Canon EF 35mm lens

The EF 35 mm lenses are three wide angle prime lenses with EF mount made by Canon Inc.

The Focal lengths at 35 mm or less are considered wide angle, so the focal length of these lenses are at the long end of the wide angle range. 35mm is most commonly used for group portraits, landscapes, and other general purposes. These lenses are the professional choice among many photo journalists as this focal length is very suitable for street photography. On the other hand, they are also popular for photographers who are new to wide angle photography, since this focal length does not distort as much as other wider offerings. 35mm prime lenses are commonly found in the kits of wedding photographers due to their large aperture and rather low distortion characteristics. Large aperture is good for dim light. Low distortion is good for group portraits.

Three EF 35 mm lenses are available. One of these is an L series lens.

f/1.4L USM
f/2
f/2 IS USM

Crop factor

When used with a Canon APS-C (1.6x crop) DSLR camera or APS-H (1.3x crop), the field of view of this lens is similar to a 56mm or 45.5mm on full frame camera. There will be an apparent magnification of approximately 1.6x in the final image (1.3x for an APS-H sensor), since the "cropped" image will fill up the sensor. This is due to the crop factor inherent with APS-C or APS-H (crop) sensor digital SLR cameras.

An example would be taking an image of a rock using two cameras with the same lens. The first camera a 18mp full frame and the second a 18mp APS-C, both shooting the same composition in a stationary position. The first image will be more "wide" while the second image will be more "magnified". After bringing the results into an image editing program and enlarging the first image so that the rock is the same size in both images, one will see that the enlarged image is approximately 160% (1.6x) of the original.

The major advantage to this extra "reach" would be the utilizing of the full sensor space for a cropped image rather than having to crop afterwards, thus utilizing parts of the sensor that would have otherwise been wasted. The major disadvantage would be the lack of change in perspective, since the focal length has not actually changed it will be like shooting with the field of view of a 56mm lens on a full frame sensor while having the perspective of 35mm lens. The resulting image will appear to have a less pleasing background blur and unlike using an actual 56mm lens on a full frame sensor.

Current Canon full-frame cameras are the EOS 6D, EOS 5D Mark III and EOS-1D X. Current Canon APS-C cameras include the EOS 1100D (Rebel T3), EOS 100D (Rebel SL1), EOS 600D (Rebel T3i), EOS 650D (Rebel T4i), EOS 700D (Rebel T5i), EOS 60D, EOS 70D and EOS 7D. Canon no longer produces an APS-H camera; it discontinued the EOS-1D Mark IV, the most recent APS-H model, when the 1D X was introduced.

EF 35 mm f/1.4L USM

The EF 35 mm f/1.4L USM is a professional L series lens. It is constructed with a plastic body and metal mount. The screw-on filter thread at the front is metal. Features of this lens are a wide rubber focus ring that is damped, and a distance window with infrared index. The maximum aperture of f/1.4 gives this lens the ability to create shallow depth of field and smooth bokeh effects. The optical construction of this lens contains 11 lens elements in 9 groups, including one ground and polished aspherical lens element. It uses a rear floating focusing system, powered by a ring type USM motor. Autofocus speed of this lens is very fast, and the front of the lens neither rotates nor extends when focusing.

EF 35 mm f/2

The EF 35 mm f/2 is a consumer level lens. It is constructed with a plastic body and a metal mount. This lens features a distance window with infrared index. The maximum aperture of f/2 gives this lens the ability to create depth of field effects, but not to the same shallowness of the EF 35 mm f/1.4L USM, while its five-blade diaphragm may produce background blur (bokeh) which is less pleasing than that produced by the eight-blade diaphragm of the f/1.4 lens. The optical construction of this lens contains seven lens elements, without any special lens elements. It uses a linear extension focusing system, powered by an AFD motor. Auto focus speed of this lens is moderately fast, but focusing does make some sound. The front of the lens does not rotate when focusing, but does extend.

