Canon EF 14mm f2.8L USM review

Like all Canon L Series lenses, the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM Lens has a high build quality that feels great in use. The Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM Lens is weather sealed. As described in the manual, "Tight seal structure ensures excellent dust-proof and drip-proof performance" and "rubber ring [at lens mount] for enhanced water and dust resistance." While the sealing in this lens is not different than the rest of Canon's weather-sealed non-super telephoto lenses, it is not able to accept the protective front filter that is recommended for full weather resistant protection on these lenses. The non-extending 3.1" x 3.7" (80mm x 90mm)(dxl) size and 22.7 oz (645g) weight combine to make this a very a nice handling lens. A bulging convex front lens element and a built-in metal lens hood are identity features of this lens. Because of these features, a normal flat lens cap cannot be used (more later) and a front filter cannot be mounted on this lens. A rear gelatin filter holder is provided. These filters are required to be cut to size and installed with the lens dismounted. Circular polarizer filters cannot be used.



Where the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM Lens really excels is in optical performance. It is sharp wide open and even slightly sharper stopped down. When viewing the ISO 12233 Chart sample crops for this lens, keep in mind that glare from the lights have an increasingly negative effect on contrast toward the edges of the frame. Even though the lights are nearly on the same plane as the test target, the super wide angle of this lens still picks up some reflection.



The Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM Lens features a rear focusing system driven by Canon's excellent USM (Ultrasonic Motor). It delivers fast and quiet autofocusing. At this focal length, I don't find focus speed to be a real important factor ... but fast is always better than slow as long as it is accurate. I am getting excellent AF hit rates in my real world shots, but strangely had some inconsistencies in my comparison testing. At this point, I am writing these inconsistencies off as too many areas of contrast for the camera to choose from in these select shots. A lens this wide can certainly take in a lot of subjects with autofocus-attracting contrast. FTM (Full Time Manual) focusing is enabled and the focus ring is smooth and well-damped.



Full-frame corners are impressively sharp for a lens this wide. The biggest noticeable difference in image quality generated by stopping down the aperture is from the decreased amount of corner shading. The Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L USM Lens delivers a smoothly changing but somewhat strong amount of shading in full frame corners when shot wide open. This is not unusual for a wide lens - and is mostly gone by f/5.6. Users of 1.6x FOVCF bodies will notice little or no vignetting.