Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM Wide Angle Lens - Fixed

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Amazing quality... I use this with my Canon 50D with none of the focusing problems ppl have complained about. I use this mostly for sports and underwater photography. It’s a VERY HEAVY lens, which is hopefully a sign of durability. It’s hard to justify the price until you see the quality images it gives you. HIGHLY recommended!!!

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Its as well built and sharp as any Canon L lens; all I wanted to throw in here is the focusing performance in low light. Its great! Maybe not quite as fast as my 70-200, but then, Im shooting at f/1.4 so thats a big challenge for any lens. Id say its a little quicker and more accurate than my Sigma 35 and 85, and right up there with the Canon f/1.2 50m. Admittedly, its not a lens for all purposes but when you need to go wide in a dark stage, this is the tool.

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This is the lens that has truly shown me the difference between an L and non-L lens. In engagement and portrait shoots, I frequently swap out the 50mm 1.4 and 24mm 1.4L. I was recently reviewing the images from a shoot and was shocked by the image quality difference. I had two images that were taken less than 30 seconds apart; identical settings and locations, yet the L lens image was far sharper with beautiful color saturation and depth. The build on this is amazing. It feel incredibly sturdy. Very fast focus and good feel on my 7D. For anyone who loves primes, this is a must-have lens!

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I got this lens as soon as it came out (bought it here on Amazon for 1550USD), this was over a year ago, I think its getting close to the 2-year mark, but anyway... I had it for a while now here are my impressions: Cons: price ($$$) but this is an L quality lens thats f1.4, so if you consider that its probably priced just right (otherwise this thing would fly off the shelf and you would never be able to secure yours :), as with any prime, zoom is in your legs, so sometimes when I cant reach my subject I end up cropping the image afterwards, on a crop body APS-C this is a 38mm so I dont get that wide angle effect like on a FF, but I dont mind that (some people might), weight... its not that bad, but if you are carrying this all day you do notice it, the front element is quite big and it does attract some attention (I dont particularly like that, so I include this in the cons), ahhhh one more thing... when you use the provided hood, forget about using on board flash (40D and 7D) hood throws a shadow on the scene (remove the hood and flash is useful again) Pros: f1.4... amazing... really, Im addicted :) VERY SHARP edge to edge on my 40D and now my 7D, no problems with chromatic aberrations in the corners (when you stop it down beyond f4.0), full weather sealing (I installed a front filter as soon as I got this lens, you need to do that to ensure proper sealing), lens hood is included with this one, silent and smooth focus, accurate on both 40D and 7D, sometimes a bit too slow in dim lighting conditions (but no complaints on my part, to be expected), the lens has that pro feel to it, AF/MF button works smoothly, and the MF ring is build to last, I feel that the lens is build better than my 40D and 7D so I am more worried about breaking the body then the lens :) Summary: this is a pricy lens, no way to get around that, but you DO get what you pay for here, just make sure this is what you really want because there are other very good options out there that might suit you just fine (16-35 f2.8L II is in the same price range and if you dont really need that f1.4 go for that... on 2nd thought I might have as well, but whats done is done, Ill stick with this lens now that Im getting used to it). I use this mainly for landscape photography and I am very pleased with the results. See what you think: [...] but this would make an excellent video lens as well, the 38mm coverage on the APS-C body seems just right. The f1.4 definitely comes in useful in low light situations, but then again the ISO performance of the 7D is quite good... so you might not need that f1.4 after all (personal preference, so you have to decide). I give this lens 5/5 for build quality (EXCELLENT), 5/5 for optical quality (best I have ever owned), but 4/5 for value just because of the price... I think that most people would be happier with the 16-35 f2.8L version I or II (I do miss that zoom sometimes)

