Showcase Canon 40mm f2.8 STM EF

[SamSS]

This is nut! I thought the FE 28mm would be the smallest AF lens on any a7xxx series. Well, I was wrong.
I bought this Canon EF 40mm f2.8 STM in July 2012 when it was just released and have not used since I sold my 50D almost 3yrs ago. It wouldn't worth much to resale, a good lens, compact and small so that is the only Canon lens that I've been keeping...until now.

Comparison

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Sample @ f2.8 and it works great.

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No! I didn't buy the MC-11 for the sole purpose of using it for the Canon 40mm STM.
It's for this...and maybe more to come in the future.
Sony OEM lenses have been going big, heavy and expensive...so why the heck not?

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[metalmania]

Maybe because Sony is 28mm, Canon is 40mm?

 

[WoodWorks]

I'm pretty sure that the 35F28Z makes for a smaller combo than either of those.

 

[bdbits]

Maybe it is the Canon flange distance killing the size advantage; it adds 44-18=26mm to the length of a native lens.

Compact Camera Meter

Sadly I could not get it to put the 40mm lens on a Sony body for comparison.

 

[ArendV]

I have not used mine since last autumn, so here are some mushrooms wide open on the A7
1

ILCE-7    40mm F2.8 OSS    40mm    f/2.8    1/6s    ISO 50

2

ILCE-7    40mm F2.8 OSS    40mm    f/2.8    1/15s    ISO 50

 

[SamSS]

My bad. I never had the FE 35mm f2.8 ZA so I didn't realized how small and it's the smallest AF lens mounted on the a7xxx.
@ ArendV, those pictures are nice. I'm still amazed in all these years how Canon could produce such a small quality pancake lens and inexpensive.

Contrary, the latest FE 50mm f1.8 is not bad overall in price/quality wise except for being slow/noisy.
I'm sure most users wouldn't mind paying $50 more if Sony used a high speed focus motor on that lens.

I would be nice to have a native FF pancake lens from Sony but I doubted that.

 

[Hawkman]

This in nut! I thought the FE 28mm would be the smallest AF lens on any a7xxx series. Well, I was wrong.
I bought this Canon EF 40mm f2.8 STM in July 2012 when it was just released and have not used since I sold my 50D almost 3yrs ago. It wouldn't worth much to resale, a good lens, compact and small so that is the only Canon lens that I've been keeping...until now.

Comparison

   ---            

Sample @ f2.8 and it works great.

   ---            

No! I didn't buy the MC-11 for the sole purpose of using it for the Canon 40mm STM.
It's for this...and maybe more to come in the future.
Sony OEM lenses have been going big, heavy and expensive...so why the heck not?

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SamSS, I'm curious about your impressions on the MC-11. It would seem that it might open up a lot of good AF lenses for Sony E-mount for both FF and APS-C. How does the focusing work on your Canon 40mm with it? I saw a used Canon 24/2.8 EF-S at a very good price recently and my curiosity got piqued.

(P.S. - And yes, I know about the Metabones and others, but the operation of the MC-11 with specified Sigma lenses with most all focusing modes is very intriguing, especially for the long telephotos and IS.)

 

[SamSS]

I think the Canon 24/2.8 EF-S STM (aps-c) should work great with MC-11 on APS-C cameras that you have.

I only have FF cameras. The EF 40mm STM (APS-C) works great with MC-11 on a7m2 & a7R2.
I don't have any other Canon lens to test with if that is what you're requesting.

MC-11 with EF 40mm STM on a7m2 & a7Rm2. Focus pretty quick and I have no complain.
AF-S, AF-C are the only focus modes that are functional. The rest are greyed out.
Wide, Center and Flexible Spot worked and the rest are greyed out.

Here is a suggestion, if you already have a certain Canon lens or one that would like buy. GG research and you may find someone else may have the exact combination which could tells its performance.
I'm sorry couldn't be much help. ATM, my interest is purely with Sigma lenses for the MC-11

Another example @ 2.8 with flash & a7m2

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[ArendV]

I still have not used mine for a long time (should change now with mushrooms showing up) so again two old shots, the second one is reversed using a Meike MK-C-UP adapter resulting in 1,5x magnification and in this case with another 40mm extension 2,5x (for those interested, here is more information, suggest your stay there to have a look at the incredible macro and micro work produced by John Hallmén who also uses a NEX-7).

