Recently I added a new lens to my stable, the first lens I’ve purchased in more than eight years (the previous one was the Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Macro). Unlike most previous lens purchases, this wasn’t meant to fill a hole in my lineup or meet a specific need. It was on sale for less than we recently spent on a single night in a hotel.

Like most Canon lenses, this one came with no carrying case or lens hood. But unlike all other Canon lenses I’ve bought in the past, it does have a center-pinch lens cap, something Canon finally switched to after realizing all other lens-makers use this handy format.

After a few days of light use, my overall impression is very good. The lens is sharp, focuses quickly and quietly, has great color, feels well-built, and takes up almost no space at all. The last one is probably the primary draw of this lens, other than its very low price.

 

How/Why Did I Choose This Lens?

I’ve been satisfied with my lens lineup for the past eight years. The Sigma 28mm f/1.8 has been my go-to, do-it-all for most of that time, but I have also gotten plenty of use from my Sigma telephoto zoom, my Sigma 50mm macro, and the Sigma superwide. All of them still work well. My least-used lens has been the Canon 85mm f/1.8, which I mainly keep for nostalgic reasons and the occasional portrait idea. (And the Sigma 18-125 has been on my daughter’s camera for a few years now.)

Recently, on social media, I saw an advertisement for one of Canon’s new “mirrorless” cameras and looked into it. I’m strongly considering one of them if I never need to replace my currently body (EOS 60D), due to light weight, small size, outstanding image quality, and so on. While doing that research, I wandered into the adapter section of Canon’s website — the adapters allow EF and EF-S lenses to be mounted to the mirrorless bodies. And one of the suggested items was the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM lens. Out of curiosity, I clicked on that, and from there got to the 24mm version. It seemed users were happy with the operation and quality of the lens, and I was fascinated with the ultra-slim “pancake” construction — which would make it very easy to slip a DSLR into a purse or small pouch.

Curious as to the cost, I searched for the lens on several popular sales sites, and found it for barely more than a hundred dollars at Precision Camera in Austin, which I knew I would soon be near — to pick up my wife and children from the airport. (I didn’t check Amazon, because I’ve been boycotting that company entirely for nearly two years.)

In 2011, I detailed my rationale for choosing the Sigma 28mm f/1.8; this purchase was nothing like that. In fact, the 24mm f/2.8 would, I figured, give me very close to the same field of view as that previous lens; the only real difference here was the small size and low cost.

 

Focus Speed

The focus speed of the STM (“stepping motor”) is slower than Canon’s more expensive USM technology, but it’s smoother and quieter. And not very much slower. Few of my Sigma lenses have either option, so their focus tends to be relatively noisy and slow. In other words, the focus mechanism on this lens is perfectly adequate — better than some of my lenses, and quieter/smoother than all of them.

It’s also incredibly accurate.

One weird thing is the AF/MF switch. Sometimes, when I switch it to manual focus, the only thing that happens is that I lose the ability to autofocus, but I do not gain the ability to focus manually (turning the ring does nothing). Other times, when I flipped the switch to MF, I was then able to focus manually. I haven’t been able to narrow down the reason(s) for the two outcomes. Regardless, I almost never use manual focus, so this shouldn't affect me.

 

Image Quality

As noted in the past, I don’t shoot charts or “pixel peep” — I make images under expected conditions and compare them to similar images taken with other lenses. The examples below were made with the camera on a tripod, using identical settings for each photo. The left one was made with the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM and the right one with the Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Macro. The slight difference in brightness might be due to the “warming up” of the CFL bulbs in the dining room light fixture.

The above comparison is a perfect way to show that I didn’t truly need this new lens; I could have backed up a few more inches and captured the same field of view with the 28mm option.

 

Size / Weight

This is the best part. The Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM is easily the smallest lens I’ve owned, smaller even than my teleconverter or the old plastic 50mm f/1.8 I once had. If you remove the lens cap, and don’t count the mount (which fits inside the camera body), then it’s less than three-fourths of an inch from front to back. Canon lists it as 0.9 inches, (22.8mm) which I assume includes the mount.

Weight is even more noticeable, at only 125g (0.28 lbs.), exactly one-fourth the weight of the Sigma 28mm f/1.8.

My needs have clearly changed over the years; today this slim profile and near-weightlessness are huge advantages to me.

 

Build Quality

The lens isn’t “built like a tank” — a phrase that’s extremely overused in photography forums. It’s sturdier than the plastic 50mm I once owned, or the original kit lens that came with my original Canon Rebel XT. It does have a metal mount and the body is metal too. The focus ring (which I will rarely use) is cheap and thin plastic.

However, even my cheapest, most-plastic lenses have stood the test of time — I assume because I take good care of them. Because this one doesn’t stick out very far from the body of the camera, it’s far less likely to get bumped on something while in use. And, like my other lenses, it will rest in padded cases when not in use.

 

Conclusion

It remains to be seen whether this lens will replace the Sigma 28mm as my go-to lens, though I certainly think it could. With a nearly-identical field of view, and considering that I rarely used the Sigma wide-open at f/1.8 anyway, it’s likely that the switch will happen. With the added bonus of a very slim profile and very little weight/mass — which means I can easily slip the 60D into my purse with this lens attached — I am confident that I’ll get plenty of use from it.

(If it does end up replacing the Sigma 28mm, then I will consider handing off the larger, older lens to my daughter, who is practicing and improving her photography regularly.)

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