Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM

Unique daylight images at f1.4. there is no other lens that can go so wide and so fast. For lowlight it sucks enough light even from small light sources like a cell phone screen. Extremely sharp in the center at f1.4. stopped down to f2,8, probably the sharpest canon lens I have, on a par with the 135 F2 L At f2,8 is so sharp that the camera screen shows moiree on some patterns. Great colors, great contrast, great OOF. Fast and precise AF. Superb handling in a 5D MKII.

This is quite possibly the BEST piece of glass on an EOS mount. That compares to the following lenses in my bullpen: 70-200 2.8 II L, 24-70 2.8 L, 85mm 1.2 L, 50mm 1.2 L, Zeiss 35mm 2.0, Zeiss 21mm 2.8 and a grab-bag of other lenses in the minor leagues. Sure, it's a wide-wide, no zoom - but the creative possibilities opened up by the extraordinarily fast 1.4 glass allows for stunning, sweeping angles of view with razor-sharp subjects that pop off the print. Finally, a wide with foreground, mid and background options. For video, the wide angle of view smooths out operator shake, and at close range the distortion afforded by such a short focal length can produce near-3D images, used properly. I've dropped it from standing height, had the collar replaced, gone through more sun shades than I can remember, and this baby still delivers. Bottom line: I'm a two-body shooter, and without fail one of my 5Ds will have this mounted. For documentary work, lifestyle, architecture and even portraits, this is an exceptionally well-constructed tool. Mama, don't take my 24 away!

I got this lens as soon as it came out (bought it here on Amazon for 1550USD), this was over a year ago, I think its getting close to the 2-year mark, but anyway... I had it for a while now here are my impressions:

Cons:
price ($$$) but this is an L quality lens that's f1.4, so if you consider that its probably priced just right (otherwise this thing would fly off the shelf and you would never be able to secure yours :), as with any prime, zoom is in your legs, so sometimes when I can't reach my subject I end up cropping the image afterwards, on a crop body APS-C this is a 38mm so I don't get that wide angle effect like on a FF, but I don't mind that (some people might), weight... its not that bad, but if you are carrying this all day you do notice it, the front element is quite big and it does attract some attention (I don't particularly like that, so I include this in the cons), ahhhh one more thing... when you use the provided hood, forget about using on board flash (40D and 7D) hood throws a shadow on the scene (remove the hood and flash is useful again)

Pros:
f1.4... amazing... really, I'm addicted :) VERY SHARP edge to edge on my 40D and now my 7D, no problems with chromatic aberrations in the corners (when you stop it down beyond f4.0), full weather sealing (I installed a front filter as soon as I got this lens, you need to do that to ensure proper sealing), lens hood is included with this one, silent and smooth focus, accurate on both 40D and 7D, sometimes a bit too slow in dim lighting conditions (but no complaints on my part, to be expected), the lens has that 'pro' feel to it, AF/MF button works smoothly, and the MF ring is build to last, I feel that the lens is build better than my 40D and 7D so I am more worried about breaking the body then the lens :)

Summary:
this is a pricy lens, no way to get around that, but you DO get what you pay for here, just make sure this is what you really want because there are other very good options out there that might suit you just fine (16-35 f2.8L II is in the same price range and if you don't really need that f1.4 go for that... on 2nd thought I might have as well, but what's done is done, I'll stick with this lens now that I'm getting used to it). I use this mainly for landscape photography and I am very pleased with the results. See what you think:

[...]

but this would make an excellent video lens as well, the 38mm coverage on the APS-C body seems just right. The f1.4 definitely comes in useful in low light situations, but then again the ISO performance of the 7D is quite good... so you might not need that f1.4 after all (personal preference, so you have to decide).

