Review of the Canon RF 24 mm F1.8 Lens

The Canon RF 24 mm f1.8 is a remarkable lens that has been highly praised for its excellent performance and affordability. This wide-angle prime lens is part of the EOS R mirrorless system and is perfectly suited for landscape, architecture, vlogging, and more.

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Key Features:

The Canon RF 24 mm f1.8 comes with an STM focus system that operates silently and smoothly, providing accurate and fast results. Its Image Stabilization (IS) feature is a notable attribute, rated up to five stops, and works exceptionally well, making it very useful for handheld shooting. The lens also offers a macro function, which is a great addition for those interested in close-up photography.

Image Quality:

The image quality delivered by this lens is impressive. Users have reported sharp images with wonderful colors and plenty of contrast. The lens performs exceptionally well under various lighting conditions and manages to maintain detail in both highlights and shadows.

Hardware Design:

Weighing in at 270g / 9.5 ounces and measuring 6.3cm / 2.43 inches in length, the RF 24mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM is compact and lightweight. This makes it a perfect companion for photographers who prefer to travel light or those who are into street photography.

Ease of Use:

The Canon RF 24 mm f1.8 is user-friendly and easy to handle. The autofocus is quick, allowing you to capture moments as they happen. The lens's light weight and compact size make it comfortable for prolonged use.

Performance:

Whether you're shooting landscapes, portraits, or street photography, the Canon RF 24 mm f1.8 delivers consistently. Its wide aperture of f1.8 allows for excellent low-light performance and helps create a shallow depth of field, ideal for portrait photography.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the Canon RF 24 mm f1.8 is a versatile, high-performing lens that offers great value for its price. Its compact size, superb image quality, and impressive features make it an excellent choice for photographers of all levels. Whether you're a beginner looking to upgrade your kit or a professional seeking a reliable wide-angle lens, the Canon RF 24 mm f1.8 is a worthy investment.

Is the Canon RF 100-400 mm F/5.6-8 a Capable Wildlife Photography Lens?

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Canon RF100-400mm F5.6-8 is USM

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First Impressions of the Rokinon 24 mm F/1.4

I bought the Rokinon 24 mm F/1.4 specifically for night photography.  The fast F/1.4 lens allows you to shoot astrophotography at lower ISO's and to get less noise in your images.  This lens is known for its sharpness and it doesn't have much coma.  Coma is the distortion of the stars at the edges of images.  The other option I was considering was the Sigma 20 mm F/1.4 but that lens in known for having issues with coma and the Rokinon is much cheaper.  

I haven't had time to take it out for any night photography yet, however, I did some landscape images at sunrise.  In this case, all of the images were shot at f/22 and this is a manual focus lens.

I had to return the first lens for problems with the focus ring.  It was frozen when I first opened the box and then it was very sloppy.  The second copy seems to be very good.  I've had friends that have had to return the lens many times till they received a good copy so don't give up on the lens if you don't get a good one right away.

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I'm pleased with the results.  The lens was easy to focus and the images are sharp.  The color and contrast are nice and Lightroom even has the lens corrections for the Rokinon Lenses.  I can't wait to go out and try it on some stars.

Battle of the 85 mm Lenses

At the NECCC conference this past weekend, I was able to test a few 85 mm lenses.  This is a great focal length for portraits and for creating lots of creamy bokeh.  They also tend to be pretty sharp since they are prime lenses.  I tested the Olympus 45 mm f1.8, Rokinon 85 mm f1.4, the Canon f1.2, and the Panasonic Leica Nocticron 42.5 mm f1.2.  Sony also has an 85 mm f1.4 G Master wich is supposed to be very good but I didn't test that lens since I don't have a Sony camera.

First of all, I would like to shot two images to show why you might want a lens with such a wide aperture.  It's certainly much easier to shoot with an f2.8 or f4 lens but you just don't get the same amount of bokeh.  Here is a shot taken with the Rokinon f1.4 and one taken with the Canon 24-105 mm f4.

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Rokinon f1.4 at f2 shot on a Canon 5D MarkIII

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Canon f4 at f4 shot on a Canon 5D MarkIII

As you can see in the first image the background is more blurred.  The bokeh is also affected by distance and the model on the right may have been a little closer to the wood but in general all of those shots were sharp throughout.

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Canon f1.2 at f1.2 on the Canon 1DX MarkII

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Rokinon f1.4 at f2 shot on the Panasonic GH4

I was shooting both of the above lenses on Canon bodies.  The Canon F1.2 is an amazing lens and produces a very unique look.  I had heard the autofocus on this lens was slow.  I didn't find that to be the case but focusing was a challenge at f1.2 and many of my images were out of focus.  I wasn't using my camera so I think with some practice this would be less of an issue.  The depth of field is so shallow, if you get the eyes in focus the skin looks very soft, probably because it's partially out of focus.  Click on the images to see them up close.  The Rokinon seemed to be a bit sharper but I was shooting it at f2.  The Rokinon is a manual focus lens and it was extremely difficult to get the eyes to be sharp.  I had a ton of images that were out of focus.  On the rare occasions when I did get the focus right, the images look amazing.  

The Canon would obviously be the better lens but it costs nearly $1900 while the Rokinon is only about $269.  I also tested the Nocticron for my Panasonic GH4 and I found this lens to be the easiest to use.  The images were always in focus and sharp with nice bokeh.  This lens also has image stabilization so it really does well in low light.  I only tested this lens in a dark hall so the images are terrible (shot at ISO 3200) but I think you can see this lens is pretty amazing as it should be since it costs around $1400.

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42.5 mm Nocticron F1.2 shot on the Panasonic GH4

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Olympus 45 mm F1.8 shot at F1.8 on an Olympus EM1