Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM

Rumours are rife that Canon will discontinue this lens sometime this year. That’s a shame, because it works really well for street photography. It bridges the gap between the EF 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens, which is supersmall, but has a focal length that’s a touch on the long side; and the EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM, which is massive in both size and cost. This 35mm f/2 IS USM is quite compact and light, yet has a fairly fast aperture rating, ring-type ultrasonic autofocus, plus four-stop stabilisation. The manual focus ring operates with precision and enables fine adjustments.

Performance

Performance is impressive, with quick and whisper-quiet autofocus, stabilisation that lives up to its 4-stop billing and excellent image quality in all respects. There’s certainly no lack of sharpness and contrast.