Canon 35mm f/2.8
EF-s IS STM Macro w/LED light
Sample Images Intro Compatibility Specs
Canon 35mm f/2.8 EF-s Macro without included hood (27mm filters, or 49mm with included hood, 6.6 oz./187g, 1:1 reproduction ratio at 0.43'/0.16m close focus, about $350 used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay). bigger.
This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use that or any of these links to my personally-approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Canon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, non-USA, store demo or used lens. Get yours only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.
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Sample Images
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It has great macro abilities, and this lens excels as an all-purpose ultra-sharp normal lens:
Desert Palms, 11 December 2017. Canon SL2, f/11 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 100. bigger or full-resolution file.
Of course it's sharp at f/11, and if you're in perfect focus, just as sharp wide-open at f/2.8:
Desert Palms, 11 December 2017. Canon SL2, f/2.8 at 1/2,000 at Auto ISO 100. bigger or full-resolution file.
Of course very little of this real tree is in focus at f/2.8.
Introduction
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USA Version Performance Compared
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This is a tiny little normal and macro lens that focuses to life-size on the sensor, meaning things as small as 0.6 × 0.9" (15 × 23mm) can fill your image!
This lens is unique in having built-in continuous LED lights; that's the white ring around the front element. You can turn it on or off, or turn on just the left or right side.
Autofocus is fast, and it's completely silent if you're more than a few inches away from the lens.
Focus is entirely electronic. You may turn the manual focus ring at any time with your shutter half-pressed for instant manual-focus override while in autofocus. Slide the AF/MF switch to MF, and it focusses manually any time the meter is on.
The lens has a 27mm thread for the included screw-in metal hood that accepts 49mm filters:
Canon 35mm f/2.8 EF-s Macro with included ES-27 screw-in metal hood that takes 49mm filters. The lens and hood together weigh 7.3 oz. (208g). bigger.
Yes, the hood looks like a Nikon rear cap — but it's not, and it has a hole in it for the lens to peer out.
You can't use the hood at the same time as the LED lights because it covers them.
Included is also a clever cap that works with both 27mm or 49mm threads:
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
New
● Built-in LED continuous lights, powered by the camera's main battery.
Good
● Ultrasharp.
● Makes superb sunstars on brilliant points of light.
● Fast f/2.8 aperture for low-light or soft backgrounds.
●Smooth bokeh.
● Image stabilizer for hand-held shots in low-light.
● Fast focus.
● Silent focus.
● Instant manual focus override - just turn the focus ring.
Bad
● More distortion than most macro lenses, but most cameras correct this automatically.
● Like all short macro lenses, there isn't enough space between the lens and subject to let light in for serious macro use — but the built-in LED may help a little.
● Common in macro lenses, autofocus can get stuck trying to get in or out of the macro range. If this happens, just grab the instant-override focus ring to get it close to the correct focus distance, and then the autofocus system will snap it in.
Missing
● The built in LED continuous lights are a nice touch to see to focus, but they are no substitute for a built-in macro flash which this lens does not have. These LEDs don't make much light for actual shooting.
Canon 35/2.8 Macro showing LED lights. bigger.
Canon 35/2.8 Macro with included ES-27 screw-in metal hood. bigger.
Compatibility
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USA Version Performance Compared
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
This is an APS-C lens, and only works on Canon's APS-C DSLRs.
It won't mount on Canon's full-frame cameras.
It works on Canon's mirrorless EOS-M cameras if you use the EOS-M adapter.
Specifications
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I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
Name
Canon calls this the CANON MACRO LENS EF-S 35mm f/2.8 IS STM.
MACRO: Focuses super close.
EF: Electronic Focus, as all Canon's lenses have been since 1987.
-S: Only fits Canon's APS-C DSLRs.
IS: Image Stabilization.
STM: STepper autofocus Motor.
Optics
Canon 35 2.8 internal construction. Subject on left, image plane on right. Aspherical element and IS shifting element.