I give this lens 5/5 for build quality (EXCELLENT), 5/5 for optical quality (best I have ever owned), but 4/5 for value just because of the price... I think that most people would be happier with the 16-35 f2.8L version I or II (I do miss that zoom sometimes)

I got this lens as soon as it came out (bought it here on Amazon for 1550USD), this was over a year ago, I think its getting close to the 2-year mark, but anyway... I had it for a while now here are my impressions: Cons: price ($$$) but this is an L quality lens that's f1.4, so if you consider that its probably priced just right (otherwise this thing would fly off the shelf and you would never be able to secure yours :), as with any prime, zoom is in your legs, so sometimes when I can't reach my subject I end up cropping the image afterwards, on a crop body APS-C this is a 38mm so I don't get that wide angle effect like on a FF, but I don't mind that (some people might), weight... its not that bad, but if you are carrying this all day you do notice it, the front element is quite big and it does attract some attention (I don't particularly like that, so I include this in the cons), ahhhh one more thing... when you use the provided hood, forget about using on board flash (40D and 7D) hood throws a shadow on the scene (remove the hood and flash is useful again) Pros: f1.4... amazing... really, I'm addicted :) VERY SHARP edge to edge on my 40D and now my 7D, no problems with chromatic aberrations in the corners (when you stop it down beyond f4.0), full weather sealing (I installed a front filter as soon as I got this lens, you need to do that to ensure proper sealing), lens hood is included with this one, silent and smooth focus, accurate on both 40D and 7D, sometimes a bit too slow in dim lighting conditions (but no complaints on my part, to be expected), the lens has that 'pro' feel to it, AF/MF button works smoothly, and the MF ring is build to last, I feel that the lens is build better than my 40D and 7D so I am more worried about breaking the body then the lens :) Summary: this is a pricy lens, no way to get around that, but you DO get what you pay for here, just make sure this is what you really want because there are other very good options out there that might suit you just fine (16-35 f2.8L II is in the same price range and if you don't really need that f1.4 go for that... on 2nd thought I might have as well, but what's done is done, I'll stick with this lens now that I'm getting used to it). I use this mainly for landscape photography and I am very pleased with the results. See what you think: [...] but this would make an excellent video lens as well, the 38mm coverage on the APS-C body seems just right. The f1.4 definitely comes in useful in low light situations, but then again the ISO performance of the 7D is quite good... so you might not need that f1.4 after all (personal preference, so you have to decide). I give this lens 5/5 for build quality (EXCELLENT), 5/5 for optical quality (best I have ever owned), but 4/5 for value just because of the price... I think that most people would be happier with the 16-35 f2.8L version I or II (I do miss that zoom sometimes)

I purchased this lens after doing extensive research and knowing the possibility of running into an AF issue. I use a 7D and my only other L lens is my 100mm 2.8L IS Macro (which is a superbly godly lens). BUILD: The build quality of the 24L II is excellent. It feels very sturdy and solid. There is A LOT of glass and metal that make up this lens. The focus ring is a joy to use. It is the smoothest and well-damped focus ring I have ever used. The focus ring has just the right amount of drag but that drag is buttery smooth. IQ: This is a sharp lens. Great contrast, saturation, blah, blah, blah, you knew all of that. At F1.4 it does get softer but still very usable. Keep in mind that I am using a 1.6x crop body camera which I think is out-resolving the lens wide open. I imagine that on a full frame camera, images wide open will be much sharper. I also notice a lot of CA wide open. THICK bands of CA. Using the canon DPP software, I am only able to reduce 90% of the CA by using the "blur" option in the Chromatic Aberration tool. The CA correction tool itself does not make a difference, same with my 100mm 2.8L IS. I think it has to do with these lenses being designed predominantly for full frame shooters, which I'm guessing would reveal less CA on a FF camera. Bokeh: Absolutely gorgeous. It will only get better on a FF camera. AF: Focusing is indeed fast and very quiet. Apparently, there are a lot of bad copies of this lens due to design flaw. I believe that my lens was not nearly as bad in terms of AF issues as some people have experienced, but it was bad enough to warrant a sad return back to Amazon. Out of the box, my lens front-focused and I was able to compensate with a +8 on the microadjust. This worked fine for a little while. Other times, it decided to back-focus so I had to re-compensate with a -2 on the microadjust. After almost a month of really trying to get this lens to work, it was apparent that its focusing abilities on the 7D is unacceptable. The workaround would be to use in live-view mode and focus using the contrast detection method (which is slower than phase detection but more accurate. Yes, it's more accurate, especially in very low light in which contrast detection is FASTER than phase detection AF, where phase detection sometimes fails altogether). However, I didn't feel like a $1500 lens should get any special treatment or a handicap. I'm very sad to see it go. When the focus is spot on, it produces some of the most impressive images wide open. Good luck!