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The Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 has a designation of STM on the lens. What does this mean? What are the advantages of having it and does it replace an older technology?

We have a terminology thread that usually covers these questions but this is not yet addressed in it.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I was just heading over here to ask the same thing myself! Great minds think alike... :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Whitaker
    Jun 7, 2012 at 20:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ I mostly shoot video, will the Sigma 35 1.8 HSM be as quiet as the STM kit lenses (or quiet enough for video?) I would rather get the Sigma and be able to shoot wide open rather than limited by higher apertures with the STM kit lens. \$\endgroup\$
    – user21299
    Jul 26, 2013 at 19:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ @damon James - that would fit better as a new question then a comment on this question. \$\endgroup\$
    – dpollitt
    Jul 26, 2013 at 21:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ @user21907 You're sales person doesn't understand what they're talking about. (Auto) focus in movie mode is a function of the body, not of the lens. STM lenses are better at it, but all my lenses will auto focus in movie mode. \$\endgroup\$
    – Philip Kendall ♦
    Aug 30, 2013 at 13:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ @PhilipKendall See this quesiton. When the STM lenses were first announced, the announcement seemed to say that hybrid AF would only work in video mode with STM lenses. This turned out to not be true, but I can see a salesperson being initially confused (or, still confused). \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Nov 1, 2013 at 16:23

3 Answers 3

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STM stands for Stepper Motor and is a applied to a new range of Canon lenses which feature a new design of focus motors which, along with a new iris mechanism are designed to eliminate (auditory) noise during video recording.

Canon haven't revealed any information about how the new design works but it's probably the same type of motor used in mirrorless camera lenses. It's a more precise version of a regular DC motor but still has the same direct connection to the lens focus group, which means manual focus has to be implemented using a focus-by-wire arrangement whereby moving the focus ring by hand sends a signal to the motor to move the focus group.

In comparison an ultrasonic motor (like Canon's USM) consists of a pair of concentric rings which vibrate at high frequency to rotate back and forth, an arrangement which permits the user to move the focus ring to directly move the lens element, achieving full time manual focus without damaging the motor.

Stepper motors are better at producing smooth, precise incremental movements, such as those required by contrast detect AF, and AF during video. Ultrasonic motors are better at jumping to the right focus point as part of a phase detection system. See What is the practical difference between phase-detect and contrast-based autofocus?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Stepper motors are a specific type of AC servo motor, As such, they're really not a DC motor. Additionally, DC motors can be made as or more precise then a stepper. The functional precision of a servo system is merely a product of the specific implementation, so saying a stepper motor is a "more precise" version of a DC motor is an over-generalization, in addition to being incorrect about the DC part. \$\endgroup\$
    – Fake Name
    Jul 27, 2013 at 9:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ Stepper motors rotate in fixed increments (steps) say 1/8 of a turn or 1/16 of a turn in response to a pulse of current. Steppers can be driven very precisely, in a digital fashion. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kaushik Ghose
    Nov 2, 2013 at 2:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ TL;DR You can use stepper motors as a servo motor in a part of a larger servo system. The term "servo" motor has been polluted by RC model community to refer to one specific type of servo system that's commonly used for controlling models, but that's not the only type of servo motor, or servo system. \$\endgroup\$
    – Fake Name
    Oct 3, 2014 at 22:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ Oh, also, in the great majority of applications, stepper motors are run open-loop, which means they do not have any position feedback mechanism. The only real reason to ever use stepper motors is to avoid the cost of said feedback mechanism (typically an encoder of some sort). Once you have the feedback mechanism and the corresponding control loop to make it work, a brushed servo motor will almost always outperform a stepper motor. \$\endgroup\$
    – Fake Name
    Oct 3, 2014 at 22:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ I cede the point about DC. There is one type of DC motor: the homopolar motor. However, it's largely a scientific oddity, and not used in many practical applications, and no lenses as far as I can tell. The rest are still AC, though, and that very much includes all types of stepper motors. \$\endgroup\$
    – Fake Name
    Oct 4, 2014 at 3:26
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I don't know if Canon is using the term with their own twist, but in normal computer controlled motors, a stepper motor is quite a bit different than a normal electric motor. A stepper turns to one of a fixed number of positions (steps) and does not just turn "on" and spin. Rather, you step to a specific positions, say "clockwise 1/4 turn" and it goes exactly one quarter of a turn and stops. Not 5/16 and not 3/16. 1/4.

This means it is easy for the computer controller to say "go in 7/8 turn" and stay there.

I would not expect that a stepper is "cheaper", rather it is a different solution to a specific kind of problem.

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From what I could find, STM stands for (focus) stepping motor.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I believe the point of the new focusing motor is to reduce vibration conducted through the camera body into the internal microphone. If you have a video-capable DSLR, you'll find that if you make it autofocus while taking video, you'll get a buzzing or rumbling in the audio track. \$\endgroup\$
    – Warren Young
    Jun 7, 2012 at 17:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ That sounds like a very likely explanation. \$\endgroup\$
    – Håkon K. Olafsen
    Jun 7, 2012 at 17:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ Dpreview announcements about the two latest canon lenses say the following "both models feature new stepper motor technology (STM)". So it definitely isn't about USM, seems more like a cheaper alternative optimized for better video recording and should work well with the eos 650D's phase detection AF. \$\endgroup\$
    – Berzemus
    Jun 8, 2012 at 7:46

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