CanonEF 24mm f/1.4L II USM Wide Angle Lens - Fixed - 2750B002 , Black

Extremely crisp picture and great colors. If you're looking for a lens to put on a gimbal this is your ticket!

Generally, I have been very impressed with this lens.I have had the 16-35mm ii and 24-105mm as well, all well-regarded lenses. I thought it would be fun to compare them. It should be no surprise that this lens exceeds both of them in all respects, image quality, color saturation, distortion, sharpness, chromatic aberration, etc. This is as it should be, given the 24mm being a prime.If landscaping is your thing or you commonly shoot between f/5.6 and f/22, the 16-35mm @ 24mm (actually, the sweet spot on that lens) fared fairly well, but still short, with regard to picture quality versus this lens - these lenses cost about the same. The added versatility of the zoom also might sway some people to that lens as well. From f/1.4 through f/5.6 apertures, this 24mm prime wins hands-down however - chromatic aberration, contrast, color saturation and (outstanding wow!) sharpness were clearly superior. The 24-105mm is a good general purpose lens, but did not keep up at any respective focal length or aperture setting - possibly that's why they introduced the new 24-70 IS recently.Bokeh, while not as creamy/dreamy as the 50L or certainly the 85L or 135L, is not unpleasant. Weight & size are very reasonable - it feels solid as opposed to heavy. Construction is robust as you'd expect from Canon's L-series and has full weather-proofing when you add a filter (I've had this lens out in a rain/sleet/snow storm with no problems). It has a close minimum focus distance which is a pleasant surprise and useful, with its 24mm focal length can also cause some interesting perspective shots.A few other things are worth mentioning: You may need to perform a micro-adjustment to your autofocus. There is some vignetting and corner softness at wide apertures, both clear up quickly by f/2.0 - for some this might be a desirable trait and for others not so much.If you're looking for the best 24mm lens for apertures at f/4 or wider, this is the ticket - albeit a pricey one. I like this lens a lot, fun for just walking around with in both good and limited light.Good Luck & Happy Shooting!January 2013 Update - More in love with this lens than the day I bought it. I sold the 16-35mm f/2.8 II, while not a slouch by any means, but this lens is so much better in every regard. The former has severe barrel-distortion from 16-20mm which was quite noticeable on full frame.October 2013 Update - I've had a chance to use the TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II a lot recently and wanted to give one more comparison. The resolution and sharpness on the two different lenses is pretty close at similar apertures - meaning, both lenses are wicked, wicked sharp. With the TS, you gain some optical quality however - while the EF (this lens) has excellent distortion and aberration control, the TS is nearly distortion and aberration free, a truly remarkable achievement. The most obvious benefit of the TS is perspective control via its tilt and shift features. The TS has an even closer focus distance than the EF, giving it a healthy magnification. With the TS, you give up autofocus, weather sealing, and a wide aperture. My only suggestion for improvement is the same for both lenses, add an additional blade on the aperture so as to cause more interesting starbursts. These are two different tools and the performance of each is extraordinary.

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)