Launched some months ago, we are now nearing delivery of the new Canon 24mm and 28mm primes with IS. I had a chance to try out both of these lenses at a Canon event in Vancouver earlier in the year. Read this write up for my first impressions and some sample images.
I think when these lenses were fist announced the whole community let out a collective huh? Non-L primes with IS and f2.8 ? Well that is the way I certainly felt until I got my hands on them. They are built very nicely, not quite L-quality but close. I expect these to be very popular with the video crowd due to the image stabilization and also highly popular with travel photographers. When I travel I typically put my 24mm f1.4 L II on my camera. These new lenses with IS will be able to achieve images in similar low light levels though. As long as you don’t need a faster shutter speed to stop action movement. These new lenses are about 1/3 of the weight and maybe half the size of my big chunk 24mm f1.4 though, a pretty compelling option. Judging by my first quick sample images the quality of these lenses is also very good. I might purchase the 28mm myself for traveling with. B&H is stating a June 17th shipping date.