Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM – Build and handling

Given the price of this lens, you’d expect exceptional build quality and that’s exactly what you get. In true Canon L-series fashion, the construction and overall finish are sublime, while the size of the lens and its enormous, bulbous front element really make it feel as though you’re holding onto something special.

The space between the zoom ring and focus ring is home to the lens’s focal distance indicator and AF/MF switch, with the latter being positioned off to the side of the barrel and ever so slightly pronounced to make it easier to locate from behind the camera. The zoom and focus rings offer an almost identical level of fluidity as they’re rotated, with the zoom ring operating across its range in just under a quarter of a turn.

To keep the lens protected from knocks and scrapes, the design incorporates a fixed petal-shaped hood that’s made from strengthened moulded plastic. In use, this hood took quite a battering, helping to shield the glass from accidental impacts that could have otherwise resulted in a costly repair bill for the front element. When not in use, the bespoke lens cap adds further protection, but as we’ll come to shortly, a UV filter cannot be fixed to the lens as an extra precautionary measure.

In similar fashion to some of Canon’s other wideangle zooms, the lens’s design accepts rear-insert-type gelatin filters, which can be cut to size and inserted behind the rear lens element. Attaching filters to the front element is not as straightforward, however, with the bulbous front element declining the screw-in type of filter. Regrettably, no filter adapter was available at the time of testing, but Canon has disclosed to AP that they’re in talks with Lee Filters, which one presumes will lead to a filter holder kit being created for the lens. If the filter holder is anything like the SW150 filter holder for Nikon’s 14-24mm lens, it will accept 150 x 150mm and 150 x 170mm filters, but it’s worth bearing in mind that there’s currently no polariser or Big Stopper filter made to these dimensions.