Canon 14mm F2.8 L USM

I know that you do not expect a scientific review of the Canon 14mm F2.8L USM here, because if you have read my other reviews, you know I just cannot be arsed. I am interested in only one thing about the glass that I use, and that is how it performs wide open, F16 is for wimps and landscape photographers (but there I repeat myself).

As any one who has read any of the pages on this website will know, I am a long-term Canon user, having started with the Canon A1 in 1980, and been through pretty much every pro camera they have built, but don't take this as blindness when it comes to Canons short comings.

The 14mm is a class piece of glass, and I bought it by accident [edit] how the f**k do you buy a £1400 lens by accident?[end edit], I was visiting one of my regular suppliers in Guildford this afternoon and saw that they happened to have one sitting in the window [edit] Ohh so that's how????[end edit]. I had been toying with the idea of getting something a bit wider than my 16-35mm F2.8L, not that I ever need anything wider, if anything I need a 600mm F4, but hell that can wait.

In addition, as it turns out, I did a snatch of Dean Gaffney, just after having purchased the 14mm that should pay for the lens in a single hit. I also considered a 15mm, however the 15mm is not rectilinear, which means that any straight lines that pass through the image will be recorded as a curve (I think I have an image shot on a 15mm somewhere and as you can see the images is very severely distorted (I have shot on a DCS520 which has a 1.5 crop factor, it would have appeared even worse on an EOS1D, and very distorted on a 35mm Film body.

However, a colleague of mine uses one to great effect for car shots. Despite what women may tell you, at the short end an extra couple of millimetres makes a huge difference, whereas if you have a 300mm an extra couple of mills is not going to be noticed. The 14mm is finished in a hardwearing black crackle type finish the same as the 16-35F2.8L and the 28-70F2.8L, it comes supplied with all the usual Canon bits and pieces, and has a built in lens hood and a deeply recessed lens cap.

The front element of the 14mm is stands very proud of the petal shaped hood sections at the sides, so a little care is going to be required, when in the press packs, as the last thing that you will want is someone else's camera, lens flash whatever catching it.

First impressions are that the lens is built to take the same sort of punishment as the rest of the Canon L series lenses. On the camera the lens feels well balanced (on an EOS1D) after the other lenses that I use it actually feels a little small. Through the viewfinder I keep expecting to see my feet in the bottom of the frame, the image is nice and bright, and the depth of field is phenomenal, so much so that AF is needed to truly nail a subject, as on the plain ground glass screen, the image does not snap in and out of focus. At F11 (the aperture that I usually use for car shots, the depth of field extends from .5 metres to infinity (and beyond). I have not yet used this lens in anger yet, although I have a feeling it might get used tomorrow, if nothing else then for some rogues gallery stuff. I have done a couple of test images, that I will post here, however it was late, and I couldn't be bothered to drive far, so I shall shoot some more appropriate ones over the next few days (time permitting). The 100% crops below are from the picture show at the top left of this page.

14mm F2.8 Centre section at F2.8

14mm F2.8 Edge section at F2.8

14mm F2.8 Centre section at F8

14mm F2.8 Edge section at F8

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