ILCE-7    40mm F2.8 OSS    40mm    f/2.8    1/200s    ISO 100

first test shot with Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM @f/2.8 by Arend, on Flickr

NEX-6    40mm F2.8 OSS    40mm    f/11.0    1/60s    ISO 200

First shot at 2.5x magnification by Arend, on Flickr

 

[Deleted member 5158]

Not AF but could be interesting for a size vice comparison.

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[ArendV]

Ah the reputable Nikkor 45mm f/2.8 AI-P. I am sometimes still tempted to buy one, although I do not really need it and it is usually overpriced.
It probably performs similar to the Canon being sharp wide open and having smooth transitions in out-of-focus area's (Bokeh).
In terms of dimensions they are quite comparable, the Nikon a bit more compact (but the Nikon adapter a bit longer vs the Canon one - 2.5mm to be precise):
Canon 40mm: 68 x 22 mm & 130g
Nikon 45mm: 62 x 17mm & 120g

Would be interesting to know how the Nikon performs reversed.

 

[Deleted member 5158]

Don't tempt me, I don't need more gas attacks

 

[ArendV]

There is a cure.....

   ---    0mm    f/1.0    s    ISO Array

 

[ArendV]

Reversed at 2x magnification (will have to stack in future to get more DOF)

ILCE-7    ---    40mm    f/7.1    1/250s    ISO 2000

Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM reversed by Arend, on Flickr

 

[ArendV]

I am still too lazy to stack, here another two from today with the 40mm reversed, extension rings (3x magnification this time) and flash.

ILCE-7    40mm F2.8 OSS    40mm    f/11.0    1/80s    ISO 100

Rhododendroncicade by Arend, on Flickr

ILCE-7    40mm F2.8 OSS    40mm    f/11.0    1/80s    ISO 100

facetoog - compound eye by Arend, on Flickr

 

[matthias]

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with Sony A7 I and Viltrox-Adapter, added a bit of vignetting
its at a former military area near Berlin

 

[Richard Crowe]

Of course, the MC-11 is designed to work seemlessly with specific Sigma lenses. Regarding some Canon lenses, my MC-11 seems to work better with more recent and shorter focal length lenses such as the 40mm f/2.8 STM...
Some lenses, like my older 100mm f/2.8 USM macro lens will not auto focus at all. However I use macro lenses in manual mode so that is no great loss. The 70-200mm f/4L IS lens works intermittently in AF mode and the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS ii lens gives about the same erratic and less than optimum performance with the MC-11...
However, I have tried the VILTROX EF-Eii Focal Reducer and the AF seems to work fairly decently on both my Canon 70-200mm and 100-400mm lenses. I even achieve Eye-AF with this combination. Image Stabilization seems to work also as indicated by the slow shutter speeds at which I was able to shoot. One downside is the slight vignetting at the corners which I can work around. When I say fairly decently, IMO with the possible exception of the specific Sigma lenses which the MC-11 adapter was designed to work with, native Sony e-mount lenses will still provide the best AF performance on Sony cameras...
I haven't tested the AF speed of this lens but the results from this first test seem quite encouraging! I shot this in AFS mode with the Wide Area selected and with the Viltrox Focal Reducer in Phase Detect. I also used AFC and that seems to work O.K. also.

ILCE-6400    EF100-400mm f/3.2-4.0 L IS II USM    280mm    f/5.6    1/40s    ISO 1250

Note: the f/3.2-4.0 aperture of this lens in the EXIF data which is the result of the focal reducer. I don't know why the EXIF reads 280mm because I am sure that the lens was at 400mm when I shot this image...
I did not want to buy the Sony 100-400mm lens because of the high price. If this didn't work, I just would not have a 100-400mm lens to mount on my Sony APSC cameras.
The Viltrox works great with my Canon 35mm f/2 ISM giving me a 35mm focal length (no crop factor to worry about) with an f/1.4 aperture. BUT, (and that is a big but) the combination of Canon 35mm lens and Viltrox focal reducer weighs more than my A6500.
BTW: the Viltrox focal reducer virtually eliminates the 1.5x crop factor of the Sony APSC camera and also allows a stop or more of extra light. It is also quite reasonable in cost. I got my copy on sale and paid less than $120 USD for the unit from TomTom.
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Note: I have not entirely switched from Canon to Sony. If I had, I would have sold the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5L IS ii lens and purchased the Sony 100-400mm lens. However at this moment, the Viltrox seems to be a bridge between Canon lenses and my A6400...