Canon EF 35mm f/2

This lens has seen renewed interest as it becomes pretty close to a normal lens
( 56mm equiv. ) on Canon's smaller sensor DSLRs.
More than acceptable quality wide open & excellent quality at mid apertures makes this fast & relatively cheap lens very attractive to amateur photographers.

I've found this lens invaluable in certain situations when my zoom is just too darn slow ( by two stops ).

Look for a used deal & you won't be disapointed.

Light, fast, cheap & sharp.

Build quality acceptable, nothing more.
Slightly noisy.

EF 50mm f1.8
many zooms.
Various manual focus primes.

Don't know.

Supurb sharpness & colour rendition, very hard to fault this lens optically speaking, build quality leaves a bit to be desired.

wonderful optics

build not great, but not the worse either.

I love this lens and use it whenever I can. When it manages to focus correctly the results are just great. The colors are not comparable to those of the 50/1.4 but I like them as they are. It is small and cheap feeling - but it makes the camera very light and comfortable to handle in comparison to my other lenses. The one problem that bothers me with this lens is the focus hunt in low light. I don't take it anymore to low light situations because I know it will fail, which kind of voids the f/2 advantage. This makes me consider the 35/1.4 seriously as I am otherwise happy with this lens. BTW I'm sure the low light problem can be fixed with a flash or ST-E2 focus assit light. There is also that irritating buzzing sound of the focus engine but I can live with that. In fact just the other day someone told me my camera must be top of the line if it makes such professional sounding noises :-) It can focus very closely and can almost be called a macro despite the short focal length. As a walkaround I find it is the best length for 1.6x crop. I always use it at f/2.8 and above to get a normal DOF and good sharpness, but when used at f/2 results are fine too. Shlomi www.shlomi.net

Sharp, small, light, cheap, perfect focal length, close focusing

Focus hunt, very noisy, slightly washed out colors, hceap feel

I bought this lens to fill the gap I had between my 28mm and 50mm, after I sold my 28-105. Based on my previous experience with the other consumer level primes from Canon I expected more than just a gap filler. I wasn't disappointed. As a compliment to the other primes in this range it functions perfectly, and exceeded my expectations to the point of being my "go to" normal lens over the 50mm. In terms of landscape photography it is essential in achieving the the desired perspective at the moment of truth- when the 28 is too wide and the sun is sinking fast. When you venture out with primes it becomes clear that at those moments it is faster to change lenses than to move- yourself or the scene. I have also enjoyed using it with a flash to take group shots at closer range than the 50, and as an all around performer that stays mounted on the body most of the time. I was lucky to get the hood along with the lens which is great, since it also fits the 28mm 2.8.I would agree (with everyone else) that it is worthwhile to use it all the time. I tend to use it in the "typical" f-stop range used for ladscapes and can say that from 5.6-11 it as every bit as sharp as you want. These fall right in line with the testing I saw on photdoto, which seems to be the place everyone gets their info. Dollar for dollar you won't find a better lens at this focal lenght- not that there is many- but it beats the pants off a zoom in the $ range. Even the construction isn't really as flimsy as you might read, much better than the 50mm II. That goes for all the consumer zooms from Canon, I love 'em all. Makes me content to stay away from the expensive glass.....for now.

light and packable sharp and mostly flare free great cost to performance ratio wide angle negates the need for USM 52mm filters

non USM buzz

Canon 24,28,50II, 28-105, 70-2004L Pentax 28-80 Sigma 100-300

haven't needed it

Nice general purpose wide angle lens. Ideal as primary lens instead of 50mm. Good optical performance even wide open, slightly softer images as expected. Sharpness reaches peak between f/5.6 and f/8 as with other lenses of this type. Flare is well controlled but still recommend the use of a hood. Recommended for available light candid street and travel photography. Represents a very good value and is a 'keeper'.

Consistant results from wide open to closed down. Superior compared to zoom lenses in same optical range. Light weight and small in size. Focusing speed depends on Canon camera body used, but sufficent for most photographic situations where this focal lenght is employed.

Images seems to lack contrast that is necessary to produce the 3-D effect gained by higher end (and much more expensive) optics.

Leica M 35mm 1.4 ASPH

None required for any of my Canon lenses that date back to early sevenities.