Holy moly. Lifestyle photography, product photography, portrait photography, you name it… this 24mm prime is about as versatile (if not more) than my 35mm prime. Over the last two weeks, I’ve had to do some product photography for some watch companies and am well pleased with the results. I will admit, there is a little distortion but nothing that can’t be fixed in Lightroom. What I love most is that buttery f/1.4…. Oh man the detail and crispness is out of this world and has really ameliorated my photography because of this increased range. I know everyone suggests getting that if youre going to go prime, first start out with a 35mm... but seeing that it works for most occasions, I feel the 24mm is not only an excellent wide-angle lens, but also a worthy competitor for portraits, lifestyle and product photography. Im so happy I made this purchase Im just kicking myself I didn’t make it sooner.
Chen J.
5
Used pretty much every Canon L Lens out there. Aside from the 200mm f/2.0 I have to say this is my favorite lens. If you are into shooting prime. The lens is sharp sharp sharp. In full crop, it is sharper than my 50mm f/1.2 and 70-200mm f/2.8, or any lens I own. Even at wide open. 24mm in FF is a great focal length for walking around. Especially when you are in a crowded environment. You can get really up and close with your subject, because the minimum focus distance is very short. Great construction, very solid build, complete with rubber gasket. What more can you ask for in a lens ? AND it uses a 77mm filter, so you can reuse that 70-200 filter. It does vignette a little, but it is so even and natural, they just look beautiful. If there is only one lens I can take with me to everywhere ... This would be it. If you are in the market for a short prime, get this ! Some sample shot shoot in f/1.4 f/5.6 and f/22
Jacob R
5
Ive been using L series lenses for a couple of years now, ranging from the 17-40 f/4L to the 135mm f/2L. Currently, I own a Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 70D, 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark I, 135mm f/2L, and this 24mm f1.4L II. Primes, zooms, it doesnt matter, they are all pretty darn good. Primes, however, generally have better all around Image Quality than zooms (with close exceptions going to the 24-70mm f/2.8L II and, from what I hear anyway, the 70-200mm f/2.8L II) and this 24mm f/1.4L II is no exception. Wide open at f/1.4 it is superbly sharp. Ive owned the 50mm f/1.2L and I sold it for a loss after a month because it was SO soft at f/1.2. I wasnt missing focus (I know this because I also used Live View and it wasnt very good), it just wasnt sharp. This 24 f/1.4 is wonderfully made. It is classic L quality, both inside and out. Focus ring, filter threads, USM motor, its all sublime. I always have it on one of my cameras and its always the first one I want to use when I go shoot. The focus ring is very smooth, and it has a decent amount of throw in it when going from closet focus to infinity focus. Auto focus is very quick and accurate which allows me to just worry about framing or quick shooting. On my 70D, the live view/movie focusing really is amazing. Its fast, accurate, and quiet. If compared to a hand focused video you would be able to tell the difference with the favor going to the auto-focused. There is one thing that has caught my eye with this lens, and its something that has bothered me sometimes. When shooting a close to semi close subject with a brighter background, the blown out highlights draw attention to themselves. This goes along the lines of other "subjective" wants and preferences with photography, so its up to you as to whether or not its a big deal. The attached picture shows an example of the issue if look you at the grass on the right but it also shows the sharpness if you look the closest eye. All that being said, even with the (to me anyway) eye distracting Bokeh, I love my 24mm f/1.4L II USM. Its by far my favorite lens out of all of the ones that have crossed my path with the legendary 135mm f/2L USM coming in an equally solid 2nd.
Bethany G
5
I cant say enough good things about this lens. I primarily use this lens for star/night photography but I have also captured amazing video with it. I attached a pic I took at night of a waterfall using a flashlight to light paint and also an amazingly fun picture I took of the moonbow at lower Yosemite Falls (night Pic)
Jay D. Anderson
5
I bought this lens because I am a painter (oil painter/Artist) and want to take reference photos. The lens fairly closely mimics the optical specifications of the human eye (~24mm) the Canon 5D allows me to counter some of the spherical aberration apparent on wide-angle lenses using its internal Digic4 processor (or you can counter all of it with Canon photo software. Some professional fashion model photographers use this lens and swear by it -- generally I NEVER consider testimonials because in my opinion many people have the need to just justify their own bad purchases. Not in this case though. I got a good copy on first purchase and calibrated the lens and my copy was perfect in my tests. Sweet spot is f4.5 but that sweet-spot is wide. The lens goes down to f1.4 which allows me to take photos at night often without a tripod. It also goes up to f22. It is a huge piece of 3" wide "glass" that would be perfect for making movies (movie quality video). Just holding it in your hand speaks "high quality." Chromatic aberration is negligible and best of all this lens (Version II) uses reverse engineered moths eyes (biomimetics) to reduce flare from lights that the version I reportedly had. The lens takes a 77mm filter and I would recommend getting a UV filter to use as a lens protector. The filter must be a low profile one or you may admit vignette into your images and havent tried to stack two such low profile filters. I did find a UK site where they got all the UV filters they could get their hands on and tested them on a Hitachi Spectrometer and I was shocked to fine that many UV filters (even very reputable names!) were no better than window glass (which filters all but about 2% of UV anyway). I settled on the Hoya 77mm HMC UV Digital Multi-Coated Slim Frame Glass Filter based on their test results even though it stops down the image by a bit more than another brand that is much more costly (there -- I let cost drive me because the f-stop savings was not worth the excess money) and I can always remove the filter to optimize f-stop if I ever need it (I use it to protect the very expensive eye-ball outer lens). The Hoya (both the digital version and the regular version) works well and cuts UV haze in bright sky photos and such better than other big name brands costing 5X. If you are pro it pays to do a little science to get the edge over your competition -- right? Going with brands that have great reputations is the lazy way to go -- many of these companies are not sitting on their laurels and raking in your $$$ and selling junk! Note: Hitachi Spectrometer testing results are very specific to a particular model of filter by the brand -- you can never assume all of a manufactures filters are the best because one was (i.e., you cant assume Hoya makes the best Polarizing filter because they make one of the best UV filters). Roll over image to zoom in Hoya 77mm HMC UV Digital Multi-Coated Slim Frame Glass Filter
ChNel
5
Love, love, love. I will be sticking with L-series lenss from this point on. My images are soooooo sharp now! I thought my 35mm sigma art was nice but it has nothing on my 24. Im so glad I made the switch.