10 elements in 6 groups.
1 aspherical element.
Diaphragm
Front, Canon 35/2.8. The LEDs are behind white ring (EF diaphragm not seen). bigger.
7 rounded blades.
Stops down to f/32.
Focal Length
35mm.
When used on Canon's APS-C cameras, it sees the same angle of view as a 55mm lens sees when used on a full-frame or 35mm camera.
See also Crop Factor.
Angle of View
On APS-C:
42.5º diagonal.
36.0º horizontal.
24.3º vertical.
Autofocus
Internal focus.
"Smooth Movie Servo AF with Lead Screw-type STM ensures quiet AF operation."
No external movement as focussed, so no air or dust is sucked in.
Focus Scale
No.
Infinity Focus Stop
No.
Depth of Field Scale
No.
Reproduction Ratio Scale
No.
Infrared Focus Index
No.
Close Focus
0.43 feet (5⅛″ or 0.16 meters).
Working Distance
Working distance is the minimum distance from the front of the lens to the subject.
It's only 1.2 inches (30mm), which is too close to be able to get much light on anything other than with the built-in LED lights.
Maximum Reproduction Ratio
1:1 (1.0 ×).
Image Stabilizer
Rated 4 stops improvement.
Filters
Plastic 27mm (× 0.75mm pitch?) thread on lens.
Metal 49mm filter thread on included ES-27 hood.
Hood
Canon ES-27 screw-in metal hood. bigger.
Back of Canon ES-27 screw-in metal hood. bigger.
Case
Optional LP-1014.
Size
2.74" maximum diameter × 2.20" extension from flange.
69.2mm maximum diameter × 55.8mm extension from flange.
Weight
6.600 oz. (187.15g) actual measured weight, lens only.
Included ES-27 screw-in metal hood: 0.730 oz. (20.7g).
7.330 oz. (207.9g) actual measured weight with hood.
Canon specifies 6.7 oz. (190g) for the lens alone.
Quality
Made in Malaysia.
Announced
06 April 2017.
Promised for
June 2017.
Included
Lens, caps and metal ES-27 hood.
Packaging
Canon 35/2.8 box. bigger.
Canon Model Number
EF-S3528MISSTM.
Canon Product Code
2220C002 (2220C001 in Japan).
JAN Code
4549292-090130.
Price, USA
October 2017
About $350 used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
The price will vary all over the map at Amazon.
November 2017
$349 at Adorama, at Amazon, at B&H and at Crutchfield, November 2017. (55,000 yen list price in Japan.)
April 2017
$349.99 at announcement.
Optional Accessories
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Compatibility Specifications Accessories
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I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
Optional LP-1014 sack.
Getting a Legal USA Version
(applies in USA only)
Top Sample Images Introduction
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USA Version Performance Compared
In the USA, be sure your box has a Canon USA, Inc. warranty card with a serial number that matches the one laser-engraved in black-on-black on the bottom on your lens.
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
If not — or if the serial numbers don't match — you got ripped off with a gray market version from another country. This is why I never buy anyplace other than from my personally approved sources. You just can't take the chance of buying elsewhere, especially at any retail store, because non-USA versions have no warranty in the USA, and you won't even be able to get firmware or service for it — even if you're willing to pay out-of-pocket for it when you need it!
If a gray market version saves you $100 it may be worth it, but for $75 or less I wouldn't risk having no warranty or support.
Always be sure to check your box while you can still return it, or just don't buy from unapproved sources or at retail so you'll be able to have your camera serviced and get free updated firmware as needed.
Get yours from the same places I do and you won't have a problem, but if you take the risk of getting yours elsewhere, be sure to check everything while you still can return it.
Performance
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USA Version Performance Compared
Overall Autofocus Manual Focus Breathing Bokeh
Distortion Ergonomics Falloff Filters
Flare & Ghosts Lateral Color Fringes Macro
Mechanics Sharpness Spherochromatism Sunstars
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
Overall
This little lens is a gem. It works great and is also super-practical as a general-purpose normal lens. Bravo!
