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Infrared with the M system

Started 8 months ago | Discussions thread
OP Larry Rexley Senior Member • Posts: 1,238
EF-M lens suitability for infrared photography
4

I did some comparison testing with all my lenses this morning, for their suitability for use in infrared. I went back to the same location I shot in the first post. It's a good scene with lots of contrast and detail, plus bright lighting with lots of skylight that should show up hot spot issues.

I have all the EF-M native lenses except the EF-M 28mm macro and original kit 18-55mm, so could not test those. I also have the Roki native EF-M 8mm f2.8 and 12mm f2 lenses, the Siggy 16 and 56 f1.4's, and in EF mount I have the EF-S 55-250 IS STM and Roki 135mm f2.0.

I shot the scene using the Hoya R72 (720 nm) filter which is a deeper infrared filter, almost B&W IR, which would show hots better than 'super color' IR filters that allow some visible light such as red and even orange. I shot with the lenses at maximum aperture, and in roughly 1.5 to 2-stop 'steps' also testing each lens at f11. The results are far too many images to show here, but I went through them in detail.

Here are my informal results (YMMV):

The best lenses: with virtually no hot spots and good sharpness

Canon EF-M 22mm f2 STM

Canon EF-M 32mm f1.4 STM

Canon EF-M 18-150mm f3.5-6.3 IS STM

Canon EF-M 55-200mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS STM

Sigma 56mm f1.4 DC DN C

Rokinon 135mm f2.0 (EF mount)

Good lenses with slight issues

Canon EF-M 11-22mm f4-5.6 IS STM - very mild (correctable) hot spot and slight lack of corner sharpness in IR at 15mm, fine from 16mm - 21mm but hot spot appears at > f5.6 at the longer end of the zoom

Canon EF-M 15-45mm f3.5-6.3 IS STM - very mild hot spot at 15mm at > f4 but fine from 28mm - 45mm

Usable lenses with caveats

Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye - no place to mount filters due to built-in lens hood; tested by holding a 67mm filter in front of lenses shows a mild (correctable) hot spot at all apertures

Rokinon 12mm f2 rectilinear ultra-wide - moderate 'color cast' contrast-reducing hot spot at all apertures, can be corrected with work

Sigma 16mm f1.4 DC DN C - no hot spot at maximum aperture but noticeable hot spot starts around f2.8 and gets progressively worse as you stop down lens

*****

I tested a Kenko 1.5x SHQ teleconverter, Kiron 2x MC7 teleconverter, and Viltrox 0.71x EF - EOS M2 speed booster with the EF-S 55-250mm IS STM (modded) lens. results were quite similar for all of them --- at all focal lengths of the zoom no hot spots when the lens was wide open aperture, but stopping down 1-2 stops started showing noticeable hot spots.

IR performance for EF-M lenses is hard to find on the internet --- please feel free to comment or ask questions about particular lenses.

If you have used these and especially other lenses on the M system, please comment and share you experiences.

Here are some images of my results:

Full-spectrum Canon M200, Hoya R72 filter held in front of Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye lens at f5.6

Full-spectrum Canon M200, Hoya R72 filter, Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens at f1.4

Full-spectrum Canon M200, Hoya R72 filter, Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens at f2.8 - note the 'hot spot' compared to the f1.4 image

Full-spectrum Canon M200, Hoya R72 filter, Canon EF-M 18-150 IS STM at 18mm f3.5

 Larry Rexley's gear list:Larry Rexley's gear list
Canon EOS M6 II Canon EOS M200 Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM +21 more
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