Don't be misled by the
old design of this lens. This lens hold its own against its newer
and jazzier (and much more expensive) brother -- the EF24mm
f/1.4L USM lens.
That said, its closer
sibling should be the EF28mm f/2.8. In
looks and everything else, these two lenses are very much alike.
Both focuses down to close distances (24mm -- 0.25m; 28mm -- 0.3m).
This lens uses the old
AFD motor to drive its Auto-Focusing. Slow? Not really.
It felt reasonably fast though it was noisier than USM lenses such as the EF28-135mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. In fact, side-by-side, using both EOS1n and
EOS5 as test beds, I felt that the AF speed of this lens was comparable to
the new EF24mm f/1.4L. This was a huge
surprise to me.
This lens has a narrow
(0.7cm) Manual Focusing ring which is similar to that on the EF50mm
f/1.8 MKI.
Overall, this lens is
very similar to the EF28mm f/2.8. A
noticeable difference is that as focus is changed, the EF28mm
f/2.8 extends the lens by 0.5cm, small but noticeable
nonetheless. The EF24mm f/2.8, on the other hand, focuses
internally.
