IMAGE STABILIZATION: This lens lacks IS. Fortunately at the shorter focal length, you can get by with a faster shutter speed to achieve good hand-held results. -FORM FACTOR: This is an EF-S lens (note the WHITE square) means it is only for crop sensor Canons (t5i, 70D, 7D and their predecessors) and will not work on full-frame sensors Canons (1D, 5D, 6D). Therefore the lens will not "cross-over" if you decide to upgrade in the future. The 40mm pancake will as it is an EF lens (note the RED dot). -FOCUS MECHANISM: Not a huge deal but, because it's "focus by wire", it requires power to use the focus ring -MANUAL INDICATORS: No distance indicators for focusing. Frankly not a big deal. 5 Stars. You won't be disappointed with this lens!