Love My SL1, BUT . . .

5D2SL1EF40 wrote:

For me, it's the perfect carry-around. I considered mirrorless, but can't live with big distortion factors right out of the camera when I shoot RAW (nearly always). After distortion correction in post-processing, I'd lose too much picture area. With the SL1, I get a real viewfinder, the best optics, and great live view, along with compactness that compromises nearly nothing.

My one big gripe that's been posted elsewhere by me and others - Canon, for Pete's sake, why go to all the R&D bother to design a truly compact camera and only one pancake prime lens, of a limitedly useful focal length? I love the EF 40's IQ and close focus on my 5D2 and like it on the SL1 for the usual uses of a short tele, but I don't want to carry around any zoom, not even your excellent kit lens.

So, in the absence of a truly compact semi-wide carry-around, I am using the very compact Nikkor 20mm f4 AI.

It lives on the SL1. It crops to about a 32mm on the APS-C sensor. I pre-focus at 5 or 10 feet, shoot at f8. For precise focus, I use live view or the focus confirmation provided by the chip on my Leitax adapter. Other compact options include the Nikkor 20mm f 3.5, Olympus OM 21's, the f 3.5 or the f2. If you must have full time autofocus, the OLD Canon EF 24 f 2.8 is acceptably sharp and compact, cropping to about 38mm coverage. Any of these combos would fit easily in my hiking pack or shoulder bag.

Yes, the EF 24mm f2.8 and the EF 35mm f2 both are pretty light, pretty compact lenses well suited for the SL1/100D.

But there are 2 pancakes you seem to have overlooked:

Voigtländer 20mm f3.5 SL II N. Compact all metal build, manual focus, very smooth focus, very good performance at medium and far distances (a bit less at close up distances due to astigmatism). Contrasty too. More compact than the Nikkor 20mm f4 (28.8mm length vs 47.4mm length).

And there is the Voigtländer 28mm f2.8 SL II N. Also compact metal build, pretty nice "normal" prime for the 100D/SL1.

C'mon, Canon, would it kill ya to do an EF version of your excellent 22mm EOS-M?

Canon can't do a version of that lens due to very different distances to the sensor. It will have to be an entirely different design