EF-s 24mm f/2.8 STM first experience
Jul 28, 2015
1
About a week ago I was asking about the EF 20mm f/2.8 USM that I was considering purchasing. I didn’t seem to get a lot of first-hand experience feedback though what I heard was pretty mixed. Someone suggested that the lens was really decent if you know how to work with it. I ended up trying the lens that was on offer and shooting some shots with it around town and was overall disappointed at the performance, particularly at f/2.8 so I ended up passing on the lens. I would still love to see samples and suggestions on how to get the most out of that lens. One of the things I hope to do with the lens was to do some night landscapes with starry skies… so f/2.8 performance seems like it is important. My experience is limited in this area so I may be wrong.
Anyway, to get to the point I ended up buying a used EF-s 24mm f/2.8 STM and as it turns out I was able to get it just in time to take it to a quick trip out to Arizona. I thought this would be a great chance to try for some night photography and I could really find out if 24mm was going to be too narrow of a FOV on my Rebel SL1. As luck would have it we had cloudy skies every night during the trip and I still don’t know how it does for night skies.
Most of the trip was spent photographing birds but I did take a few minutes here and there with the 24 and I have to say so far I really like the lens. It is a lot of fun to use and I love that the minimum focus distance is very short so I can get some neat perspectives with it. The focus was nice and fast and quiet and the output seems quite good. Pictures looked nice and contrasty and detailed even at f/2.8. None of this was a surprise based on the reports I found on line.
One of the things I really liked about this lens on the SL1 was that it is so small and light and easy to use one-handed. This allowed me to really have fun at night when we ran across some tarantulas and Arizona Toads. I was able to hold a flashlight in one hand and photograph the critter with the other hand. I also could herd my subjects a bit when they decided they had heard enough clicking.
Here are a couple of photos from my quick three days in Arizona. I am looking forward to using this lens more in the future.
Greg






