UPDATE: Cameta Camera on Amazon has some cool pancake bundles (15 items available for each kit – act quickly):

• EF 40mm f/2.8 STM + 3 (UV/FLD/CPL) Filters + Hood + Cleaning Kit for EOS 60D, 7D, 5D Mark II III, Rebel T3, T3i, T4i DSLRs $214.95 (click here)
• EF 40mm f/2.8 STM + 3 (UV/FLD/CPL) Filters + Hood + Tripod + Accessory Kit for  EOS 60D, 7D, 5D Mark II III, Rebel T3, T3i, T4i DSLRs for $224.95 (click here)
• EF 40mm f/2.8 STM + Canon 62″ Tripod + 3 (UV/FLD/CPL) Filters + Hood + Accessory Kit for  EOS 60D, 7D, 5D Mark II III, Rebel T3, T3i, T4i DSLRs for $259.95 (click here)
• EF 40mm f/2.8 STM + UV Filter + Hood + Cleaning Kit for EOS 60D, 7D, 5D Mark II III, Rebel T3, T3i, T4i DSLRs for $209.95 (click here)
• EF 40mm f/2.8 STM + 3 (UV/FLD/CPL) Filters + Hood + Backpack + Accessory Kit for EOS 60D, 7D, 5D Mark II III, Rebel T3, T3i, T4i DSLRs for $249.95 (click here)
• EF 40mm f/2.8 STM + Canon 2400 Case + 3 (UV/FLD/CPL) Filters + Hood + Tripod + Accessory Kit for EOS 60D, 7D, 5D Mark II III, Rebel T3, T3i, T4i DSLRs for $259.95 (click here)

Another review of what seems to be Canon’s most exciting new gear of the year (at least so far), the nifty EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake ($199, click here). This is not the first pancake review I feature here on CanonWatch, but it is one more (professional made) review that points out how much high quality glass you get for $199. This time photozone.de had the pancake under its finger and provides a comprehensive review of the lens. If you are still wondering if you should get the 40mm pancake, then this may be the definitive review for you. I am always a little bit surprised that all the reviews are praising the good build quality (“on a very high level” – don’t forget it’s a $199 lens). From the conclusion:

[the 40mm] is just too cute […]. Other than that it has also several hard arguments on its side. The optical performance is certainly very impressive. […] bitingly sharp center but even the border and corner quality is on a very high level straight from f/2.8. The very low amount of lateral CAs contributes to the very high sharpness perception and the barrel distortion is nothing to worry about either. The lens produces some light falloff at max. aperture but this is nothing unheard of on full format cameras anyway and stopping down helps[…] Bokeh fringing is generally a non-issue. The EF 40mm f/2.8 STM suffers a bit from a focus shift when stopping down (residual spherical aberration). In very shallow depth-of-field situation (thus at close focus distances) this may be noticeable because DSLRs take AF readings at max. aperture only so the guidance for the other aperture settings can be very slightly off.

EF 40mm f/2.8 STM availability and price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Roger Cicala at lensrental.com tested the brand new EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens (he tested eight copies of the lens.) The impressions are more than positive, and in the title of the post, Roger is asking “how did they do that?“. Imatest MTF 50 was used to test the lens.

My first impression was the build quality was better than I expected. It has a metal mount, not plastic. The aperture blades appear more curved than most of the Canon 7 blade aperture rings, making a more circular opening. The little STM motor is not silent, but it’s pretty quiet.

The (very good) results were consistent over all tested copies, showing that Canon is able to produce such a high quality yet affordable lens in batch. The conclusion of the test says it all:

Overall, though, I’m extremely impressed. I’d be impressed if a lens this size and price was just decent, but this one is excellent. I might as well go ahead and get in trouble with the business manager: if you think you want this lens, just go ahead and buy it. At this price, unless some of the more thorough reviewers find something I missed on this quick overview, you can’t go wrong.

The EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake can be bought for $199, and it is in stock at Adorama (click here), B&H (click here) and Amazon US (click here). DigitalRev (click here) also has the pancake in stock. Note: due to high request there may be shipping delays, and the lens may soon be temporary out of stock.

[via dpreview]

World-wide EF 40mm f/2.8 STM availability and price check:

America: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA
Europe & UK: Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon IT, Canon IT, WEX Photographic, Canon FR, Canon UK, Canon DE