Lens review

Canon EF 35 mm f/2.0

11. Summary

Pros:

• great picture resolution in the center and at the edges of the frame starting from f/4.0
• small or medium level of chromatic aberration
• small distortion
• good performance in bright light
• quite fast autofocus

Cons:

• weak picture resolution near open aperture
• large astigmatism
• too large vignetting
• loud and not very effective autofocus

Does this lens give us more than just a good equivalent of a kit lens set up at 35 mm? The answer is positive. Although the difference in the middle of the frame is not that great, at the edges the tested lens reaches much better results than zoom lenses. A better aperture of f/2.0 should be treated, however, as an emergency. Yes, we can take a picture but let’s not expect great results. The autofocus performance makes the situation even worse – its work can spoil a rather good optical performance at closed aperture.

If the lens’s price was higher (even by couple of hundred Polish zloty) and the lens had an effective autofocus with a USM motor and was at least a bit sharper at f/2.0, it could be recommended to every amateur photographer. In this situation it is very unclear and the answer isn’t obvious. It looks like it all depends on the kit lens you have. If it is an EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM or Tamron 17-50 mm, the EF2/35 purchase doesn’t make sense. If we have a lens of weaker aperture than the f/2.8 purchase of the tested Canon seems to be a tempting alternative.

Sample shots:

Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/125 sec, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.7 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/60 sec, ISO 800 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.0 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/100 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.9 MB
Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/250 sec, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.5 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/8000 sec, ISO 200 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.3 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/2000 sec, ISO 200 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.6 MB
Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/3.5, exp. 1/1250 sec, ISO 200 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 3.5 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/500 sec, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.4 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/3.2, exp. 1/2000 sec, ISO 200 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.3 MB
Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/125 sec, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.7 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/2.0, exp. 1/320 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.2 MB	Camera: Canon 20D Parameters: 35 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/80 sec, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3504x2336 pix, 2.4 MB