Canon RF 35mm
The perfect partner for the EOS R body
A light lens to partner the EOS R or RP
Following Sony’s lead, Canon and Nikon have both launched some fairly big, heavy lenses that somewhat negate the advantage of a slimline mirrorless camera body. By stark contrast, this 35mm optic measures a mere 74 x 63mm and weighs in at just 305g. It’s small and light, but full of opportunity.
Thirty-five millimetre lenses on full-frame cameras are often regarded as ideal for street photography. Typical of lenses with stepping motor autofocus systems, there are no distance scale or depth of field markings, which are often preferred for manual ‘zone focusing’. However, a distance scale, MF peaking and focus guide options are available in the EOS R’s shooting display, and the fly-by-wire focus ring works brilliantly.
The optical five-stop hybrid image stabiliser works very well indeed – even in handheld close-up shooting. This adds credence to Canon’s decision to stick with optical rather than sensor-shift stabilisation in the EOS R.
As a ‘macro’ lens, the 35mm can focus right down to 17cm, although it only gives a maximum magnification ratio of 0.5x rather than a full 1x. You might also feel that the working distance of just 7cm between the front of the lens and the object you’re shooting is a bit close for comfort.
Performance
The STM autofocus system is quiet but clearly audible in operation. It’s fairly quick for stills and gives typically smooth transitions when shooting video. Image quality is simply superb. It’s super-sharp across the entire image frame, even when shooting wide-open, while bokeh is pleasantly smooth. Some vignetting is noticeable at f/1.8 when uncorrected in-camera, but is significantly reduced even at f/2.