Canon finally did it. They’ve announced the 11-24mm f4L. This was a lens Canon absolutely needed two years ago and should now help to fill that void that Nikon has dominated for so long.
I just found out it has a slot for a rear gelatin filter.
Order Links
Canon 11-24 f4L Pre-Order – (Amazon) (Adorama)
The charts look really good but the price is a bit of a concern. Knowing Canon, they always overprice their lenses on launch, then reduce it after a few months. Then after a year or so it will be priced a bit more reasonable.
If this is to rich for your blood, check out the Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 lens. It’s a worthy competitor.
Why This Lens?
This lens is most likely being created in response to user requests and the ever so popularity of the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens available on Nikon setups.
This lens would be geared primarily for the landscape photographer or the sports photographer. It would be great for shooting skateboarding or other X-game types of sports.
Canon 11-24mm F4 Features
One Super UD element and one UD element to significantly cut down chromatic aberrations.
Four aspheric lens elements. This should help with distortion.
Super wavelength Coating and Air Sphere Coating (SWC and ASC) helps minimize unwanted flaring and ghosting.
Canon says the weather sealing is highly resistant to dust and water. You won’t find this in the Tamron I bet.
9 Blade Aperture. So the out of focus objects in your scene have a nicer bokeh. Not like it matters, it’s a landscape photographers lens.
Minimum focus distance of 11 inches.
You can use manual focus at anytime. Pretty common with higher end Canon lenses. It’s nice adjusting focus so you’re not working against the focus motor.
Flourine coating on front and rear. Helps with keeping things clean.
Alternative Ultra-Wide Full Frame Lenses To Consider
If you can’t wait for this lens, here are some great alternatives.
Canon 16-35mm f4 IS (Amazon)
A really good update to the lens, it’s supposedly on par with the Nikon 14-24mm, but the F4 makes it not ideal for star photography.
Canon 16-35mm f2.8 II (Amazon)
I own this lens, it’s been great. Not as good as the new 16-35mm f4 in terms of IQ, but if you shoot star photography the f2.8 looks really good on this lens. See my full review here.
Samyang 14mm f2.8 (Amazon)
Also sold as the Rokinon or Bower, I only list this as a temporary alternative. If you need something ultra wide now to tie you over, this is a great fun lens for only $300 bucks. I’ve done a full review of this lens here and I love it.
Sigma 12-24mm f4.5-5.6 (Amazon)
Not as good as the Canon or Nikon, but it’s a good bang for the buck.
Zeiss 14mm f2.8 Distagon (Amazon)
This is the cream of the crop. But really expensive right now for some reason. Hopefully Sigma gives us a 14mm ART lens soon to bring these prices down.
Canon 14mm f2.8 (Amazon)
A great ultra-wide but the Zeiss 14mm performs better if you don’t mind manual focus.
For those interested in what 14mm looks like on a full frame camera, here are a few samples photos of some HDR photography I shot on my Samyang 14mm.
SAMPLE PHOTOS @ 14mm on the Samyang 14mm f2.8
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About Me
I am a professional freelance commercial / trailer editor. I mostly edit trailers and tv spots for games such as Call of Duty, Destiny, Gears of War with a few Netflix shows thrown in the mix. The other half of my time is spent shooting photography. I am based out of Los Angeles CA.