Canon 35 mm f/2 IS review @ Canon 5D MK3

Canon 35 mm f/2 IS @ f/2, 1/4 sec (no tripod, + IS), 6400 ISO

The built-in image stabilization is effective: The above image is still sharp, thanks to the image stabilization and the excellent signal/noise ratio of the Canon 6D at 6400 ISO. Even though the image was shot well after midnight, with a shutter speed of 1/4 second and without the use of a tripod.

Construction & autofocus

The Canon 35mm f/2 IS lens is very well built. The lens body is made of high quality plastic, which limits the weight to 300 grams. Still it is one and a half times as heavy as the Canon f/2 version from 1990, which does not feature built-in IS. The mount is made of metal. The lens has a window where you can read the distance where the lens is in focus. There is also a depth of field scale engraved onto the lens, but it is of limited use. You can see that at aperture 22 anything between 2 meters and infinity is in focus. But what about apertures larger than f/11?. The scale is of no use there. The AF drive is quiet and fast. Because this lens has a USM motor, you can at any time overrule the AF and use the focus ring to focus manually, without first having the switch the AF off.

New Canon lens cap

From January 2013, all Canon EF lenses come with a redesigned Mark II lens cap. This lens cap has a grip in the middle, instead of at the side. This allows the lens cap to be replaced while using a lens hood. If you already have a Canon lens and often use the lens hood, there’s good news: The new lens caps are also available separately.

Image stabilization

The Canon 35mm 2 IS lens has two switches: AF/MF and IS on/off. There is no switch for panning (horizontal IS only). The Canon 35mm IS lens offers instead intelligent panning: the panning IS mode automatically switches on, when needed. The optical IS offers a 4-stop advantage according to Canon.
Our test results show that with IS, a hand held shot image at a shutter speed of 1/6 second is, thanks to the image stabilization, as sharp as an image shot without IS and a shutter speed of 1/50 second. That is a real life gain of 3 stops. In the field test of this lens on a Canon 650D, we sometimes achieved a gain of 4 stops, when we compared the sharpness of the images visually.

Resolution

The sharpness of the Canon 35mm f/2 lens is high all the way from f/2 to f/11. The main reason why you will stop down this lens, is not for getting a higher resolution, but to play with the background blur and the depth of field. But this also applies to the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 (which we’ve tested on a 20 megapixel Canon 1Dx) and the Canon 24-70 mm f/2.8 MK2.

Canon 35 mm f/2 IS @ f/2, 400 ISO, 1/3200 sec

Review without in-camera correction

This Canon 35 mm 2 IS review has been done using a Canon 5D MK3, for which the camera indicated that no correction data for vignetting and chromatic aberration is available for this lens (yet). Our Imatest measurement results for jpg files, where we did have the lens aberration corrections (vignetting and chromatic aberration) turned on, do correspond with the results of RAW files without lens aberration corrections.

Vignetting

Both at f/2 and f/2.8 the Canon 35mm lens shows visible vignetting, as you can see in this image. Stopping down to f/4 solves this. This could make the choice for a professional 35mm lens more difficult. If you have compare the Canon 35mm f/2 IS with the Canon 24-70 mm f/2.8 MK2 or the old Canon 24-70 mm f/2.8 set at a focal length of 35 mm, then the two zoom lenses win in terms vignetting from the 35mm lens with a fixed focal length. Once a lens aberration correction profile is available, this can be easily corrected in jpg files saved in the camera.

Distortion

When comparing the distortion of the Canon 35mm f/2 with the distortion of the Canon 24-70 mm f/2.8 MK2 or the old Canon 24-70 mm f/2.8 set at a focal length of 35 mm, the 1.5% barrel distortion of this 35 mm lens with a fixed focal length is somewhat disappointing. This distortion is visible in your images containing straight lines. Should it be disturbing, then it is easy to correct the distortion afterwards in photo-editing software.

Bokeh

We have already reviewd a Canon 35mm f/2 IS with a Canon 650D. There we stated that at the same aperture, the bokeh is much nicer if you use this lens in combination with a camera with a full frame sensor, like the Canon 5D MK3. We show the difference here in the image above. The aperture blades are octagonal, what you will see if you set the lens at f/5.6 (right) or at an even smaller aperture. For an even more beautiful bokeh you could use a 35 mm f/1.4 lens.

Flare

Each individual lens element has a Super Spectra coating to reduce flare and ghosts. It is very effective. The Canon 35mm f/2 IS is really a class better than all Canon Canon 24-70 mm or 24-105 mm zoom lenses. Even when a very bright light source shines directly into the lens, you will see virtually no ghosting and the area with reduced contrast around the light source is very small. This lens will shine in concert photography or night photography.

Chromatic aberration

The Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM has a molded glass aspherical lens element at the rear, intended to correct chromatic aberration in the entire optical system That is successful. Even at a 100% magnification visible chromatic aberration is limited, as illustrated in the images below, which show the amount of chromatic aberration in the outmost corners.

Canon 35 mm f/2 IS review Conclusion

Pros

• Good image quality: high resolution, low chromatic aberration
• Effective built-in image stabilization
• Well protected from flare
• Beautiful bokeh
• Fast, accurate AF

Cons

• Vignetting
• 1.5% barrel distortion
• No lens hood