Photography Gift Idea: Canon Pancake Lens
Compact, lightweight, well-built, affordable and with good image quality. Those terms are sometimes used to describe camera lenses, but... rarely do those words all describe the same lens. In this case, however, the adjectives perfectly describe – not one – but two lenses in Canon's lineup.
Of course, I'm talking about Canon's EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM and EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lenses. They're cute, but don't let their small size and low price mislead you. These are solid lenses, featuring adequately fast autofocus and image quality that will likely impress you.
For anyone that has explored DSLR photography but has yet to expand their lens collection beyond the 18-55mm kit lens, the 24 and 40mm pancake lenses provide an excellent introduction to prime lenses, with max apertures more than 1-stop wider than the standard kit lens when set to the same focal length. That means a shallower depth-of-field (DOF) and a lower ISO and/or faster shutter speed, all of which can help improve the quality of images captured.
Seasoned photographers can appreciate Canon's pancake lenses for the same reasons as novice photographers, but with small size and light weight likely being the most appreciated lens' aspects.
The small size and light weight of these lenses mean they take up very little room in a camera bag, are not a burden to carry (either in the bag or attached to the camera) and can even be thrown in a jacket pocket for easy storage and fast access. The lenses are so small that very few photographers will find their gear bags too full to fit a Canon pancake lens.
One thing to note, though, is that the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM is only compatible with APS-C sensor cameras, like the EOS Rebel series, 80D and 7D Mark II, while the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM is compatible with full-frame and APS-C sensor cameras.
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Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Lens
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Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM Lens
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