Mark
5
Generally, I have been very impressed with this lens. I have had the 16-35mm ii and 24-105mm as well, all well-regarded lenses. I thought it would be fun to compare them. It should be no surprise that this lens exceeds both of them in all respects, image quality, color saturation, distortion, sharpness, chromatic aberration, etc. This is as it should be, given the 24mm being a prime. If landscaping is your thing or you commonly shoot between f/5.6 and f/22, the 16-35mm @ 24mm (actually, the sweet spot on that lens) fared fairly well, but still short, with regard to picture quality versus this lens - these lenses cost about the same. The added versatility of the zoom also might sway some people to that lens as well. From f/1.4 through f/5.6 apertures, this 24mm prime wins hands-down however - chromatic aberration, contrast, color saturation and (outstanding wow!) sharpness were clearly superior. The 24-105mm is a good general purpose lens, but did not keep up at any respective focal length or aperture setting - possibly thats why they introduced the new 24-70 IS recently. Bokeh, while not as creamy/dreamy as the 50L or certainly the 85L or 135L, is not unpleasant. Weight & size are very reasonable - it feels solid as opposed to heavy. Construction is robust as youd expect from Canons L-series and has full weather-proofing when you add a filter (Ive had this lens out in a rain/sleet/snow storm with no problems). It has a close minimum focus distance which is a pleasant surprise and useful, with its 24mm focal length can also cause some interesting perspective shots. A few other things are worth mentioning: You may need to perform a micro-adjustment to your autofocus. There is some vignetting and corner softness at wide apertures, both clear up quickly by f/2.0 - for some this might be a desirable trait and for others not so much. If youre looking for the best 24mm lens for apertures at f/4 or wider, this is the ticket - albeit a pricey one. I like this lens a lot, fun for just walking around with in both good and limited light. Good Luck & Happy Shooting! January 2013 Update - More in love with this lens than the day I bought it. I sold the 16-35mm f/2.8 II, while not a slouch by any means, but this lens is so much better in every regard. The former has severe barrel-distortion from 16-20mm which was quite noticeable on full frame. October 2013 Update - Ive had a chance to use the TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II a lot recently and wanted to give one more comparison. The resolution and sharpness on the two different lenses is pretty close at similar apertures - meaning, both lenses are wicked, wicked sharp. With the TS, you gain some optical quality however - while the EF (this lens) has excellent distortion and aberration control, the TS is nearly distortion and aberration free, a truly remarkable achievement. The most obvious benefit of the TS is perspective control via its tilt and shift features. The TS has an even closer focus distance than the EF, giving it a healthy magnification. With the TS, you give up autofocus, weather sealing, and a wide aperture. My only suggestion for improvement is the same for both lenses, add an additional blade on the aperture so as to cause more interesting starbursts. These are two different tools and the performance of each is extraordinary.
Brendan Halbohm
5
This lens is absolute gold! I use it every single day for vlogging, filming, and photo shoots! The auto focus is amazing and the clarity is unmatched! I highly recommend this lens! I took it to Honduras for 2 weeks and didnt end up using any other lens. I took it to Toronto for 5 days and ended up not using any of my other lenses. A lot of people told me, just get a Sigma, they are half the price. But I said no and let me tell you, this baby has paid for itself!
Erik J. Meadows
5
Pro wedding photog, here. I ordered one of these babies, worried about the reviews saying that it had a soft focus. After receiving the lens, I tested it extensively and found some serious front focusing and back focusing issues. I attempted to calibrate the lens with my camera, but quite honestly, the front and back focusing issues were inconsistent, which i know makes no sense, hence I became very frustrated! Shooting at around f2.8 and higher, the focusing issues would disappear to some degree, as the depth of focus became large enough to compensate for the fact that, overall, the focus was not spot on. When I saw these images, I fell in love with the lens. I also knew that it was the exact lens that I needed for weddings. More often than not, the brides ready room is a small little converted bedroom (sometimes it seems more like a closet) in the popular old plantation venues that I find myself shooting in often, at weddings just north of Atlanta. My 50mm was simply not wide enough to capture a lot of the "getting ready action". I back up as far as I can, but just cant get the full scene with a 50mm lens. So... I returned the defective lens and got a new one. This one was perfect! Sharp focus, buttery bokeh. I am always having to remind myself not to shoot everything with this lens, although it really has become my favorite glass. I attached a shot of some goats that I took at Serenbe Farms, about 30 minutes south of Atlanta. I find the image quality to be worth the pricetag, as this is THE storytelling lens to own, if you are a documentary style photog. I hope this review helps!
Squatty
5
Great, great lens. I pulled the trigger on this because of all the good recommendations. I have a 24-70mm zoom which is tremendous, too, but the 1.4 aperture makes this lens a far better wide angle. Its wide, but it doesnt feel wide when you use it.
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