I'm quite a fan of canon's underdog lenses, many of them are perfectly adequate optics that seem to get no love for some reason.
Right now my non-Ls are the 20 2.8, 40 2.8 and 85 1.8, but in the past I've owned and loved the 24/28 2.8, 50 1.8 mkI, many copies of the 50 1.4, the 100 f/2, and 2.8 Macro, as well as others that in forgetting. The point is that just because they may not be L lenses does not mean they are worthless. I'm quite anxious to try out the new 35 IS, I may even let it replace my beloved 35L!
Yeah, I use the 35 f2 as my walk around lens right now, and I love having it on field trips because it's light and inconspicuous. Does anyone know if the new 40mm focuses faster than my lovely 35? I saw that other thread that largely discussed IQ, but I was curious if focus speed could be a factor. I love the images it produces but sometimes the focus is a bit cumbersome.
Robert and jj -- Pretty intense! Great selection of shots.
I was out playing with the 28mm again, today on the FF 5D2 instead of the 1D2 on an overcast afternoon. I wanted to see what the vignetting and edge details were like without the partial crop. The lens has pretty strong curvature of field, which worked for me on several scenes where the focus sweeps forward on the sides and bottom, while focused on the central subject. Color and sharpness are really excellent within this focus envelope. If you want a flat plane of focus, you'll have to fudge by using smaller apertures, for example: otherwise only the center 1/2 of the frame will be sharp using infinity focus very much like Nikon retrofocus AIS lenses I've used in 35mm and 28mm. I had to use the CA correction in LR4 -- otherwise it's pretty severe of high contrast edges.
I pretty much shoot exclusively with Canon primes. I love the IQ, weight and inconspicuousness of them all. I currently own a 35/2, a 50/1.4 and a 100/2. The 100 blows me away every time i use it. I love that lens so much though I wish I could use it a little more.
I'm late reading this thread but wanted to say that I love that second photo of the little girl on the path. I know it's a very subjective thing but it has an amazing 3D feel to me. Well done.
I owned the 85/1.8 for a couple years and sadly never got a chance to use it for portrait type stuff. My sports work kept it busy enough.
"Does anyone know if the new 40mm focuses faster than my lovely 35?"
I use the 40mm on the 7d and the focus is very quick. When I first got it, I didn't think it was even focussing...I'd unfocus it greatly and then refocus just to make sure it was working - it was.
My wife likes this lens because it's so light and the pictures seem turn out pretty well.
Here's a couple of candid pictures from the faire last month. They are basically, no flash, and straight out of the camera.
