Pancake Canon Lens EF 40mm 1: 2.8 STM. Jubilee hundredth review from Rodion Eshmakov

Material according to Canon Lens EF 40mm 1: 2.8 STM specially for Radozhiva prepared Rodion Eshmakov (subscribe to Instagram!)... This is the hundredth review from Rodion posted here on Radozhiv. All Rodion's reviews in one place are collected here... Radozhiv already has Canon Lens EF 40mm 1: 2.8 STM review 2013, but with examples only on Canon EOS APS-C cameras.

Canon EF 40 / 2.8 STM

Canon EF 40 / 2.8 STM. increase.

Thank you for the lens provided for this article. Oleg Isaev (Instagram cat.tangent).

The Canon EF 40 / 2.8 STM is a compact full frame pancake lens for DSLR cameras. Similar ones are or were from many other manufacturers, in particular Pentax 40 / 2.8 и Pentax 43 / 1.9, Konica 40 / 1.8... The lens may appear to compete with another Canon product - Canon EF 50 / 1.8 STM, in reality, they are based on various ideologies.

Technical specifications

Optical design - 6 lenses in 4 groups, a kind of "double gauss". A similar scheme was used in the El-Nikkor 50 / 2.8 (I). 1 the aspherical element is shown in green in the illustration.

Canon EF 40 / 2.8 STM

Optical design Canon EF 40 / 2.8 STM

Focal length - 40 mm;
Aperture ratio - 1: 2.8;
Frame format - 36x24 mm;
Angle of the field of view (diagonally, on the calculated frame format) - 57 °;
Aperture limits - 1: 2.8-1: 22;
The minimum focusing distance is 0.3 m;
The maximum magnification ratio is 1: 5.6;
Filter thread diameter - 52 mm;
Weight - 130 g;
Mount to the camera - Canon EF mount.

Construction and assembly

The lens is made in the same design as the one I had earlier Canon EF-S 24 / 2.8 STM... The body is made entirely of matte plastic. A focus ring and an AF / MF focus mode switch can be found on the lens. There is also a label to make it easy to replace the lens on the camera.

The narrow focusing ring is made of a rubber-like material. The matte soft-touch coating on the ring has peeled off almost completely, the movement of the ring itself is rather uneven, accompanied by the sound of plastic rubbing against plastic. This may indicate insufficient durability of the materials used in the lens, as well as poor survivability of the lens focusing ring mechanism.

All lens controls in one photo.

All lens controls in one photo.

The focusing ring of the lens is electronic, that is, it has no direct mechanical connection with the focusing mechanism. For this reason, without power, the lens will not respond to movement of the focus ring even in MF mode. This circumstance does not allow using the lens on other cameras with a conventional adapter (not equipped with electronics). The tactile process of manual focusing is different from that of optics with a mechanical focusing ring. Dimensions when focusing on MDF do not change much - the trunk extends by about a centimeter. The nose of the lens does not rotate when focusing. Focus noise is almost imperceptible, which is important for video shooting.

Lens dimensions when focusing on MDF.

Lens dimensions when focusing on MDF.

I used the lens through the no-name Chinese adapter EOS / NEX with autofocus support on the Sony A7s camera. Focusing speed and accuracy were extremely poor. The owner of the lens, Oleg, however, noted that the lens behaves completely differently on Canon DSLR cameras: even on the old Canon 5D, which does not use Dual-Pixel AF technology, focusing works better than on a bundle Nikon D7100 + Nikkor 35 / 1.8 G, and the dimensions and weight of the lens make it easy to work with one hand, even in conjunction with a heavy first-timer.

Canon 40 / 2.8 STM also does not have a diaphragm control ring: the aperture can be set only through the camera menu. This is another significant obstacle to using the lens on other cameras. The diaphragm consists of 7 rounded blades in a dark matte color. They look like plastic ones.

