Marco Nero
Veteran Member
Canon's EF 24mm f/1.4L USM II lens (with a Hoya Pro1D filter fitted).
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...Well worth the purchase. After 5 years of using this lens on a regular basis, I feel it's appropriate to write a review of my positive experiences with it. I've used this lens on five different cameras and the results were always predictably satisfying.
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I noticed before purchasing the lens that it was highly regarded as a high-end 'wide' angle lens by many professional photographers. Wedding photographers often enjoy using it for wide views with shallow DOF - making it ideal for interiors of churches etc when natural lighting was desired.... and product photographers have made good use of the lens for producing punchy, sharp images with soft, diffused backgrounds. It's rugged and well balanced to hold on most cameras without possessing excessive weight. The petal-type sun hood is effective in protecting the lens from bumps and assists to cut out light from entering the sides of the lens... which can be a problem otherwise with wipe optics when shooting at night. On a Full Frame camera this is a wonderful lens for landscapes and night photography. I use it for astrophotography with Full Frame cameras but your needs may vary compared to mine. On an APS-C camera I use this lens for almost everything except Macro shots.
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The EF 24mm f/1.4 USM II is certainly one of my favorite lenses from Canon.
On an APSC- camera, especially Canon's mirrorless cameras, it's smart looking lens that gives me consistently excellent results. I've had more keepers from this lens on the EOSM series cameras than any of the native EF-M lenses. Mounting it to a Full Frame camera can produce some Distortion with portraits that is not noticeably present when using it on an APS-C camera. Capturing Bokeh-balls from background light sources is almost impossible to suppress unless you intentionally stop down the lens. The resulting effect is magical and adds to the enjoyment of using this product.
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The AF speed is fast and it's relatively silent during use... nothing more than a whisper... although it's internally much nosier to a built-in microphone when compared to an STM lens - especially when you play any video footage back later. I've been able to lock focus on subjects at night using starlight on a full frame DSLR like the EOS 6D. On a mirrorless camera it's still pretty small in terms of profile and I've taken it to events and venues where so-called "pro-cameras" were expressly banned. Minimum focus distance is just under 10 inches - which means its great for closer-to-camera subjects like food, flowers and pets. But it also produces excellent wide views for landscapes and architecture, especially on a Full Frame camera.
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EOSM + 24mm f/1.4L USM II lens - a low-profile lens hood was been added for protection.
APS-C + 24mm f/1.4L - no noticeable pincushion distortion due to crop-aspect.
APS-C + 24mm f/1.4L - Steak - when photographed at f/1.4
Full Frame + 24mm f/1.4L - handheld shots at night without a tripod are easy to achieve.
APS-C + 24mm f/1.4L - Strong Bokeh with superb structure. The figure is 8 inches tall.
APS-C + 24mm f/1.4L - A candid taken a week or so ago. Only minor aspherical distortion.
Full Frame + 24mm f/1.4L - more noticeable distortion up close with FF ...but bright and fast
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ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY:
I once contacted Canon for their opinions on using their lenses for Astrophotography for shooting the Aurora Borealis in Canada and for the Milky Way as viewed from Australia.... and their detailed response led me to this lens. On a Full Frame and APS-C camera, you can expose for 15 and even 20 seconds before star trails begin to show. The lens is bright enough to spot some comets that were not visible to the eye and wide enough to capture the bulk of the Milky Way's galactic center with even the APS-C cameras. I've used it with both the EOS M series of mirrorless cameras and APS-C DSLR with excellent results.
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Full Frame (EOS 6D) + 24mm f/1.4L - sharp and bright at f/2
24mm f/1.4L - taken at f/9 whilst standing on the shore.
24mm f/1.4L - taken at f/20 with a 30 second exposure - resting the camera on a rock.
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CONCLUSION:
I've found the EF 24mm f/1.4L USM II lens to be very versatile on APS-C cameras and extremely practical on Full Frame cameras. I'm sure its price has slowly dropped over the years but it's worth the money and I'd certainly buy another if my present lens was damaged, lost or stolen. I've recommended it to friends and fellow photographers although I suspect the L-series (the L literally stands for "Luxury") lenses tend to be priced just outside the range of comfortable budgets. Is it worth the money compared to other alternatives? Yes. Definitely. I like to shoot in low, available light - so for me it's an essential lens for the sort of things I tend to photograph.
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FIVE STARS ?!
The lens performs with reliability and the quality of the images it produces are consistently good. Whilst there's no such thing as a 'Perfect Lens' and everything in photography entails levels of compromise, I can't fault the lens and it does everything I'd expect from an f/1.4 optical assembly. It literally hasn't let me down in performance or through construction. Canon include the lens hood with the purchase of the lens (and so they should) and the device is comprised of Canon's finest materials, workmanship and lens coatings. Amazon Reviews (at this time) show 58 different 5-Star reviews out of 75 reviews in total. The construction, features, optical quality, and consistency of results from this lens were excellent. As such I'm giving it a 5-Star rating from me for this review.
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ALTERNATIVES:
In my experience, numerous other lens manufactures seem to have quality control and consistency issues with lenses approaching f/1.4 (where threshold tolerances become obvious, perhaps due to the very shallow DOF) and the likelihood of an issue with a non-Canon brand (eg Sigma) is a little too high for my personal liking. But feel free to try your own luck if that's what floats your boat. If you are an astrophotographer, you might benefit from the Samyang manual-focus-only lenses which are more cheaply built but may offer an improvement with Coma when shooting open wide.
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Regards,
Marco Nero.
