40mm Pancake lens macro capabilitys

Posted by Sven Thunéll on June 2, 2013 in Blog | 1 comment

This weekend I found a new favorite macro combination. I don’t own a macro lens, although I’ve been close to buying one several times. Instead i’ve used a Kenko 25mm extension tube for several years.  Inspired by our latest trip trying to, and to somewhat degree succeeding to, shoot some orchids, I  realized that i hadn’t tried the canon 40 mm pancake lens (Canon EF 40/2.8 STM) with the extension tube. What a great surprise! This lens performed much better than I expected. With the 25 mm tube it has a maximum magnification of 0.88x, which is close to the 1.0x of ordinary macro lenses. On the plus side i weighs only 220 g and thus makes an excellent travel combination.

Canon EF 40/2.8 STM wit Kenko 25 mm extension tube

What about image quality? Personally I’m very pleased with it, but it’s up to you to decide. I will give you some samples.

Beer can, Canon 5d Mark II, iso 5000, 1/80s.

100 % crop of beer can.

Ant, about 5 mm in length. Cropped. Canon 5d Mark II, iso 1600, 1/160s.

Working distance is  okay, about 10-15 cm from front element at maximum magnification. Last of all a magnification comparison between the 24-105 is USM (0.61x magnification) and the 40 mm pancake (0.88x magnification). 24-105 on top.

Canon 5d mark II, 24-105 f/4 is USM + 25mm tube

Canon 5d mark II, 40 f/2.8 STM + 25mm tube

To bad it doesn’t have IS. But i still like it =)

Regards

Sven