At Long Last Canon

Although it's been in the rumor mills for a long time, it looks like it's here at last:

Apparently Canon hasn't been doing so well with its "mirrorless fighter," the small SL1 body. (I link to the one with the kit lens because it's the exact same price as the body alone.) Too bad, because I actually really like the SL1. I got to play with one recently. I could live with it. Bet Canon could clear their SL1 inventory more quickly if they offered kits with this new 24mm and the 40mm pancake. That's an outfit.

It's amazing that it took ~15 years for a Canikon APS-C DSLR to replicate the concept of a genuinely small SLR body (think Olympus OM-1/2/3/4 or Pentax ME/MX) with a properly matched, fully-functional semi-wide pancake prime. And yeah, kinda pathetic, too. (Sorry.)

Mike
(Thanks to Oren Grad)

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Comments

[Dennis]

I agree that (a) it's about time and (b) the SL1 is a surprisingly nice camera for a lower end model.

The main use of a lens like this, to me, is to take away a reason existing DSLR owners have for looking at other platforms. Not so much to present real competition.

Compared to various fixed lens and mirrorless offerings, what I see in the SL1/pancake combo is:
- potentially excellent image quality and traditional DSLR performance and usability
- typical, small, pentamirror viewfinder
- a camera that's still pretty big
- no IS
- lacking other benefits of mirrorless

While my main camera is a DSLR, I'm finding mirrorless and fixed lens cameras more and more intriguing as time goes on. The lens lineups for mirrorless keep getting better (at least Fuji & m43; Sony APS-C not so much) and smaller sensors keep getting better (m43 is great right now, and Sony's 1" sensors in the RX line and the Panasonic FZ1000 are excellent). Here's a gallery of photos taken over the last 18 months with my RX100:
http://kingofthebeasts.smugmug.com/Other/RX100-Samples/

Still, if I *were* a Canon user, I'd snatch that new lens up in no time. (Nikon, are you listening ?)

[Rob]

Let us hope it as inexpensive as the 40mm f/2.8 pancake as well.

I've been impressed with Canon's EF-S offerings as of late. The 10-18mm IS offers great value. The STM upgrades to the 18-55 and 55-250mm have noticeably improved image quality.

For someone like me, who's happy with APS-C (and happy to stick with older camera bodies), these lenses are wonderful on my bank account.

[Felix]

I had a Samsung 30mm F/2.0 pancake which was great, it's unfortunate that this Canon starts at 2.8.

[Nigel Robinson]

Perhaps ironically, I think this is the one lens length that Pentax is missing. While I'm used to using a 20mm (30mm equivalent), sometimes it's just a little too wide.

[Paul Amyes]

Too little (pardon the pun) too late. Canon has the ability and resources to achieve a great deal yet they continue to push that 18Mp sensor for year after year in new models with minor updates. They choose to cripple cameras as an attempt to protect sales. While Panasonic and Sony are introducing cameras with superb feature sets for multimedia Canon.(ironically) one of the pioneers of this market wants you to pay $10K for their 4 K camera, Sony want $2500 and Panasonic will let you in for less than $2000.

I've defected to mirrorless, the EM-10 is like returning home, its a very worthy successor to my much loved OM4.

[Dave]

This is great news. I've been using Canon's 40 mm Pancake for almost two years and I love it. The 40 mm Pancake is my go to lens for family outings. With the pancake attached to my 5D mk3 I can carry my camera almost everywhere and still accomplish all required dad duties. The 40 takes great pictures too. It's sharp (sharper than my 24-70 L) and it produces colors and contrast very similar to my L lenses. The STM focus is motor is slightly slower than standard USM but it's still pretty fast. I've managed to catch action shots of my kids and our dogs with this lens. Another selling point is toughness. The pancake is pretty solid. I fell into a lake this summer, completely submerging my Mk3 with the 40 mm attached, and after giving them two days to dry out, both camera and lens worked perfectly. So yes, I'm excited to add the new 24 mm pancake to my kit.

Here are a couple examples of 40 mm Pancake outings:

http://www.photos4u2c.net/2014/05/04/wild-fridays/

http://www.photos4u2c.net/2014/05/10/school-pick-up/

http://www.photos4u2c.net/2014/06/16/recognition/

http://www.photos4u2c.net/2013/04/11/canon-40mm-pancake-mission-accomplished/

http://www.photos4u2c.net/2012/12/08/canon-40mm-f2-8-pancake/

[Roger]

I get it that Canon and Nikon see the SL1 and the 3xxx as steps up from P&S cameras but I don't understand why they can't make a prosumer-level camera in the same form factor. I'd be sorely tempted.

[Willam Barnett-Lewis]

Perhaps if they had had that 40 back when I still used EOS film, I'd have jumped to EOS digital when I finally made the move. Maybe. It would have been sweet on an A2E to be sure.

But it didn't and the only thing Canon I have left is a Canon 7 rangefinder.

While an E-PL1 & 17/2.8 pancake do the digital honors.

Sorry Canon; too little too late for me.

[Tom Burke]

I love my 100D. I use it as a travel camera; for a short weekend away I can take just a cabin bag on a plane, and including the 100D helps with that.

Working on the assumption that this lens is optically at least OK, I think this is going to be my 100D main lens. At present I use the kit lens (18-55 STM) which is not too bad but by no means great. Of course I could use my other EF-S lenses, e.g. the 15-85 which is better in many ways, but would also destroy the point of the 100D - small and light.

For me, this camera is my version of mirrorless. It's small and light, and above all (for me) has a real viewfinder: my eyesight is so bad for close-up work that I can't use a rear screen at all (I can't focus that close), and I don't really like EVFs. Well, the very best are OK, e.g. the one on the Olympus E-M1, but that's an expensive camera that's heavier than the 100D and as big. I have great hopes for the 100D and this new lens.

[Roger Bradbury]

@ Nigel: "Perhaps ironically, I think this is the one lens length that Pentax is missing. While I'm used to using a 20mm (30mm equivalent), sometimes it's just a little too wide."

I've been using an old Adaptall II 24mm f/2.5 on my Pentax. It's as sharp as the 16-50 zoom, and has a bit warmer rendition. There's a little bit of Barrel distortion. The lens can be picked up for peanuts, but the trick is finding the Adaptall KA mount at a reasonable cost. While my K20D is usually set at plus half a stop exposure for AF lenses, I set exposure compensation back to zero for this lens.

I've also bought a Katzeye manual focusing screen for it and other MF lenses, although the taxman makes those very expensive in the UK.

A 50mm f/1.4 A lens makes a nice two lens outfit.

[Rick in CO]

Our SL1 is essentially replacing our 6D as a camera for where flash (weddings) and use of a long tele lens is needed. Autofocus is fast & accurate, image quality as good as anything, STM makes video easy and its very small size is a plus. Sure, the build is not prosumer level, but with the short product life of these cameras it should suffice. As a backup to complement my Leica M9, its perfect!

[MichaelW]

Seems odd that the 24mm would be EFS while the 40mm is EF. Cuts out all the full frame Canon owners. As far as I'm aware, most Canon primes are EF.

[Tom Burke]

@MichaelW: "Seems odd that the 24mm would be EFS while the 40mm is EF. Cuts out all the full frame Canon owners. As far as I'm aware, most Canon primes are EF."

I read somewhere that the optical requirements of a 24mm focal length precluded a pancake design on a full-frame camera, which an EF-mount lens would have to permit. Apparently the rear of the optical unit has to be closer than the FF flipping mirror permits. Whereas on EF-S, the flipping mirror is smaller while the registration distance is the same. in the case of the 40mm the rearmost element doesn't have to be so close.