Canon 35mm f2 review

Canon 35mm f2 review

Canon 35mm f2 review

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Specifications

Focal length: 35mm

Minimal focus distance: 25 cm

Max aperture: f2

Weight: 210 gramm

Dimensions:67 x 42mm

Filter size: 52 mm

Construction quality:

Small, light and reasonably built. The focus is not silent but lot quiter than the focus of the Tamron’s 17 50 for example.

Optical quality:

Let’s cut to the cheese: this lens is very sharp at f4-f8, quite sharp at f2.8 and not bad at f2. Contrast is quite good, little better than the Tamron 17 50. Chromatic aberration and distortion is not a problem.

Autofocus performance:

The lens has a traditional micromotor, but good news it is not so loud as the Tamron 17-50’s micromotor for example. Autofocus speed is ok, but nothing to rave about. Autofocus accuracy is good in normal light, perhaps in low light can struggle.

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Field of view

The lens gives very useful field of view on Full frame cameras. Earlier times when some compact cameras was selled with fixed lenses, the 35mm was a usual choice. On Aps-C the field of view a little narrow especially for landscapes. For portraits or street photography perhaps ok. Check before buy if you like it on Aps-C. If you have other zooms lenses perhaps works well. For me the 35mm is more useful than the 50mm because of the little wider perspective.

Sharpness

At optimal apertures(f4-f8) I would say this lens is sharper than the 50mm lenses. Picture parameters are not the same though. Perhaps not all copy is the same as I read many different opinions on the web. Some say this lens has not good contrast, I wouldn’t say that, this is quite good lens, much better than perhaps any of the zooms, except perhaps some very good zooms like the latest Sigmas or Canons.

Price/performance:

Compare to the newer cousins (35 f2 is, or 28 f2.8 is) this lens has a very good price/performance ratio. The compact size makes this lens a very good value, especially on Full frame, but if you can live with this field of view on Aps-C as well. The field of view is quite good on Aps-h sized cameras as well. Wide open not as good as the Nikon 35 f1.8 for example, but the brighter viewfinder image is a good thing thanks to the lens f2 aperture. At f4 the lens is very sharp.

What is it good for ?

On Aps-C bodies perhaps for street photography, see above, or as a general purpose lens, certainly better than the 50/1.8. On Full Frame as general purpose lens can be used almost for everything. Depending on a budget, but seems a price little high, as almost reach the level of the Tamron 17 50 non Vc version which is a better value for Aps-C because of the wider and longer end and versatility. The smaller size, and little weight made this lens very attractive though. If there is a budget as an additional lens is certainly recommended. On Full frame perhaps work as a one lens solution for “hard liners”.

Other reviews for Canon mount

Canon 200mm f/2.8 review
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 review
Soligor 100-400 review