Canon 35mm f2 opinions?

I don't see much talk about this lens, but a 35mm lens seems like it would be about perfect on a crop sensor camera. Does anyone here use this lens, and if so how do you like it? I have the 50mm f/1.8 II and I love the sharpness and the ability to get good shots in low light, but the length is a little long on my 300D for my tastes.

It's a nice lens, and a reasonable price - and on a crop camera gives a nice FOV, very similar to the 50mm 'standard' you get with film and FF cameras.

Read a review HERE

Personally I'd rather spend a little more amd get the sigma 30mm f/1.4 - this works out at 48mm equivalent, and comes with a case and hood, and optically gives the 35mm f/1.4 L a run for the money. I was looking at the 35mm f/2 seriously but the sigma has such a good rep now, having overcome earlier quality control issues, that I decided to the sigma was better value.

come christmas time, it will be mine, my precious.....

If you like fast primes, then anything around 30 - 35mm makes a very useful "walk around" lens. I probably use mine more often than any other lens I have. Irrespective of which you finally choose the Canon f/2 or f/1.4 or the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 I doubt that any of them would disappoint you.

cheers
Bill

I have it and use it a fair amount of time. It's a little soft wide open at F2 (but certainly useable). It's a very sharp lens from F4-F8, which won't help you much indoors. For my uses it's a great lens.

Here is another review:

http://www.photozone.d​e …nses/canon_35_2​/index.htm

Enjoy! Lon

It's very sharp, has excellent color and contrast. It's not USM, so there is some noise when it focusses, but it has never bothered me. This is a 100% crop from a 5D body:

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I used this lens as my main lens for several years. It's compact, light and very sharp. Relatively low-cost. Takes wonderful pictures.

The downsides are the ancient AF - it's slow and buzzy. But don't let this stop you as it's more than usable and really not *that* bad. One thing that's nice is the lens has a really short minimum focusing distance (9" or so) which lets you get near-macro. Throw on a dioptre lens or three and you're there.

On crop cameras (especially 1.6x) it's the most useful focal length around - very close to a "standard 50mm" lens. It was a perfect match to my D30.

Due to its size, it's very stealthy for candid/street photography.

I just love this lens. It's one of Canon's most underrated lenses, IMO. In the sweet spot, it's sharper than many lenses in the lineup.

I like mine a lot and use it almost as often as my 50.

...Mike

Thanks alot for the replies. I have been debating among the 35 f/2, the 28/f2.8 and the Sigma 30 f/1.4 for my next lens.

For the people using the 35 f/2, how is the indoor performance of the lens? I am hoping to use this lens as my primary indoor lens when lighting is troublesome. My 50mm works pretty well in these conditions, but it is just too long to be of much use indoors.

I used the 35f2 for several years and now the 30f1.4. I can't see for the life of me how they are comparable. We're talking about a lens that at f1.4 easily outresolves the Canon at f2.8. Build quality is also far apart, and the Sigma has ring HSM with FTM. Yes the 35f2 is a "good" lens, but in all honesty, it isn't close. Of course, the EX is limited to APS-C...but that's not news.

That's just it - if you don't have EF-S you don't have much of a choice in the 30-35mm range. But like fStopJojo said; the build quality is completely different.

Optically the 35mm f/2.0 is pretty darn good. It's just what the glass comes in that's a little weak.

Nevertheless for the money it's a great lens. As for using it indoors, it's really not bad. While it's certainly not a f/1.4 it gets the job done if you bump the ISO as needed. Dims pubs and restaurants give it trouble and a flash is really necessary - but normal room lighting is doable.

Most of my lenses are f/2.8 - so using f/2.0 certainly helps in my case.

A very good tiny lens. Unfortunately, right now I can not locate more illustrative photos than these below, but at least will give you something. (I think those are unprocessed JPG on MkIIN).

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