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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today to give you my quick review of the Canon RF 24mm f1.8
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Macro IS STM lens. If you want a deeper dive into performance, check out my definitive video review
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or the text review linked below. The 24mm joins lenses like the 35mm f1.8 Macro IS
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and 85mm f2 macro IS as relatively affordable prime lenses that also happen to have a high level of magnification
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The RF24 macro costs $599, has great size, good autofocus, and a fairly strong optical performance
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aside from a few significant flaws. We'll briefly cover each of these in today's review, right after a word from our sponsor
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That's Ridge.com forward slash Dustin Abbott for 40% off. Like the 35mm and 85mm macro lenses the 24mm has a 1 life size or 0 magnification That good enough for great close shots though it might not replace a true macro lens if you need serious magnification The RF 24mm achieves its macro performance via
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very close focus, only 14 centimeters. Since the lens is 9 centimeters long and the inner barrel
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extends another centimeter at close focus, that leaves just 4 centimeters between the lens and
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the subject. Fortunately, not everything is scared off by a camera and lens. The RF 24mm is reasonably
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compact at only 2.9 inches in diameter and 2.5 inches in length. That's 74.4mm by 63.1mm
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And it weighs in at only 9.5 ounces, or 270 grams. It is nearly identical in size to the RF 35mm F1.8
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They both share a common 52mm front filter thread as well. While Canon has moved to including IBIS or in-body image stabilization in almost all of their newer cameras
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they also continue to value in-lens stabilization or IS. The IS in the lens is rated for 5 stops but works in conjunction with IBIS if your camera is so equipped
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And Canon rates the combined stabilization of up to 6.5 stops correction
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I was able to get this shot at only one-fourth of a second without issue
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The lens has Canon's typical consumer-grade build quality, which includes fairly good quality engineered plastics, a metal lens mount, but nothing like weather sealing or even an included lens hood
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I'll link to a budget alternative lens hood in the description below. There are two switches, an on-off for the IS and an AF-MF switch on the side of the barrel
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There is also a manual focus ring located in the center of the lens. The focus ring moves reasonably smoothly, but with a slightly disconnected feel
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The control ring is located near the front of the lens and can be programmed in-camera to a variety of different functions
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There are nine rounded aperture blades and the aperture iris and this does a fairly good job of keeping a circular shape as the lens is stopped down In many ways the build quality of the 24mm is fine
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I suspect the lens will be durable and it handles nicely. I like the form factor
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What I don't love is that Canon continues to expect the market to be fine with them offering less for the $600 US price tag
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No weather sealing, no lens hood, no case or pouch. I know they're capable of better
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Canon has given the RF 24mm F1.8 a lead screw type STM motor
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which is the more robust version of STM that Canon employs, though not as good as their Nano USM
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For many applications, the speed and quietness is just fine. I noticed little focus noise during normal operations
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IAF works very accurately and makes this an appealing option for vlogging
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and moving with the camera an arm's length away. I saw good accuracy with both human and animal subjects
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Most focus changes for stills happen quickly and without much drama. Things are a little less rosy for video
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Video focus pulls are mostly smooth, but they are certainly not fast
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Even when doing the test when I put my hand in front of the camera and then allow focus to snap back to my eye
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there was some significant delay before focus began to move to the desired spot
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I didn't notice a significant amount of focus breathing, however. So how about the optical performance
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There are 11 elements in 9 groups, including an ultra-low dispersion element and one aspherical lens in the optical formula
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This produces very good center sharpness, good mid-frame sharpness, and even decent corner performance from f1.8 on
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The corners sharpen up significantly at f2.8, and landscape shots at f4 to f8 look extremely crisp across the frame
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I could see a lot of contrast in detail on subjects even at f1.8, however, which makes the lens very useful
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I didn see high levels of chromatic aberrations though you will get a bit of fringing in high contrast situations The greatest weakness of the lens is the extremely strong distortion and vignette
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I had to use a very high plus 33 to correct for the barrel distortion, though it does at least
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correct in a linear way. I also had to essentially max out the sliders to correct for the vignette
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Like other recent Canon wide-angle lenses, there is a lot more image than what the viewfinder shows
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to allow room for that correction, so you can actually get a wider angle of view
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by doing a manual correction as shown here. Combo performance is also not good
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with obvious chromatic distortion of bright light points along the edges of the frame
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Fortunately, flare resistance is much better, even without that lens hood, and in general, I liked the images that I got from the lens
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The bokeh quality varies depending on the distance from the subject to the background
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but in many situations, I could get pleasing images, though there were others that were a little busy for my taste
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What really stands out is the versatility of this lens. You can do a lot of different photography with a lens like this
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From that close-up work, to walk-around and street photography, to even landscape and environmental portraits
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The Canon RF 24mm f1.8 Macro IS STM is not going to compete with L-series lenses optically
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but I also found that images had fairly good pop to them. Some people love the 24mm focal length, and if that describes you, then the Canon RF 24mm f1.8 is a lens that will probably become a favorite of yours, even if it also sports a few flaws
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I'm Dustin Abbott, and if you want more information, you can find linkage to my text review and image gallery and buying links below
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Please like and subscribe. Thanks for watching. Have a great day, and let the light in