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After reading many user reviews online, I was a little worry about the focus issue reported on this lens especially when mounted on the EOS 7D. With Amazon 30-day return policy, I figured I had nothing to lose. When the lens arrived, I was eager to test it out in all apertures. Yesterday, I took it to the field for some serious shooting. My overall impression is that this lens is a keeper. The sharpness at F2.8 is better than my 24-70mm F2.8L. At F1.4 on the 7D, it could still get razor thin when the subject is up close. Focus is very fast. The built with full weather sealing is fantastic as I tend to shoot in the desert a lot. The only thing I would nit pick about it is color fringing when its aperture is open wide, although it s correctable in Lightroom. I think the 24mm F1.4L MK2 is a perfect match for a crop body given the focal length. Before this lens, I was considering the 35 F1.4L; however, I didnt like the 35mm focal length on my 7D. On top of that, Canon still hasnt updated the 35 F1.4L with weather sealing yet. So I bit the bullet and got the 24mm F1.4L MK2 and I m not regret about the purchase. However, just dont look at the price.

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I got this lens for a week and shot couple hundred pictures. It is true that using auto-focusing, sometimes the focus is not as precise as I do it with a maginfied live-view. Once it is focused, however, the color and bokeh is beautiful. I found that autofocusing was even harder to focus in low light condition when the subject is more than 5 feet away. I thought maybe I needed to do some micro adjustment. But it was not the case. When I first hit the auto-focus button, it focused correctly. Then if I moved the camera a little bit and hit the focus button again, the lens will not focus correctly. What I had to do was to rotate the focus ring so that the focus was totally off. then I hit the focus button again. It would be ok. But even the sharpest auto-focused image was softer than the ones I focused manually using live-view. I read the other review, sounds like I had a bad copy of this lens. Maybe the autofocus motor is not working correctly. Well, this is a very expensive lens for me. So I returned it. Maybe I will get a new one in the future.

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Great addition to my bag. I use it for unique angles at weddong ceremonies, those difficultly small hotel rooms for getting ready shots, compelling shots during portraits, and real estate/architectural photography. Do not limit yourself with this lens. It is more versital than many people think.

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Well I really wanted to love this lens. I can not get it to focus consistently with the focus sensor on my T2i. It does however focus perfectly with live View but I do not use this mode. I have read many reviews about this lens and either it is perfect with some moderate sharpness loss at wide open. The problem is the 20% of the people like me who have this focus problem. Just go to the Canon web site and read for yourself. I do not know if my camera is defective or both lenses are but I do not want to keep a $1600 lens while I send my camera in to be checked. I have 6 other lenses that do not have this problem but I do not have another f/1:4 either. I am having my friend bring his camera tomorrow to test the lens so I will update the review if this changes my opinion. I have spent hours testing this lens with Canon tech support with the final verdict being send it back. UPDATE I have now tried it on a 5D mark II and it works perfectly. I have also tried it on 2 other T2is and one is as bad as mine and one is closer but not perfect. the decision is to send it back. Canon offered to calibrate the camera with the lens but then I am stuck with the lens if I am not happy. Robert

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I researched this lens a lot before buying it. It lived up to every expectation I had. Im getting into astrophotography and this lens does a great job.

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This lens is gorgeous. Its my second prime L lens. My first was the 85 1.2 and it sold me on the idea of using primes almost exclusively. So I decided to get the widest prime I would use regularly. I shoot mainly portraits and weddings. I really love the 24mm focal length. Not TOO wide, but its wide enough for shooting in smaller rooms or getting a pretty wide landscape shot. I have the 24-105 f4 and I found myself shooting a lot at 24mm and really loving it. Wedding portraits are really nice at 24mm when youre trying to capture the couple inside of a beautiful chapel with high ceilings or the couple with a sunset behind them. My 24-105 was doing a pretty good job, but I was constantly wishing it was sharper (more like the insanely sharp 85 1.2), needing extra stops of light, and wishing for a shallower depth of field. So I finally made the decision to get the 24mm f1.4L II. So far this lens is everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. The sharpness in my test shots are exactly what I expected out of this prime; extremely sharp. The bokeh is really nice when you get under 2.8 and your subject is fairly close to the lens. 5 stars so far! Ill have to use it on a few jobs before thats final, but the quality of Canons L line is not something I ever doubt.

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