Lens Flare + Hood option for EF-M 32mm
4
Oldwino wrote:
i am quite smitten with my new M6 and 22mm. Small, light, compact, easy to travel with. And really nice picture quality. It does everything I need for my photography right now. That’s a good place to be.
but, I am going to order the 32mm lens as well, as I enjoy the focal length a lot. One question - is a hood necessary? The Canon hood seems a tad overpriced. Some of the aftermarket hoods I’ve seen are more fairly priced, but they all seem rather long, which makes the camera/lens more difficult to handle.
Ideally, I would like to forgo the hood, but I am not sure how flare resistant the lens is without. So, I’m turning to the collective wisdom here for guidance.
.
M6 + EF 32mm f/1.4 STM lens + Hoya 43mm UV filter for added protection.
.
EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens - protective filters
I agree that the Canon lens hood (which is an optional accessory and is not included with the lens itself) is perhaps higher priced that I would have liked. I think it was originally announced at something like US $79 or something when first announced but it's dropped quite a bit since then. That's way more than the $15 alternatives although it's often nice to have an OEM lens hood. I prefer to use original accessories but I also prefer a smaller, petal-style lens hood. I think this is a more expensive lens than the majority of EF-M lenses so I chose to protect mine before walking out of the store with it since the native Lens Hood had not been released at the time (as I picked my lens up prior to official release to the public). I started out with a fairly standard 43mm HOYA UV UMC filter for protection. It has a very high transmission rate but I got it at a low price so I can't complain. Later I replaced it with a more expensive HOYA Fusion UV filter that is more expensive but has an even higher light transmission rating. Close to 100% with these newer filters these days. I was so impressed with the Fusion UV filter that I later bought a HOYA FUSION CPL filter for daylight shots the following day. I used these for my 7,000 test shots with this lens over several days so that I could post a few samples here for others to consider.
.
32mm Flare Resistance:
Here's the interesting thing: This lens doesn't need excessive protection from damage because the outer lens element is recessed slightly, so it's harder to touch by accident and it's harder to damage the optics if you bump against someone's jewellery or a wall etc. The other important thing to note is that the hood isn't overly essential for cutting out bright light to avoid lens flare. Admittedly, direct, bright light does cause some ghosting flare with this lens but that's not unusual for a wide aperture lens. It was in line with the same ghosting on EF L-series lenses. Possibly better. Canon used specific coatings on this lens to reduce them. I can shoot into a sunset and there's a 50% chance of lens flare. But shooting towards bright candles sometimes produces ghost flares... which are still controlled well by the optical coatings on the lens.
.
Lens Hoods - EW-60F alternative
I had looked at fitting a non-OEM hood to the lens (which I've done with my L-series lenses to cut down on the size and profile) but I didn't have access to other lens hoods from EF-M lenses to see if they would fit. The one for the 11-22mm looked promising but didn't fit at all. VisionLight found that his EW-60F lens fitted perfectly although you have to push hard against the hood to get it to go onto the lensmount on the front of the lens, then rotate it into place. It clicks into place when it hits the right position. Unfortunately, Canon had run dry so I ordered one and had it shipped to the city for me to pick up the weekend after I'd picked up the lens.
.
On the second day of the weekend when I using this lens for tests, even though I was careful with it, I scraped up HARD against a sandstone wall when I was forced to join a crowd of people being diverted due to construction work in the city. The impact would have really left a nasty dent or savage mark on the outside of the new lens body. But it was completely protected because I took VisionLight's advice and fitted the EW-60F lens hood to my lens for added protection that very morning. The mottled texture of the hood showed no damage at all, even to the hood. He too had managed to obtain an early release of the lens and discovered that his EW-60F lens hood from a completely different EF-M lens happened to fit quite well onto the end of the EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens. It's a TIGHT fit for the first few weeks and then it loosens up as the plastic "spring levers" on the inside rim of the lens hood get compressed.... but it still "clicks" into place even now, 6 months or more later. This lens hood is cheaper than the oversized and overpriced one that Canon was originally offering with this lens. I wanted to draw less attention to myself with this lens in public places, not more attention. There's even room with the EW-60F to get your fingers around a filter but it's a tiny bit snug. I
.
.
EF-60F lens hood on the EOS M6 + EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens + Hoya Fusion CPL filter.
.
Lens Hood necessity for night-photography
The one place you really need to consider using a lens hood is if you are doing lowlight or night shots where street lights might spill light into the side of your lens. As recessed as the elements are, a lens hood is the only way to block oblique, stray light from entering the lens and ruining a shot of the city or night sky. The one time I got a harsh lens flare from this lens was when I was shooting towards a very bright sodium-mercury street light (which had a white-green glow to it).
.
About the only lens flare I've managed to get from this lens. I chose not to edit it out.
32mm - Typical Lens Flare - (see elongated aberration on lower left in the mid branch).
32mm - This shows the ghosting/lens flare from the internal reflection better.
32mm - This is about the worst I've managed to capture. I liked it so I left it in.
32mm - Lens flare on the right. Might have come from my CPL filter though. .
I've also found that my lens fits snugly into the cup holder of my Mazda because the EW-60F is the right width to plug into the cavity fairly snugly. It's possibly a personal thing because each car is different but I find it handy to know that my camera can be grabbed or located quickly. Not sure if a crash would be such a great idea with something like this but it's pretty snug.
.
M6 + 32mm + EW-60F lens hood - fits snugly into my cup holder in my car.
Easy access. (Your cup holders might differ).
.
Something that's worth mentioning is that if you buy a filter for the 32mm lens, there's some that seem to have trouble threading onto the front of the lens. Most of the 43mm filters have had their threads cut in China and I'm noticing that people wanting to use Step Up rings (for larger-than 43mm filters) as well as those using B&W filters have experienced similar issues with the filters not latching on or just turning continually. I bought a Step Up set (43-55mm and 55-77mm) to allow me to use a 77mm NiSi Natural Night Filter on my 32mm f/1.4 lens. This too was a cheap set of stepping rings that came from China and it would not latch onto the 43mm threads on the front of the lens... it just turned freely. The solution was to mount my Hoya 43mm UV filter and then simply thread the Stepping Rings straight onto the front of that filter's 43mm threads. Works fine and the image quality doesn't appear to suffer due to the HQ filters I'm using.
.
Using two stepping rings to mount a large 77mm filter onto the 43mm UV filter threads.
.
I think the EF-M lens is a gorgeous lens. It's capable of working in very low light and the results are always visually appealing. I would recommend keeping your shutter speed at 1/80 or higher when possible. But if you are really steady, you can handhold much lower than this. I was taking some shots at 1/40 and 1/30 second last weekend in light similar to the shot below (which is perhaps slightly overexposed from a DSLR). Enjoy your lens and be sure to let us know what you think of it when it arrives. I still use my EF-M 22mm lens when possible and when I need a wider, lowlight view... but just about all my EOS M shots (which tend to be taken in lowlight conditions without a flash) are now taken with the EF-M 32mm lens.
.
Most of the lens flares tend to be from a very bright light source shining into the lens. I'm not really getting any flares from light entering from the side of the lens, with or without a lens hood in place. Some examples below the first shot (below) that ought to have produced stronger lens flares than they did. Some show none at all.
.
Using the M6 last week with the EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens + EW-60F lens hood.
32mm - No noticeable flares (which is surprising).
32mm - No noticeable flares
32mm - No noticeable flares
32mm - No noticeable flares
--
Regards,
Marco Nero.
