Not diggin' the 35L...

I use my 35L a lot more than my 50 or 85. I think on the 5D/5DmkII it is a very good focal length. 24 is to wide, unless I am shooting landscapes.

Cool, so the conclusion is that Perry is insane and that I made a good choice. Good. I feel better

I much prefer shooting with a 50mm 85mm combo than anything with a 35mm. It's all personal preference. Just use what feels right for you, and it sounds like it's the 50mm. Have you considered the sigma 50 1.4? Better than the canon, and at least it doesn't have focus shift.

picturecrazy wrote in post #7066846
I much prefer shooting with a 50mm 85mm combo than anything with a 35mm. It's all personal preference. Just use what feels right for you, and it sounds like it's the 50mm. Have you considered the sigma 50 1.4? Better than the canon, and at least it doesn't have focus shift.

Must be the Edmontonian blood we both have - I used to carry the 28 1.8, 50 1.4, and 85 1.8 around and I hardly ever used the 28 1.8 - the 85 and 50 did almost all of the work and I really did like the combo. I have definitely considered the Sigma, but I don't know if I wanna go down that route since I haven't heard too much about that lens, and the front element is so huge, but it might be an option.

Another thing is I hate having too many lenses since I fly around a lot, so I'm a little averse to just adding another 50mm prime to the bag.

I own and love the 35L, but for a walkaround I prefer 50mm. It really comes down to what you're comfortable with. My search for a really great 50mm AF lens went through 3 50L's, 2 EF 50/1.4's and 2 EX 50/1.4's. At the moment, my EX 50/1.4 is on my 5DmkII and I'm loving it. It has no focus issues that I can't take care of with micro-adjustment. I've been refering to my EX as my EX 50/1.4L (It's REALLY great, does what it's supposed to do, I love it. So far it bests all the 50's I've used. But the only problem is there are aparently many copies that shift/FF and BF at odd FL's so unless you have microadjust I can't reccomend it.
Anyways, back to the 35L, for me, it's much nicer on a 1.3 or 1.6 crop.....But I prefer the 50mm FOV.

I'm with you there, I absolutely adore the 50mm focal length. I really wanna try a 50L now, but if I'm just gonna add another lens to the bag, I might have to go with the 50 1.4 since it's so small and compact, unlike the Sigma and Canon L. If I went either of those routes I think I might have to get rid of the 35L.

I think you're the first person to hate the FL of the 35L on a 5D lol.

I want one so bad, sell it to me =)

I'm just curious why you're not going to return it. If it's going to just sit in your bag, then why take the hit of depreciation on it? You could easily get the 28 1.8 and Sigma 50/Canon 1.4 for the price of the 35L, and the 28 1.8 would be there for when you need it for those full body portrait shots, and you'd have the Sigma or Canon 50 as a walk around

DL.Photography wrote in post #7066928
I think you're the first person to hate the FL of the 35L on a 5D lol.

I don't hate it. I'm just not lovin' it, and for the money, I should be loving it. I think it might be time to re-buy the ol' 50 1.4...I'll deal with the 35L's fate later. Who knows, I might grow to love it, but what I do know is that I really miss 50mm. But it might be pointless to have both 35mm and 50mm given that I have the two bodies. Ack. Such a conundrum.

I love my 35L as well, but find myself grabbing my 50L more b/c it's just a FL that I am more comfy with. (Shift and everything)

As for consistency, well, no contest. 35L all the way. It has none of that shift problem that plagues the 50L!

TaDa wrote in post #7066939
I'm just curious why you're not going to return it. If it's going to just sit in your bag, then why take the hit of depreciation on it? You could easily get the 28 1.8 and Sigma 50/Canon 1.4 for the price of the 35L, and the 28 1.8 would be there for when you need it for those full body portrait shots, and you'd have the Sigma or Canon 50 as a walk around

Because it's a pretty good lens and like I said, I really do like carrying it with the 85L. I don't know - I've been waiting so long for this damn lens that if I return it I might regret it. Maybe I will. Hmm...

Oh and no 28 1.8, I very rarely used that lens (even though when I did I really liked it) - 17-40L did all the work, I rarely need that wide in low light.

nicksan wrote in post #7066943
I love my 35L as well, but find myself grabbing my 50L more b/c it's just a FL that I am more comfy with. (Shift and everything)

As for consistency, well, no contest. 35L all the way. It has none of that shift problem that plagues the 50L!

35, 50, 85, 200 - you likin' that lineup of primes? No redundancy with the two bodies? (I was hoping to hear from you since you also have a 5D + 1.3crop body and the same prime focal lengths).

Might be 50 1.4 time then, I'll settle with having inferior 50mm, 200mm primes, and an inferior 1.3x body to you Nick .

Ok so I've decided that I'm going to do one of two things:

a) Take the 35L back to the store, play with a 50L, if I like it, I will exchange the lens and pay the difference (though they charge a 15% restocking fee ) or just get a refund. OR
b) Buy a used 50 1.4 tomorrow and keep the 35L. I've found a seller, he's a got a hood, the price is good.

This was an interesting read, as I'm currently debating the 35L. At first I thought I would love this FL and had the money all ready to go. Then I decided to test it out so I put my 24-70 at 35mm and shot that for a couple of days. It was ok. I did a little more testing and discovered that if I take one step forward, it turns into 50mm, and one and a half steps back, it turns into a 24mm. In the end, I think I just have to take the plunge and try it out and see how well it works in the real world. It does at times feel a bit wide for me on my 5D2 as well. I tend to favour the 50-85 range.

I was in a similar position to you - I found the 35L to be too wide but I wasn't a huge fan of the 50 1.4. The 50L was perfect for me (and there definitely is a noticeable difference between 50mm and 85mm) - give it a try.