I ordered the lens a few days ago because of the lack of some reviews but there are a lot
of hints that it is a very capable one. Just some remarks about a weekend with this lens:
- Clarity (sharpness / contrast / resolution) of the images is great from f/1.4 on. The lens is very usable wide open. Some LOCA occurs but there are also compromises.
- Close focus/MFD is very helpful to make it a walkaround lens and IQ with f/1.4 is very satisfying
- Out of focus regions and transitions are very natural / unobtrusive.
- Flares/ghosts are possible with the sun in the frame but - and that is great - they are not mirrored around the center point - if the sun is closer to the borders the ghost image is out of the APS-C rectangle and not visible
- Contrast with sun on the outermost lens element is diminished but without strange patterns - just some haziness. I shaded the lens with my hand but a lens hood or some other shading system is a good option
- AF is on the very fast for standard distances but slows down a lot near MFD which doesn't surprise - the precision needed for f/1.4-typical shallow DoF needs a fine stepping (of the STMotor) but a short MFD need a lot of steps!
- The limiter switch (and its functional implementation) is therefore a very good idea. The switch is flat and need some force to be changed but that's good news because switching it accidentally is nearly impossible.
- I haven't observed strong distortions but I haven't done architecture until now.
- Harmonizes well with M50 in terms of (1) size, (2) weight, (3) weight distribution and (4) operation
This a matter of personal preference: I was searching for a 50 mm eqiuv lens for a longer time but was not fine with the offerings for EF mount. I checked all 50mm offerings for my 5D but they are to large / to expensive / IQ isn't what I wanted.
In this case I like the 32mm / 50mm equiv a lot for situations where I want to bring a little bit more onto the photo while usually being tele addicted (the 70-200 aka 112-320 f/4 L IS USM i works very well for me).
BOOTOM LINE:
For me it is a spectacular lens which has premium IQ - a good 50mm equiv allround lens and a great walkaround lens too because of (1) very good IQ from f/1.4 on (what counts on a f/1.4 max. aperture lens), (2) 1:4 max. reproduction ratio fore real close up, (3) compact size / unsuspicous shape, (4) reliable and usually fast AF. The tool I searched for for a long time to replace my FD 1.4 50 S.S.C.
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I am too looking forward to a more systematic review by Neuro!
Now some samples:
DPP / Sharpness 3 / no DLO for EF-M 32 used (not yet found / released) / JPEG @ 75% below
Strips were made to reduce file size do show 25% images due to restrictions for upload file or image size
Camera always M50 with RAW
Some more samples and the 100%-Stripes are available under the URL:
http://www.michaelbockhorst.de/2018/10/canon-ef-m-32-1-4-stm-sample-photos/nggallery/thumbnails
The images in the gallery marked "100%" can be opened as usual by right-clicking the image and do something like "Grafik anzeigen" or "View image" ...
Landscape / IMG_6090 @ f/5.6
Stars / IMG_6194 @ f/1.4
Forest scene / IMG_6249 @ f/1.4