In order to take this photo, I had to remove the lens from the camera while taking the picture at a slow shutter speed with a closed aperture.

To take this photo, I had to remove the lens from the camera while taking a long shot. shutter speed and a covered aperture.

The hole formed by the closed diaphragm is almost perfectly circular.

Even 7 petals are enough not to spoil the bokeh if their shape has been correctly calculated.

Even 7 petals are enough not to spoil the bokeh if their shape has been correctly calculated.

On the side of the metal bayonet, there are gold-plated contacts, a rear lens and a plastic cap around it. Interestingly, the rear lens does not protrude beyond the plane of the mount (unlike the pancake for APS-C Canon 24 / 2.8 STM cameras).

View of the lens from the mount side.

View of the lens from the mount side.

Canon 40 / 2.8 STM has very modest dimensions in comparison with conventional high-aperture fifty kopecks. For example, manual and cropped MC Zenitar-C 50 / 1.2s almost 5 times heavier and much larger.

40 / 2.8 pancake and Russian super-luminous monster - David and Goliath.

40 / 2.8 pancake and Russian super-luminous monster - David and Goliath.

On serious cameras, the lens looks surprisingly small. Photos of the Canon 40 / 2.8 STM on the good old Canon 5D shared by Oleg Isaev.

I found the Canon 40 / 2.8 STM attractive because of its combination of small dimensions with a convenient angle for a full frame and an acceptable aperture... It was a little disappointing that after less than 10 years, the lens already has noticeable signs of wear, affecting its operation. Owners of Canon cameras, as well as new UPCs with proprietary AF adapters, should be pleased with the fast and tenacious autofocus of the lens.

Optical properties

Canon 40 / 2.8 STM uses a rather interesting optical design. This is not just the usual Planar, but a hybrid of a 6/4 planar and a 6/4 orthoscopic objective (a typical representative is Rodenstock Rodagon 50 / 2.8). It is important that the lens contains an aspherical element, which plays a decisive role in correcting field aberrations inherent in the optical design used. What type of aspheric is used in the lens - I could not understand, but the lens does not form "onion rings". Most likely, an inexpensive hybrid aspheric was used.

The optical quality of the lens is excellent: at an open aperture, sharpness is sufficient both in the center and at the edge of the frame. There is slight vignetting in the full frame. Chromatic aberrations not expressed. Covering the diaphragm makes sense only to expand the depth of field.

The contrast is good. The lens behaves well in backlit, but some side flares cause a drop in contrast.

The bokeh of the Canon 40 / 2.8 STM is unremarkable, similar to the bokeh of almost any planar lens at F / 2.8. For hunters for bizarre background blur, the lens is unlikely to work - for these purposes it is worth choosing Canon EF 50 / 1.8 STM or 50 / 1.4 USM... Its purpose is to be an everyday staff for a full-frame camera: it is not for nothing that it is wider than the usual fifty dollars and, moreover, more compact. The Canon 40 / 2.8 STM is probably also great for macro photography, especially with a reversing adapter or macro ringsbecause it has excellent correction. The lens will also be much more convenient than a fifty-kopeck piece for indoor use if there are no problems with lighting (studio shooting).

Below are sample photos with Canon 40 / 2.8 STM and Sony A7s full frame mirrorless camera.

Oleg (the owner of the lens) notes the total superiority of the optical properties of the "pancake" over Nikkor 35 / 1.8 Gespecially taking into account the Canon 40 / 2.8 STM's better chromatic aberration correction. This comparison makes sense, since the field of view and depth of field are close when using Canon 5D + 40 / 2.8 and Nikon D7100 + 35 / 1.8 G.

Oleg also shared photos taken with this lens and Canon 5D full-frame DSLR.

