Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake Lens
As expected, this morning Canon officially announced the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM “pancake” lens, the first lens of this design ever made for the Canon EF mount. The “STM” designation indicates founding membership in a new line of Canon lenses, shared with the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, also announced this morning. “STM” stands for “Stepping Motor”, a motor technology that virtually eliminates focusing noise, which should be a boon to those who use auto-focus while shooting video. STM lenses, like many USM lenses, offer full-time manual focus control, even while in AF mode.
Enabled by an optical design containing only four elements, the new offering from Canon extends a mere 22.5 milimeters from the camera body, just over 3/4 of an inch. Despite the short barrel length, the maximum aperture remains only modestly large, at f/2.8, but the 7 rounded aperture blades should help produce pleasing bokeh. With one aspheric element and Super spectra coatings, Canon claims that the lens will produce razor sharp focus across the entire frame, though it’s rare to hear a lens manufacturer claim otherwise. It’s minimum focusing distance is about 1 foot (.3 meters).
Like the T4i, the 40mm f/2.8 lens is expected to start shipping during the end of June, at a cost of $199.