Autofocus
Autofocus is fast.
It's instantaneous most of the time, but will take a moment if there is huge change of distance involved.
It will take a moment to zip all the way in or out of the macro range. There is no formal "macro range," just that the internal lens elements have to move farther to focus all the way in or out.
Autofocus may get stuck if the lens is focussed at a distance very different from where it needs to be. If you need to focus 3" in front of the lens and the lens is set to infinity, of course all you see in the finder is one big blur, and that's what the AF system sees and it gives up. No worry, just turn the focus ring as you hold the shutter halfway down to get it to the right range, and then the AF system will fine-tune it from there.
Manual Focus
Manual focus is totally electronic, and also really good.
If the lens is set to AF, hold the shutter halfway down and just turn the focus ring. Easy.
Set the lens to MF and the manual focus system works any time the camera is awake, which is usually for about a minute after you've done anything. If the camera is asleep, just tap something to wake it up.
Focus Breathing
Focus breathing is the image changing size as focused in and out. It's important to cinematographers because it looks funny if the image changes size as focus gets pulled back and forth between actors. If the lens does this, the image "breathes" by growing and contracting slightly as the dialog goes back and forth.
The image from the 35/2.8 macro gets larger as focused more closely.
Bokeh
Bokeh, the feel or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is excellent. Backgrounds won't go that far out of focus unless you're really close, but they are soft:
Davis 6250 weather station, 29 November 2017. bigger or camera-original © file to explore on your computer (mobile devices rarely display full resolution images properly).
As always, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible, shoot at f/2.8 and get as close as possible.
Distortion
It has some moderate barrel distortion at most distances. It has about the same distortion as most zooms, but it's odd to see this much distortion in a macro lens. No worry; most cameras can correct for this automatically which is why I suspect Canon optimized other aspects of this lens' performance rather than distortion, which hasn't been that important since the days of film.
If you don't use in-camera correction, it's simple distortion that's easy to correct fully with Photoshop's lens distortion filter with the factors below.
These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.
Focus distance |
Correction Factor if shot without in-camera correction |
30' (10m) |
+2.50 |
10' (3m) |
+1.00 |
3' (1m) |
+ 1.30 |
1' (0.3m) |
+ 1.50 |
0.3' (0.1m) |
± 0.00 |
© 2017 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Ergonomics
This is an easy lens to hold and use.
The electronic focus ring is at the front. It turns with a single fingertip.
The AF/MF and Stabilizer switches are right under your thumb, and are easy to click. They feel perfect: never in the way, easy to move by feel when you need them, and firm enough never to get knocked accidentally. Bravo!
The light's easy to use, too. Just hold the button to turn it on and off.
Falloff
Falloff would be noticeable at f/2.8 if you go out of your way to disable most camera's automatic Peripheral Illumination Correction, but otherwise most cameras correct any of the falloff.
It's not visible with correction left ON.
Filters, use with
Use 49mm filters with the included metal hood.
There's no need for thin filters, 49mm is oversized.
I'm unsure of the thread pitch of the plastic 27mm threads on the lens itself. You could conceivably use a 27mm filter instead of the hood.
Go ahead and use your standard rotating polarizer and grad filters.
Flare & Ghosts
I didn't see any ghosts or flare.
Lateral Color Fringes
There are no lateral color fringes, even with correction off, so long as you're in perfect focus.
If you're not in perfect focus, spherochromatism will cause color fringes. Spherochromatism is a completely different aberration.
Macro
It gets super-close! It gets so close that the biggest problem is that you'll have a hard time not blocking your own light. The built-in LEDs are helpful, but not if you're shooting a watch with a flat glass face like this, in which case the white blobs on each side are reflections of these LEDs:
Kienzle Flieger Automat 800/2843, 29 November 2017. Shot at f/5.6 with LED light ON, Canon SL2 at 1/50 second hand-held. bigger or camera-original file.