EF 35 mm f/2 IS USM

The EF 35 mm f/2 is an enthusiast-level lens. Like the original version of the f/2 lens, it has a plastic body and a metal mount, but adds image stabilization. It also has an eight-blade diaphragm with rounded blades, as opposed to the eight non-rounded blades of the f/1.4L lens and the five non-rounded blades of the original f/2 model. This lens features a distance window with infrared index. The optical construction of this lens contains 10 elements in 8 groups, including one molded aspherical element. It uses a ring-type USM motor. The front of the lens neither rotates nor extends when focusing.

Specifications

Attribute	f/1.4L USM	f/2	f/2 IS USM
Image
Image stabilizer	No		Yes
Ultrasonic Motor	Yes	No	Yes
L-series	Yes	No
Diffractive Optics	No
Macro	No
Maximum aperture	1.4	2
Minimum aperture	22
Weight	1.27 lb/580 g	0.46 lb/210 g	0.74 lb/335 g
Maximum diameter	3.1 in/79.0 mm	2.7 in/67.4 mm	3.1 in/77.9 mm
Length	3.4 in/86.0 mm	1.7 in/42.5 mm	2.5 in/62.6 mm
Filter diameter	72 mm	52 mm	67 mm
Horizontal viewing angle	54°
Diagonal viewing angle	63°
Vertical viewing angle	38°
Groups/elements	9/11	5/7	8/10
# of diaphragm blades	8	5	8
Closest focusing distance	1.0 ft/0.3 m	0.8 ft/0.25 m	0.79 ft/0.24 m
Release date	December 1998	October 1990	December 2012
MSRP $	$1479	$320	$600
Street Price $	$1200	$220	$600

References

v t e Canon EF/EF-S/EF-M lenses
EF-S zoom	EF-S 10–18mm EF-S 10–22mm EF-S 15–85mm EF-S 17–55mm EF-S 17–85mm EF-S 18–55mm EF-S 18–135mm EF-S 18–200mm EF-S 55–250mm
Ultra-wide zoom	EF 11–24mm EF 16–35mm EF 17–40mm
Standard zoom	EF 24–70mm EF 24–105mm EF 28–135mm EF 28–300mm
Telephoto zoom	EF 70–200mm EF 70–300mm EF 75–300mm EF 100–400mm EF 200–400mm
Wide-angle prime	EF 14mm EF 20mm EF 24mm EF-S 24mm EF 28mm EF 35mm
Standard prime	EF 50mm
Telephoto prime	EF 85mm EF 100mm EF 135mm EF 200mm
Super telephoto prime	EF 300mm EF 400mm EF 500mm EF 600mm EF 800mm
Distorting lens	EF 8–15mm Fisheye
Tilt-shift	TS-E 17mm TS-E 24mm TS-E 45mm TS-E 50mm TS-E 90mm TS-E 135mm
Macro	EF-M 28mm Macro EF-S 35mm Macro EF 50mm Compact Macro TS-E 50mm MACRO EF-S 60mm Macro MP-E 65mm 1–5x Macro TS-E 90mm Macro EF 100mm Macro TS-E 135mm Macro EF 180mm Macro
EF-M zoom	EF-M 11–22mm EF-M 15–45mm EF-M 18–55mm EF-M 18–150mm EF-M 55–200mm
EF-M prime	EF-M 22mm EF-M 28mm Macro EF-M 32mm
Lens accessories	Extender EF
Discontinued zoom	EF 17–35mm EF 20–35mm EF 22–55mm EF 24–85mm EF 28–70mm EF 28–80mm EF 28–90mm EF 28–105mm EF 28–200mm EF 35–70mm EF 35–80mm EF 35–105mm EF 35–135mm EF 35–350mm EF 38–76mm EF 50–200mm EF 55–200mm EF 70–210mm EF 80–200mm EF 90–300mm EF 100–200mm EF 100–300mm
Discontinued prime	EF 15mm Fisheye EF 40mm EF 135mm with Softfocus EF 1200mm TS-E 45mm