Canon EOS mag

Technique EF 40mm f2.8 STM lens

Portraits with EF 40mm lens The appeal of the 40mm pancake lens as a portrait lens, for me, is that it’s like having two lenses in one: a moderate wide-angle on my full- frame EOS 5D Mark II, and a short telephoto on my EOS 40D with its APS-C sensor.

Out and about with EF 40mm lens

The EF 40mm lens is not really a landscape lens. It doesn’t match the versatility of my EF 17- 40mm f4L USM and the focal length isn’t wide enough to create the really dramatic, sweeping landscapes you can make with something like a 21mm or 24mm lens. The lack of a distance scale is a hindrance when it comes to focusing, although you can work around it. I think of the EF 40mm lens as a moderate wide-angle, because I mostly use it on my EOS 5D Mark II. On an APS-C camera it becomes a short telephoto, potentially useful for isolating elements within the landscape. On the plus side, the sharpness of this lens is breathtaking and the fact that I can use a long lens hood helps reduce flare. I see this lens as a good all-rounder that happens to be suitable for scenic views as long as you are not trying to take in a wide expanse. Long exposure photography One of my favourite techniques is to use a nine stop neutral density filter on a lens to obtain shutter speeds of a minute or more. This blurs any moving elements, such as water, within the scene for a surreal effect. If you combine this with the beautiful light found after sunset, you can create some moody and dramatic images. I often convert my long exposure images to black-and-white (right). These photos become more effective with a minimalist composition. The 40mm pancake lens helps me here as the relatively narrow field-of-view forces me to crop the scene in front of me to the most interesting elements. Intentional camera movement Intentional camera movement (also known as ICM) is a technique where you take photos with a hand-held camera using slow shutter speeds up to around four seconds. The idea is to move the camera during the exposure to create an impressionistic style image that captures the feel of the scene. You can use this technique with any focal length, but for some reason the 40mm focal length works particularly well. I put it down to the same reasons that this lens works well for long exposure photography – it fits just the right amount of the scene into the frame to make an interesting composition.

On the EOS 5D Mark II the focal length was wide enough to let me get close to my model and give the photos a sense of intimacy without the distortion that wider lenses would give. Using the lens on the EOS 40D allowed for a tighter crop that excluded more of the background. On the whole, the lens is a great portrait lens on both cameras. The maximum aperture is wide enough to get an appealing bokeh*, and the image quality is superb. I preferred to use it on my EOS 5D Mark II as it allowed me to include a little more of the background and create more dynamic compositions. * Bokeh describes background blur – not how much the background is out-of-focus, but the quality and character of the blur. Right The EF 40mm is a moderate wide-angle lens on a full-frame camera, allowing a close-viewpoint while still including some of the background. EOS 5D Mark II, 1/180 second at f2.8, ISO 800. Below The EF 40mm is a short telephoto lens on an APS-C format camera. EOS 40D, 1/125 second at f6.7, ISO 400.

Build quality and autofocus The EF 40mm pancake lens is built to last with a metal mount and metal body. It’s a much more convincing lens than the plastic EF 50mm f1.8 II or EF-S 18-55mm kit lenses. It comes with gear type Stepper Motor (STM) drive autofocus, which promises near silent performance for movie servo autofocus (so far the EOS 650D is the only model with this feature) to avoid the camera’s built-in microphone picking up noise from the autofocus motor. My first impressions of the STM autofocus are good. It’s not as fast as the ring ultrasonic motor (USM) on my EF 17-40mm lens, but it’s a huge improvement on the micro- motor autofocus used in lenses such as the EF 50mm f1.8 II. A curious feature about the STM autofocus is that, even in manual focus, it only works when the camera is switched on (and not asleep). Turn the focusing ring at the front of the lens when the camera is off and nothing happens. That means that even in manual focus mode, the autofocus

motor is engaged when you turn the focusing ring. Despite Canon’s claims, the STM autofocus is not silent and if you’re shooting in a quiet environment the camera’s microphone will pick up the focusing noise. On the plus side, the focusing ring is incredibly smooth – ideal for transferring focus smoothly and evenly from one point to the other. According to the Canon website, the EF-S 18-135mm IS STM lens, released at the same time as the 40mm pancake, has a lead-screw type STM motor that is quieter than that on the 40mm pancake lens (this type of motor is too large to fit inside a pancake lens). So if you’re buying an STM lens specifically for shooting movies with the EOS 650D, the EF-S 18-135mm STM lens is the way to go. (Editor’s note: EOS magazine has just bought the EF-S 18-135mm STM lens and can confirm that the focusing is, to our ears, silent – and amazingly fast.)

Above top The EF 40mm is a general-purpose lens, ready for any subject in its view. EOS 5D Mark II, 1/90 second at f4.5, ISO 400. Above centre A long exposure with an ND filter has smoothed out the water background. EOS 5D Mark II, 194 seconds at f11, ISO 50 Above bottom A long exposure at twilight gives characteristic car light trails. EOS 5D Mark II, 30 seconds at f16, ISO 200. Left A long exposure blurs the moving subject, with added effect from a hand-held camera. EOS 5D Mark II, 2 seconds at f8, ISO 400.

20 Reproduced from EOS magazine October-December 2012

Reproduced from EOS magazine October-December 2012 21