Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM Ultra -wideangle lens review

Read the full article with a great historic background and technical details here.

Prior to availability of Canon FD-mount 24mm wideangles; there were only two Canon fixed focal length ultrawide that has a diagonal view wider than 75° (28mm); while most people would be more familiar with the S-mount 19mm f/3.5 super-wideangle; the CANON S-Mount 25mm f/3.5 Rangefinder Wideangle which was introduced as early as 1956 seemingly was less noticed by majority. Throughout evolution of the Canon S; R; FL-mount era, both of these lenses represented Canon's only ultrawide offering in their respective lens group for photographers who used the Canon photographic system.

This ultra-fast speed Canon elite-class 24mm AUTOFOCUS ultrawide was introduced quite late in the EF lens system. In fact, the 24mm focal length was quite weak in its option as another specialized application option, Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L joined in the lens system 1991. I remembered this USM 24mm ultrawideangle was only introduced about the same time when the Asian financial crisis began to sweep across the continent.

Read other reviews here and here.

The EF 24mm f/1.4L lens offers generally excellent center of field lens sharpness from f/2 on and very acceptable performance at f/1.4 in image center if you need it. Edge performance is probably acceptable for most applications, especially if you can stop the lens down to f/8. This lens significantly outperforms the consumer EF 24mm f/2.8, but at a significantly higher price. The EF 24mm f/1.4L lens is an excellent lens. However, its performance doesn't quite match the stellar performance of the EF 35mm f/1.4L. If corner sharpness is important to you and you have enough light to stop your lens down to f/5.6 or f/8, a quality L-zoom (e.g., EF 17-40mm f/4L) outperforms the L-prime except for slight linear distortion.

Buy the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM Wide Angle Lens for Canon SLR Cameras