Love My SL1, BUT . . .

Who currently has a pancake wide angle for DSLR crop sensor? I think this will remain a rumour.

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

kotmj wrote:

Who currently has a pancake wide angle for DSLR crop sensor? I think this will remain a rumour.

It does not matter if the sensor is APS-C or FF, the design remains the same (as it is relying on the distance to the sensor, not the sensor size).

Voigtländer does have a wide angle pancake which works fine on "crop sensor" DSLRs, the 20mm f3.5 SL II N. Pretty nice little lens (I have one).

http://www.canonrumors.com/2014/09/the-new-canon-ef-s-24mm-f2-8-stm-pancake/

Seems an EF-S 24mm pancake is coming for real (leaked details+pic): http://www.canonrumors.com/2014/09/the-new-canon-ef-s-24mm-f2-8-stm-pancake/.

I'm with you on the 40mm: the size makes it the perfect walkaround lens, but it's just too close for most shots I want when walking around. I just got a 10-22mm so I could get wider shots ... and now am going to be sorely tempted by that 24mm pancake for another thin lens.

Pretty decent specs, glad I came over to canon. Now I gotta decide if I want small or still go with larger / brighter aperture / IS.. The choices!!

I like that. An EF-s 24 will do for me on APS-C what the 40 does on my 5D2. Makes me even happier with my SL1.

I will buy this as soon as I can. As a former Leica CL/40 Summicron and Bronica RF 65mm (40 equivalent) user, I like the 40mm coverage. For whatever reason, I frame that way. The new 24 EF-S will live on my SL1 the way the EF 40 lives on my 5D2. Now my Olympus 24 and Nikkor 20 can go back to their real focal lengths on the 5D2.

5D2SL1EF40 wrote:

I will buy this as soon as I can. As a former Leica CL/40 Summicron and Bronica RF 65mm (40 equivalent) user, I like the 40mm coverage. For whatever reason, I frame that way. The new 24 EF-S will live on my SL1 the way the EF 40 lives on my 5D2. Now my Olympus 24 and Nikkor 20 can go back to their real focal lengths on the 5D2.

My take on this.

Tried the 24 and 40 STM extensively. In short: BUY BUY BUY!

Really great lenses with exceptional IQ for the price and size. They are so tiny they could fit in the larger filterboxes. And don't forget the new 50 STM, for only 120 euro it is a steal,  must buy. The OOF rendering is very good. Comparable to the "better" lenses around that cost 5 times more.  Just my opinion 😆