Customer Ratings & Reviews

Love the lens, great price. Love the portability for travel. The focusing speed is okay, but it is silent if you do video recording and rotating the focusing slowly. Sharpness appear to be decent, some light falloff but easily corrected in post processing. Can focus really close (30cm) for unusual effects.

This is a great lens for close up work. Took some amazingly sharp pictures of my dog using this on a Canon SL1.

I am in love! You really can't beat the quality of this lens for the price! It feels light but sturdy, easy to pop in your bag for a quick focal length change.

An excellent lens to have in your bag. So lightweight and makes carrying around my 5D Mark IV a breeze (while my 24-70mm weighs almost as much as the camera body itself). This lens is so fun to shot with and has a nice low profile that can be beneficial just from not looking so intimidating.

For an inexpensive lens you can carry in your pocket, this thing makes great sharp pictures. Also you won't get stares and gawkers the way you do with a large white L lens. Very stealthy for candids and street photography.

This is a great, compact lens. Wish the f stops would go downt to 1.8 but it's not bad at all. I may reccomend the 50mm 1.8 over this.

I love the lens it is a great focus. It works well for all my shots.

Got this lens because I wanted something that would almost make my DLSR feel smaller, while still taking great pics, and this does the job perfectly. I do a lot of candid portraits, landscape, event pics and, while it doesn't do anything magical, it does take crisp, clean photos at full 15mp/RAW with little to no distortion. Due to it's compact size and flexibility this is my go-to every day lens.

Although i really didn't need this lens as i have the focal length already covered, i bought it anyways because i was intrigued by it's small size and reasonable price. Being that the lens is so small, it's actually quite fun to just take a stroll and randomly snap photos. The image quality is very good.

I got this to go with the recent cannon camera package I purchased on black Friday. I wanted a small lens for traveling and quick photos on the go and for product photography. This lens is perfect! It is very small and compact, light weight and takes amazing photos!

Great little lens. Sharp and works well with APS-C or FF. Construction is good, not "L" good but not cheap either. Definitely not a piece of junk. The size makes it ideal for use on an SL1. You can slip that combo in a coat pocket easily. It does takes some time to get used to the small size. I had a tough time at first trying to keep it steady but with practice, you'll get the hang of it. It's so small that you can always find a place in your camera bag when heading out and never leave it behind. I'm planning on getting the 24 f2.8 STM pancake but that will work only on the cropped bodies. Overall, $150 well spent.

I was between this lens and the Canon - EF 50mm f/1.8 II Standard Lens. I went with the 40mm because I had read the images were crisper and better quality. After testing it out, I was so amazed with the capabilities. It's a great leans for close up shots and portraits. Spend the extra money and get the better quality.

My first prime Lens, very lightweight, solidly built, and affordable. Very quiet motor when focusing. I love the bokeh when shooting portrait pictures. I use this a lot when taking baby pictures. With the affordable price I promise you won't regret it.

I just recently bought my T4i/18-135mm kit. I wanted a prime lens to compliment the zoom. I've already owned the "Nifty Fifty", and 'was' just going to repurchase that one, because of it's decent image quality and it's price. However, after reading just about every review out there, and viewing countless photos out there about the 40mm pancake, I decided to try it instead. I'm glad I did. The image quality completely destroys the 50mm f/1.8. Granted, the Shorty Forty is only an f/2.8, so it isn't going to give you quite as awesome background blur as a wider aperture like the Nifty Fifty....but the image quality, in my opinion, more than makes up for it. Sharp, nice contrast, nice colors, and a nice focal length to work with. I LOVE THIS LENS! I have guys that own L-lenses complimenting the photo quality of this lens. Seriously - for $200 or less.....is there really anything to think about? Not in my opinion. I didn't buy this lens for the size, because, if Canon made a cute little diminutive lens that sucked at taking pictures....big deal if it's small and compact, right? But, this lens does NOT suck at taking pictures, AND it happens to be small and compact, which to me is an added bonus. Bottom line: Unless you already have this focal length covered with another GOOD lens that takes GREAT pictures, you should buy this lens. If you're looking for your first prime, you should buy this lens. Nifty Fifty's are cool, they have their place...but the image quality of the Shorty Forty completely blows it away. Like I said...no brainer here. The two attached photos were both at f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/160s. **Side note: For video, it's true what you've heard elsewhere: It's NOT "silent" by any means. However, if you're doing anything serious with video, you're not going to be using the cameras onboard mic anyway. I personally use a Zoom H4N recorder with a hot-shoe mount for my audio, and it works great (and doesn't pick up the focusing noise from the lens).

A very affordable, outstanding performer. Contrast and Sharpness is very good. This is a near perfect compliment to the Canon SL1 in terms of size/weight/performance. After a day of lugging around a 5d2 with the 70-200 is ii, this lens with the SL1 is such a joy!! For kids' indoor sports (as an example), the f/2.8 with an APS-C is a great combo. Highly recommended!

First off, I am somewhat of a DS:R beginner, and this lens is pretty simple. Bought this just to pair with my already small Rebel SL1 crop body, and I love the portability. Even with a protruding filter on it, the lens is still low profile. Build seems solid despite it being plastic. Mount is metal, and goes on body with a tight but snug fit. Thin focus ring is made of textured rubber, and feels smooth but not loose. Image quality is pretty impressive. GREAT bokeh can be achieved. This is not a macro lens, but I am able to take beautiful shots from about 8 inches away from subject. However at this close range, I have to use manual focus, as auto will not pick it up. Speaking of which, auto focus is rather slow, so not really a good lens for action shots. Because of size and portability, this lens is great for a "walkaround" lens. I bring this lens mounted on my SL1 almost everywhere I go, and snap away using only one hand like its a point and shoot!

I am a professional photographer and I always have that lens with me. Just in case I need it. It’s a great lens for traveling it’s a great landscape plans and also a portrait lens. I also like it being that the aperture is it 2.8. I have taken some great photos with this lens. I would highly recommend this lens to anyone.

This pancake lens of Canon is a must-have for every Canon user. It's light, easy to carry, and suitable for both professional and amateur photographers that wouldn't like to bring many equipment in general. The image quality is also excellent and sharp. Recommend to any Canon DSLR user.

This is a very light weight fixed focal length lens. Image quality is very good as sharpness is concerned, not that great as vignetting is concerned, though adobe Lightroom can fix that in a second. I'm using it on a EOS 7D, which makes it a 64 mm equivalent and as such a bit too long for outdoors/landscape but good for portrait and mixed use. I use it outdoors where my primary focus is on longer range pics (ef 70-200 or 100-400 mm) and I want a wider lens available without having to carry the additional weight. Turns out the very low weight allows me to shoot at longer exposure time without blurring the images. wish it would be a f1/1.4 but f1/2.8 is what can be expected for that price. This lens now is part of my standard selection. The lens is good enough to deserve a well coated UV filter such at the B+W MRC 52mm to avoid glare; the bestbuy cheap UV filters protect the lens but add noticeable glare when shooting toward the sun.

Great portrait lens that is lightweight with super sharp images for a steal of a price! I use as a travel lens also, it is very versatile and easy to slip into a pocket if I need to switch to a zoom lens.