Conclusions

Like the Canon 24 / 2.8 STM, this lens has proven to be excellent in terms of optical quality and usability (at least on Canon cameras). Ideal stock lens for full frame DSLR cameras. You can find fault with the inexpressive bokeh ("Canon, you bastards, why did you fix it so well?"), But in reality, the only real drawback of the lens is not the most durable construction: over time, the lens, apparently, can noticeably lose its appearance and smooth operation focus rings. However, this disadvantage is inherent in the overwhelming majority of modern lenses.

You will find more reviews from readers of Radozhiva here... This is the hundredth review from Rodion published on Radozhiv. All Rodion's reviews in one place are collected here. Support Rodion with a comment!

Add a comment: TSerg

 

 

Comments: 48, on the topic: Pancake Canon Lens EF 40mm 1: 2.8 STM. Jubilee hundredth review from Rodion Eshmakov

  • Dmitriy

    "Setting the aperture is performed only through the camera menu"

    What is the menu through? !! What kind of game are you writing? On Canon, the aperture is changed by the control wheel on the camera, but not through the menu!

    • Rodion

      Yes, it is also set on the A7c through the wheel, only this wheel is just an interface for controlling, imagine, the camera menu. Cool down!

      • Dmitriy

        Do you even know what a menu is? A menu is a list of items. There is no need to go into any lists for choosing aperture and shutter speed on SLR cameras, you could just correctly write that the aperture control is electronic from the camera, and not defend your illiterate phrase just not to admit it was wrong.

        • Rodion

          This is your position, I consider it just a nit-picking of words and nothing more.

          • Joe

            This is not a nit-picking, interaction with the camera through the menu is significantly different from using other controls for shooting parameters. The same 5D allows you to completely turn off the screen and not use any on-screen menus during shooting, while maintaining the ability to change the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, make exposure compensation, select autofocus and metering modes, and so on, unlike, say, from some smartphone. Camera software and menus are not the same, menus are just a graphical interface. The on-camera buttons and command dials are separate input devices that can be used independently of the GUI.

            • Alex

              Joe - you are right, but Rodion basically does not recognize his blunders :) Or maybe he just does not understand what you are talking about, I don’t know which is worse.
              Of course, the menu is just a graphical one.

              • Alex

                interface.

            • Aleksey68

              yes, everything that the camera displays on the main display is the GUI of the DryOS operating system running on digic, but the display of data on the upper display is already the work of the MPU, a coprocessor that controls all the camera mechanics. (I am writing as someone related to the development of ML)

        • Atsamaz

          This site is for photography lovers, not grammar and harp.

  • Gromozeka

    how much more beautiful juicier pictures from canon 5d! This is a fullframe so a fullframe! after dormouse - to see pictures from 5d - like a breath of fresh air! Canon is beautiful!

    • Rodion

      I recently noticed one very significant nuance in the work of the native developer Imaging Edge, which greatly spoils the result, as it turned out. I think I will use lightroom further and the result will be more pleasant. I was breaking my head for a long time ...

      • Gromozeka

        So it’s not just the colors from Sony that I don’t like? If you do not compare everything seems to be cool, but when the rowers put pictures from some first-timer, then you can immediately see that Sonya “ate pears”.

    • Atsamaz

      Yes, the colors are cool but the DD is narrow there. As for me, the Fujifilm S5 Pro is a more interesting option, although I did not hold it in my hands.

    • Jea reth

      In practice, the first penny gives only pictures that are very suitable for subsequent post-processing. It's like shooting a color negative - then do whatever you want with it. But here's the finished result from this iron is dull to horror. So there is no color there: good pictures from it are good - only the application of the direct hands of the owner.

  • Vitaly Pinchuk

    The author of the review should not have compared fix 2.8 with 1.2. It would be more logical to recall Nikkor Ai-P 45 / 2.8

  • Seladir

    From any of these cameras, you can get any result to taste a la "bright, juicy, carrot pop". People overestimate the importance of a particular camera too much, the more important is the conditions under which they shoot and what on-camera parameters and / or development-processing. For example, Arkady shoots on D40 a clear autumn, with polarization, adjusted for saturation and WB, and you get soul-warming photos - what a wonderful camera, people think. But the manufacturer clearly did not intend it that way, it gives plus or minus a neutral result by default, since all photographers have different goals. And this is clearly seen when the cameras are surveyed in the studio - the differences are minimal, the straightness of the hands and the sense of color of the photographer himself are much more important.

