Who Kept Their Canon 40mm Pancake Lens?

I am very happy to report that my new 40mm lens is sharp and the contrast is great. I love it. I have never really experienced a "bad lens" before, but something wasn't right with the first one. It almost reminded me that it had moisture in it or something. Nevertheless, this one is a keeper!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year taking photos!

michgirl wrote in post #18221844
I am very happy to report that my new 40mm lens is sharp and the contrast is great. I love it.

Glad to hear that. I suspected there was something not right about your previous copy.

Merry Christmas!

Goes to show you not all pancakes come out good.

I've had mine for 2 years now, it makes up the short end of my EF 40f2.8, EF 100f2.0 and EF 300f4L IS trio, which on my crop body means I'm always shooting from a ways away. I guess that's just my personality, it suits me. The 40 on my 60D was what I took to NYC early this year and it suited me surprisingly well, despite a lot of crop body owners not warming to this FL, so YMMV. It is sharp and focuses well, it is almost as sharp and contrasty as the 300mm lens which is my standard with what I own.

There are a lot of great choices in this range, the 35f2 IS would be a better choice for me, or the pair of EF-S 24f2.8 STM with the EF 50f1.8 STM would be smarter and not terribly more expensive. At the time, I decided to try the 40mm lens when I was inspecting two years worth of use of the EF-S 18-200 zoom, and realized that 20% of my shots were zoomed all the way to 200mm and even then cropped, and the other 80% were all within the 24-100 mm range. My priority is dimly lit stage photos of my High School aged kids in candid photos where there is some subject movement, which limits my minimum shutter speed around 1/80th sec. So aperture is more important to me than IS in this FL range, which is why the 35f2 is more interesting to me than any of the 24-105 zooms. No use comparing this lens to any of the f1.4 L lenses, they are very different beasts.

I did seriously consider the 35/f2 IS, but for half the price, I was able to get both the 24mm pancake for my crop and the 40mm for my 6d. I thought about the 50mm f/1.8 STM, but thought the smaller size and tad bit wider was the way to go for me. I have the 50mm f/1.8 II, and it is a nice, sharp lens. But I don't like the way it hunts to focus and how noisy and slow it can be.

I once had the Voigtlander 20, 28 and 40. They left in that order, about to post it on eBay (or here). It's a great lens, but I don't need it. I'd rather upgrade my seats on a plane.

When I was living in Laos it was one of my favourite street candid lens when attached to my 700D. Small, light and unobtrusive.. Now I'm back in Australia I've hardly picked up my camera gear.

After returning my first copy that seemed to be hazy and soft, I have now had my second copy for about a month now. I love it on my 6D, it is light, compact and great contrast and color.

Very glad I got this one and loved all of the input from everyone.

Thanks.

We use the 40mm Pancake on my wife's SL1 when we travel. We will be using it next month when we go on a cruise. It is lightweight, good optically, and decent in low light situations.

michgirl wrote in post #18255239
After returning my first copy that seemed to be hazy and soft, I have now had my second copy for about a month now. I love it on my 6D, it is light, compact and great contrast and color.

Very glad I got this one and loved all of the input from everyone.

Thanks.

Glad you got there in the end. It really is ideal on the 6D.

I don't use it much but I keep around just in case a light option. It's also worth so little to make it feel pointless to go to any kind of length to sell it like I just did my 60 macro.

Vendee wrote in post #18259767
Glad you got there in the end. It really is ideal on the 6D.

It really is. So easy to tote about.

Apricane wrote in post #18260074
I don't use it much but I keep around just in case a light option. It's also worth so little to make it feel pointless to go to any kind of length to sell it like I just did my 60 macro.

Currently I am packed for a trip and using it as a lens cap. Perfect.

Accessory question if I can. If you use a screw in lens hood with these pancakes can you still put a lens cap on.