Canon 40mm 'Pancake' EF Lens - thoughts? especially for Night/Star Photography?

Buck

Buck

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Adrian
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I have a Canon 5D MkII and my current lens line up all max out at f4 and I was thinking that for night time photography (stars / star trails etc.) then a f2.8 would make a difference as that means in comparison, I can half my ISO compared to current.

I am not in a position to justify going for a 24-70 f2.8 so, I have been looking at the Canon EF40mm 'Pancake' lens as this is relatively cheap and is nearly a wide angle! (I own the 50mm f1.8 MkII but this is not wide enough IMO)

What are peoples thoughts on the 40mm Pancake and in particular for night time / star photography?

Thanks
 
I wouldn't have thought 40mm would be wide enough for stars and star trails much of the time. Do you have any lenses which cover 40mm? Have you tried them? Were you happy the results as far as composition was concerned?
 
StewartR said:
I wouldn't have thought 40mm would be wide enough for stars and star trails much of the time. Do you have any lenses which cover 40mm? Have you tried them? Were you happy the results as far as composition was concerned?
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Hi Stewart

I have the 24-105 but have tended to use the 16-35 f4 as my main lens. Guess a basic comparison shoot of these two at 16 / 35 / 40 and even 50 will give me a flavour of the composition and any compromises.

Do you know what the IQ of the 40mm pancake is like?
 
Hi Adrian, my thoughts are that a 40mm lens will not be wide enough unless you fancy doing pano and stitching images...
 
Rich_Ellis said:
Hi Adrian, my thoughts are that a 40mm lens will not be wide enough unless you fancy doing pano and stitching images...
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Thanks Rich

I think I need to go back and rethink. The allure of a relatively cheap 2.8 was too good to be true!
 
Buck said:
Hi Stewart

I have the 24-105 but have tended to use the 16-35 f4 as my main lens. Guess a basic comparison shoot of these two at 16 / 35 / 40 and even 50 will give me a flavour of the composition and any compromises.

Do you know what the IQ of the 40mm pancake is like?
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The IQ of my 40mm on my 5D is very high wide open, even incredible in the center (at least for its price)!
 
Buck said:
Do you know what the IQ of the 40mm pancake is like?
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I bought the 40mm for street photography, I've probably been spoilt but I was not happy with the IQ

I tested it against a £1200 35mm Carl Zeiss lens which rendered more detail in foliage at f8 than the 40mm did at f8.

I never used the 40mm again :D I let me wife use it.

But it's all relative.... :D
 
PitaDaVespa said:
The IQ of my 40mm on my 5D is very high wide open, even incredible in the center (at least for its price)!
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Cheers Luis

dancook said:
I bought the 40mm for street photography, I've probably been spoilt but I was not happy with the IQ

I tested it against a £1200 35mm Carl Zeiss lens which rendered more detail in foliage at f8 than the 40mm did at f8.

I never used the 40mm again :D I let me wife use it.

But it's all relative.... :D
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Me thinks you were comparing apples and pears their with the lush Zeiss I don't think much would compare!
 
Would it help if I took some photos with the 40mm tonight? it'll be on a 5dm3

Stars would be a max shutter length of 500 / FL = 12.5 seconds - so even if I can't see stars, you can see how it does with that.
 
dancook said:
Would it help if I took some photos with the 40mm tonight? it'll be on a 5dm3

Stars would be a max shutter length of 500 / FL = 12.5 seconds - so even if I can't see stars, you can see how it does with that.
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Hi Dan

That'd be great - thank you so much. If there's any chance you could take it with something in the foreground (tree/fence/car) or whatever to give me something else in the frame to look at for IQ that'd be brilliant. Thanks again.
 
dancook said:
Would it help if I took some photos with the 40mm tonight? it'll be on a 5dm3
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Hi Dan, Did you manage to grab some shots (appreciate you are busy) thanks

Buck said:
Hi Dan

That'd be great - thank you so much. If there's any chance you could take it with something in the foreground (tree/fence/car) or whatever to give me something else in the frame to look at for IQ that'd be brilliant. Thanks again.
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Cheers Gary - another one to look at!
 
Let me know if there's something more specific you want to see - I just popped outside just now in my dressing gown without much direction.
 
Thanks so much @dancook for doing these.

The IQ doesn't look too bad does it? I think I do need to go wider though looking at the photos.

Thanks again, that's been a big help.
 
dancook said:
Let me know if there's something more specific you want to see - I just popped outside just now in my dressing gown without much direction.
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Sorry I had the page open and didn't see your second post.

I was looking to see how the IQ looked in comparison to my 16-35 f4. I took this last month but had to really push the ISO which made it noisier than I would have liked (especially when trying to avoid the stars trailing).

apr779.jpg
 
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