    • Vitaliy

      Our song is garna and new, zaspіvaїm її I know)) About the color from different systems, tons of information has already been dumped into the network, and things are still there. Why did you give example d40? Let's compare ProBek and d7100 (for example, it doesn't matter ... yes, even though d850) in color (!) In the same (!) Conditions. And the spells about "you can cheat in the post" are not even fun anymore. No, you can "wind up" anything, but whether it will be beautiful is a question. I compared ProPyatka, First Pyatak, Second Pyatak and d200 head-on, in the same conditions and + \ - the same optics (50mm for Canon f1,4, for Nikon f1,8). Even the Pyataks (like one family) gave noticeably different results, for Fuji and d200 it goes without saying. The color was not bad from all the cameras presented (I collected only "colorful" ones), but ProPyatka gave out the most pleasant and almost immediately out of the box. Oh, RAVES from d7000 (once I had this rattle) to the mind in color is not possible to bring. You can decorate, not a question, but just “decorate”, where you need to adjust each color separately (for that DD is already 14)), but it takes a long time, and at the exit anyway. If we take into account the "newfangled trends" in toning, then yes: you can shoot something like that with any camera))

  • Victor

    Some strange result in 5d on general shots (where, for example, the church was removed from the street) - as if this was not a ff with a fix, but a crop with a not very successful whale 18-55, solid watercolor.

    Is this the result of processing or what?

    • Jea reth

      Partially a problem with RAW development. But I, with a forty on 5D, also faced such a problem - on an open hole, sometimes it really seems to blur the contours. Here at 8-11 there is a razor and fierce color, for which I loved him.

      • Andrei

        At 8-11, the razor will be on almost all lenses.

        • Jea reth

          I disagree. I also met relatively modern lenses, which, even when shrunk to 8, did not give a sane picture.
          Fortunately, for the last 10 years no one has been doing such "creativity"

  • TSerg

    We must not forget that this little pancake is capable of resolving a camera with a 50 megapixel sensor.
    There was once such a list on the official Canon website (now it is not, the Japanese have removed it from there). This kid was there next to the famous EF 50 mm f / 1.2L USM, EF 135mm f / 2L USM and others.
    Examples with 5D in terms of color saturation are twisted. This old lady does not give such colors in the source. Protea, the taste of that relish is everybody's own master.
    This fall I also bought this second-hand pancake. I shot them on crop and FF. On the full frame, I really liked it both in size and quality. Satisfied. I won't think of changing it for Chinese crafts in the near future, although now many people praise their lenses. This forty will be as classic as the fifty. Although, I must say, he is not very popular. At the moment, familiar photographers no one has it, oddly enough.

  • R2D2

    What are you writing about? What are the good optical properties? you have a photo in the review for the quality of the year 2005. Horrible micro-contrast chromates zero, the backdrop in contrast is like sour milk. All that is good about this lens is its used price. market. About distortion, there is generally silence in the review, but it is terrible in this lens! No offense, but taking pictures of the boy in the park is clearly not enough to declare that this lens is super for a camera lens! This message does not require an answer, just remember after purchasing this lens, be prepared to sell it for a long time.

    • Victor

      Well, what did you want from a pancake lens for $ 100?))

      No resistance to counter, flimsy constructive - yes, that's all there is.
      The distortion can be corrected in the editors, although HA are present, but not so critical, and again, the editor.

      But cheap and compact, for those who need a cheap pancake to cover the mount on a full-frame Canon DSLR is quite an option.

