Posts Tagged ‘Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM’
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM Review
The Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM Lens is, without question, Canon’s best-performing(optically and physically) and best-built 24mm autofocus lens. It is also Canon’s widest angle lens with an aperture wider than f/2.8 – a full 2 stops wider than all wider angle Canon lenses. This lens looks great, feels great and functions superbly.
The Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM Lens is shown above mounted on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II andCanon BG-E6 Battery Grip.
Since there was already a Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L USM Lens, one would expect the new version to be an improvement over the original. So, the primary question on many of our minds was - what has changed? Let’s start with Canon marketing’s perspective – here are a couple of paragraphs found in Canon’s 5D Mark II White Paper:
“This new wide-angle lens offers far more than a cosmetic makeover to the highly acclaimed EF 24mm f/1.4L USM lens it replaces, and it retains the distinction of being the brightest wide-angle L-series lens in its class. Added professional characteristics include dustproof and weatherproof construction, with dramatic improvements to image quality provided by a total optical re-design and the application of Canon’s exclusive Subwavelength Structure Coating (SWC) to the inside surface of the large front lens element. This special coating is designed to minimize ghosting and flare, especially from extreme off-angle light rays. It combines with traditional Super Spectra multi-coating, to give the lens unprecedented resistance to internal reflections and flare.
Ultra-low Dispersion (UD) glass lens elements were also added in order to reduce chromatic aberrations, and a high speed CPU and improved algorithms make possible a faster and quieter autofocusing system. Combined with two aspherical lens elements, the lens offers significant improvements in image quality and contrast, especially at the outer edges of the image when used on full-frame digital SLRs. A circular aperture means beautiful out-of-focus highlights in backgrounds. This new lens targets the critical professional photographer, and should be especially prized by users of high-resolution full-frame digital cameras like the new EOS 5D Mark II.”
As expected, that sounds great.
I was mid-way through the Canon EOS 5D Mark II Review when the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM Lens showed up. I couldn’t help myself – I had to immediately try it out.
I mounted the 24 L II on a 1Ds Mark III and spent some quality time with the ISO 12233 chart. But my first impressions were not overwhelmingly exciting. A re-test yielded the same results – slightly softer (less sharp) than the original 24 L. My normal procedure was used for this test: I usually shoot some AF test shots for a data point, but the results showing on the site for this lens were shot using externally-magnified Live View LCD manual focusing. The best of approximately 18 samples (per aperture setting) were added to the site. Disappointed, I went back to completing the 5D II review and ordered another 24 L II.
With the 5D II review completed and the second 24 L II in hand, I resumed testing. What I discovered was not a lens issue with the first copy, but a bug in Canon’s Digital Photo Pro software. DPP was adding “Luminance Noise Reduction = 2″ to all of my 1Ds III (and other Canon DSLR) images shot with noise reduction turned off. Even those I shot long ago. Apparently this bug was introduced in a recent update as DPP has never done this in the past. Since I was using my standard camera test settings and procedures, noise reduction settings in DPP were not something I was regularly checking. Adding noise reduction (even this tiny amount), reduces image sharpness – thus my initial disappointment. Issue resolved. From The Digital Picture