Thirty-five millimetres is arguably the best focal length for street photography on 35mm analog film and full-frame digital cameras. (Except maybe for the 28mm lens.) Canon released the EF 35mm f2 lens in 1990 some three years after the EOS system was launched and it remained in production for 22 years.
Canon released the EF 35mm f2 lens in 1990 some three years after the EOS system was launched. Until 1990 there was no fast wide angle option in the lens lineup and the fastest lens was the 50mm f1.8. The ultra fast wide angle 24mm f1.4L and 35mm f1.4L lenses were released several years later in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
The EF 35mm f2 lens remained in production for 22 years until it was replaced by the EF 35mm f2 USM IS in 2012. There are a lot around but they command higher prices than other early primes because the 35mm focal length becomes 56mm on APS-C, which makes the lens a fast standard lens on crop sensor cameras.
Handling
The EF 35mm f2 lens enjoys the solid construction of the other early prime lenses, the EF 24mm f2.8, the EF 28mm f2.8 and the EF 50mm f1.8. It uses an arc-form drive (AFD) for autofocus, which is fast and accurate though it can audible. The manual focus ring has a slightly gritty mechanical feel and uses a switch to change between AF and MF. It does not offer full-time manual override, that’s a USM thing.
Overall the lens is solid, light weight and compact. Construction is mainly plastic with a metal mount. It has a distance window with depth of field markings and an infrared focus correction point. The front of the lens extends with focus but does not rotate.
I used the lens on a Canon EOS 5D and focus was quick and accurate, there was never any time I needed to switch to manual focus.
Results
The images in the gallery below were all made with the lens mounted to a Canon EOS 5D original. Several were made with the lens wide open (or close to) and these have excellent sharpness both in the centre and to the edge of the frame.
Colour is typical for Canon lenses: very good. The image below of the “REBUILD OUR TAFE” sign demonstrates the shallow depth of field the lens can have wide open and at close distances. Note also the shallow depth of field of the two bicycle riders, and the out of focus tree in the foreground of “Hogans General Store”, all of which were taken at f2.
The raw images from the 5D were processed in Canon Digital Photo Professional which has data for the EF 35mm f2, so corrections for chromatic aberration, distortion and peripheral illumination were applied. Editing was limited to adjusting levels and curves, adding a bit of sharpness, and dodging the sunlit roof and foot path of the “Hogans General Store” photograph. For colour images the saturation was tweaked.
Conclusion
For street photography on both analog film and full frame digital the 35mm focal length is a classic. The EF 35mm f2 shows excellent sharpness from wide open and its compact size and light weight make it easy to carry and less conspicuous than a zoom lens.
The lens is also suitable for other photography like landscape; it could be used for environmental portraiture as well. It could be an excellent prime lens in everybody’s camera bag.