      • Ed

        No resistance to counter? Sir, what are you talking about? This is the best kenon lens. He behaves perfectly on the digital, that on the film. I shot them on film and a trip to the Carpathians and friends in a basement cafe and everything is gorgeous.

        • Victor

          Sorry, I didn't have this pancake, but I saw a photo from this article, and your wonderful cards from a hike in the Carpathians, which could tell how much this wonderful lens - wonderful - I have not seen, so like this. Sorry again if you hurt personal feelings.

        • Rodion

          To counter it is just normal, he does not like the side. It is also logical - any enlightenment stops working, starting from a certain angle. So a small blend would solve the problem.

        • Alex

          Ed, do not pay attention to Victor's posts, he “I didn't have this pancake,” he doesn't have this lens or others, but he comments on everything, exclusively everything, every article happily - and exclusively on the work of others, repeating everything imaginable tales, fairy tales and often just nonsense, like the post above about counter. And proving something to him is useless - he immediately merges into a flood)

  • Jea reth

    I remember this, he even decorated the film EOS 1 and EOS 650. By the way, with the very first film unit, its focus was noticeably faster than that of the 5D.
    Very convenient focal point for many subjects, but only on a full frame.
    However, I sold it after buying 17-40. And yes, I sold it for a long time, although the condition was like a factory.

    • Ed

      Because many people have complexes about the size, so they don't understand pancakes😁

      • Rodion

        Probably, most people choose a larger aperture and type the best bokeh in the form of 50 / 1.8 μ2, which is also cheaper.

      • Jea reth

        Complexes about the size of amateurs are at least in second place after optical properties)

        • Rodion

          Is there a 40mm pancake lens with better optical properties for SLR cameras?

          • Dmitriy

            Exists. But much more expensive.

            SMC Pentax-DA 1: 2.8 40mm Limited

            • Oleg

              And for cropped cameras

              • Dmitriy

                In theory. In practice, it normally covers a full frame with moderate vignetting. The scheme comes from the film times.

              • Michael

                There is also fa

            • Victor

              Not so important - if at a well-known flea market the price for Canon is on average 8 ... 10 sput, for Lim - about 12 sput.

              • Dmitriy

                Well, the difference is significant on the new ones.

            • Rodion

              He's better optically, sure? 5 spherical lenses versus 6 with 1 aspherical lens. For example, a photo - an ordinary comatose about half a ruble from the last century. Why he is better - I did not understand.

              • Oleg

                It's lim

            • Jea reth

              I used this lim. Optically, he did not go a step further from the canon. The pentax has forty lim - it's just another attack of nostalgia for the times when the pentax still had something, I'm sorry.
              And yes, it is not full frame, because pentax then couldn’t be full frame at all. For the arguments “but after all, FF covers almost burned”, I will write down the answer in advance: while canon’s FF lenses cover the crop from SF in the same way “almost burned”. Do not forget that along the edges that you are trying to pull on a full-frame globe, all that beauty lives, which the crop prudently does not allow to see.

              • York

                Plus

                Outside the ball of pentafans, the limas do not stand out too much.

  • Yuriy75

    Rodion, do not write more reviews, do not litter the site!

    • Oleg

      Try to write, we will evaluate your abilities

    • Victor

      I hope that over time you will feel ashamed of such words))

  • Eugene o

    I don’t understand why this lens should be worn (put on?) On any full frame. At the time when it was produced, the smallest full-frame camera was the 6D, EMNIP, never compact. In general, it makes sense to take a pancake if you are looking for compactness, but this is not about mirror fullframes by definition. This is probably why Nikon did not produce pancakes from the time of 45 AI-P until this year. The fortieth from the review could still somehow look at 100D, but it would be at least strange to cling to it. Especially considering the selling price.

    • York

      For example, to shove under clothes in the downpour. Or two bundles in one bag instead of two bags.
      Damn - one thing, some thread 17 - 40 - another.
      The camera is a camera, but glass also contributes a fair amount to compactness.

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