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The L-series professional f/1.4 wide-angle lens comes with an aspherical lens element to correct aberrations. The floating system enables high picture quality to be obtained over the entire focusing range. Autofocusing is quick and quiet with rear focusing and ring USM. Full-time manual focusing is also possible.
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Technical Details
- EF mount; wide-angle lens- Inner focusing; floating system; aspherical lens; full-time manual focus
- 35mm focal length
- f/1.4 maximum aperture
- Ring-type UltraSonic Motor (USM)
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By S. Li (Lehi, Utah)
Got this lens from Adorama. It's super sharp at even f1.4, IQ is also superb in terms of contrast and color saturation. I use this almost for everything, landscape, portrait. Have not unmounted it from my 5d2 yet since I got it. I use to have a 50mm f/1.4 and it's very soft wide open, although I know it's not a fair comparison against 35L.
By Y. L. Machinsky (Seattle)
This EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM has one remarkable feature that is not widely reviewed.
Recently I had an opportunity to compare (thanks to Glazer's Camera in Seattle) this lens to other prime from Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM which is roughly thousand dollars cheaper than 35mm L lens.
Canon's 50mm f/1.4 is a 20+ year's old proven technology in new EF package. Let us set aside the difference of 35mm vs. 50mm.
Is there a reason to spend around $1,400 for EF 35mm f/1.4L USM?
You can have "non L" 35mm lens or EF 50mm f/1.4 USM for $400.
The short answer is. I do not have 50mm lens anymore.
The reasons are:
1. Both lenses are sharp. Just forget all the zooms. Zooms are convenient, but have much more glass elements in the path. Honestly, that 50mm prime was even sharper in a pristine way. It has fewer elements in the path. But for some reason sharpness was not as consistent. Maybe L lens has better autofocus motor. L lens is heavy as well, so "Ease of use" attribute has four stars.
2. The main reason I do not have 50mm lens and kept EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM is;
There is something about consistency in picture quality when working with
EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM lens. And this is not about sharpness alone.
Here are some problems with EF 50mm f/1.4 USM.
This lens has somewhat shallow light latitude. When the light is on the low side, colors of the faces tend to be more reddish. (Too much work on Photoshop to fix 200+ pictures).
When there was too much light, my highlights were blown really fast. (White, white spots on faces). With film that was not a problem; film could handle light overloads better, but digital sensors have less tolerance to those extremes.
To my surprise EF 35mm f/1.4 L USM did not have that problem. Colors of the faces were consistent throughout several stops. I am talking about using the same camera body and all settings auto. Go figure.
By Laplace Transform (Baltimore)
Awesome lens, 'nuff said. You'll know when you're ready for it, and when you are, just buy the damn thing and stop thinking about it.
By Neurasthenic (New York City, New York)
I expect many people buy this as a "L" equivalent to a 50mm lens on a camera with an APS-C sensor. However, I use it with a full frame digital camera or with 35mm film, and for me, this is one of Canon's essential primes. Together with their 135mm f2L, and a good 50mm lens, the 35mm f1.4L completes the kit. The angle is sometimes too wide for good coverage with a single flash, and I almost never use more elaborate lighting setups, so I am typically left using this lens in natural light. It is best in those cases where you can get relatively close to the subject (else the background becomes overwhelming). As with all L lenses, it feels solid and produces excellent results. The crispness of the image all the way to the corner of the frame allows me to compose an image however I like without worrying much about optical 'sweet spots' in the lens.
I have also photographed urban settings with this lens -- Times Square at night; the ruins of the Renaissance ballroom at dusk. Such photos don't drive my photography but I take them sometimes for context or because an image strikes me, and this lens handles them beautifully.
By Hidenori Inagaki
I have this lens for very long time, and it is still one of the most frequently used L Prime for my assignment.
Indeed, this lens has been very popular among commercial photographer who are doing full body portrait, in the particular market, this lens is often considered as premier portrait lens.
I will not go into the wisdom of using 35mm as a portrait lens since it is really up to the judgment of individual photographer.
In general, there are two type of people using this lens for professional purpose.
Former is people who are shooting architecture/landscape and latter is people shooting portrait.
While I do not use this lens much for commercial landscape photography purpose, I used this lens a lot for commercial portrait purpose.
For the particular type of model...very often female model, I often do the model interview with this lens alone to determine how well this model will work with my project.
This lens works really well with particular type of model. And since I worked with Far East market frequently on commercial/magazine assignment, this type of lens work out very well and indeed became workhorse of my production.
You have to be mindful, 35mm focal length is bit tricky to do portrait. So, you have to be careful with type of model you are using.
It is also very useful for low available light situation, so I see some wedding photographer used them.
Some of events photographer also love to use this for similar reason, and it seemed to work well with capturing child etc.
However, I only see limited satisfied amateur user of this lens... while I am teaching photography lesson.
It is may be because it makes very little economic sense for amateur user who are shooting landscape or family portrait.
This 35mm lens focal length are well covered by many reputable L zoom lens including 16-35, 17-40, 24-105, 24-70 and other. All of them are excellent L lens, and will do wonder for the most of landscape or portrait project. Zoom lens actually makes better economic argument in many occasion.
As far as difference from L zoom lens concern, you won't notice much until you started to enlarge to considerable size.
To be honest, not all of my 35mm focal length shoot on commercial assignment used this prime lens either... and that is even for the people who shoot staged subject in studio. So, you can guess how often prime lens is used for journalistic type of photography.
So, be sure you need this particular lens or you will be disappointed.
Faster Aperture alone normally won't justify this lens.
But if you know you need this lens, and your assignment or project demand this lens. Why wait.
You really have to look at its performance when it is stop down to f2.8~f4 where many of money shot using this lens are created.
For people who are not sure about taking plunge to the L prime lens, I strongly suggest to rent this lens for a week or more, so you will be sure you needed this lens for your particular style.
Major Advantage are:
1. F1.4 Aperture really help for low available light portrait situation, and ideal for indoor use.
2. Very nice portrait lens for particular type of production.
3. Work wonderfully on both full size sensor camera as well as 1.6x body.
4. Build quality is excellent
5. Very sharp, sharp enough to convince you that your L lens prime is worth the price. Very useful for spread or any other large assignment.
Major Disadvantage are:
1.Cost as much as L zoom lens that does not sit well for many people.
2.Prime lens is inherently limited as a workaround lens, so I wold go for L zoom lens if I have to choose lens on the travel.
3.35mm is not going to work well with particular type of people as head portrait lens, so if you are going to buy your first L prime lens for portrait purpose, it is might be safer to buy 50/f1.2 or 85/f1.2
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Buy Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM Wide Angle Lens for Canon SLR Cameras Now
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