Handling and features The Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM is a slim, compact pancake type lens, which is compatible with Canon EF and EF-S camera bodies and costs around ￡230. A fast f/2.8 aperture should make this lens ideal for taking pictures in reasonably low light conditions and focusing is powered by...

The Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM is an appealingly simple, compact and capable lens that's equally at home on an APS-C or full-frame DSLR camera. It's also very cheap, making it a worthy addition to any EOS user's camera bag.

Pancake lenses have come into some popularity in recent years, and Canon has answered with their own version, the . Some may question the point of a fixed lens that is only f/2.8 these days, but there are plenty of reasons to pick up a lens such as this.

The 40mm "pancake" lens from Canon is the first prime pancake lens that Canon has released. I purchased this lens about 5 days ago, and I took it with me on vacation to Asheville, NC. I used it to do some street photography on my EOS 70d.

A low-profile lens for street photography, suited for full-frame cameras...

Extremely slim and lightweight; Excellent optical quality

Unsophisticated focus system; Thin manual focus wheel

Canon is the only major Japanese camera manufacturer who has been shy of entering the mirrorless market (as of the time of this review). So far their reps always argued that it is possible to design smallish APS-C DSLRs that are also able to compete on the size and weight side.

It's impressive what Canon has managed to pack into a very small package here. Excellent results for sharpness, CA and distortion, and only some corner shading when used wide open on full-frame - which you could call the "character" of this lens. For the price, it's well worth the money.