Depth of field with all macro lenses is about zero when shot at macro distances. As you can see, while the watch face is in focus, the hands and date window is not!
1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. bigger or camera-original file. to explore on your computer (mobile devices rarely display full resolution images properly).
The texture is on the watch face. Like most macro lenses, it's ultra sharp.
If this crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 20 × 30" (50 × 75cm).
If this crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 40 × 60" (1 × 1.5 meters).
Mechanical Quality
Rear, Canon 35/2.8. bigger.
This is a plastic-barreled lens, with glass glass and a metal mount.
Hood
Machined solid anodized aluminum alloy.
27mm Filter Threads
Plastic. (metal 49mm threads on hood).
Barrel
All plastic.
Focus Ring
Plastic.
Identity
Printed outside around front of lens and printed on a plastic plate on the barrel.
Internals
Probably mostly plastic.
Moisture Seal at Mount
No.
Mount
Dull chromed metal.
Rear bumper
Rubbery plastic.
Markings
Paint.
Serial Number
Laser engraved in black on bottom of barrel.
Date Code
None found.
Noises When Shaken
Mild to moderate clunking.
Made in
Malaysia.
Sharpness
It's super-sharp from edge-to-edge, even at f/2.8 - but only if it's in perfect focus, which almost nothing is at macro distances. In these hand-held samples, very little is in actual focus at f/2.8.
The only limitation to picture sharpness will be your skill as a photographer. It's very difficult to get sharp macro images because there is zero depth of field Shoot either on a tripod or with flash so you can shoot at f/32 to get the most in focus.
Click any of these for the full-resolution camera-original files:
None of these wood shots is perfectly sharp because I'm hand-holding and the image and subject planes aren't that parallel, but you get the idea: it's sharp edge-to-edge.
Canon's MTF chart at 10 cyc/mm and 30 cyc/mm.
Spherochromatism
Spherochromatism, also called "color bokeh" by laymen, can cause colored fringes on out-of-focus highlights, usually seen as green fringes on backgrounds and magenta fringes on foregrounds with fast, long lenses shot wide open.
It is an advanced form of chromatic aberration in a different dimension than lateral color. Spherochromatism is most commonly seen in fast lenses of moderate focal length when shooting contrasty items at full aperture. It goes away as stopped down.
This 35 28 has a small amount of spherochromatism you can see as green or magenta fringes on the out-of-focus areas:
Kienzle Flieger Automat 800/2843, 29 November 2017. Shot at f/2.8, Canon SL2 at 1/400. bigger or camera-original file.
And here's a crop:
1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. bigger or camera-original file. to explore on your computer (mobile devices rarely display full resolution images properly).
If this crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 20 × 30" (50 × 75cm).
If this crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete image printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 40 × 60" (1 × 1.5 meters).
Sunstars
This Canon 35 2.8 macro makes excellent sunstars on brilliant points of light at most apertures. Click any of these to enlarge:
Click any to enlarge.
Compared
Top Sample Images Introduction
Compatibility Specifications Accessories
USA Version Performance Compared
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
There is no similar macro lens out there; this is the only little 35mm macro lens with a built-in LED light and stabilizer.
The 50mm f/2.8 macro lens is a dinosaur from 1987. Its focal length is a little better for serious macro use, but I'd pass on this ancient 50/2.8 design.
100mm, 100mm IS and 180mm macro lenses are wildly better for serious full-time macro use because they let us get far enough away from our subject so we don't get in the way of our own light, and because they give a much more natural perspective rendering of 3D objects. We have to get so close with this 35mm lens for real macro that we get in our own way, and are so close that many things like jewelry or other products won't appear with a natural perspective.
For general use the Canon 40mm f/2.8 STM is a superb choice that's smaller and less expensive and just as optically superb, but can't focus anywhere near as close and lacks stabilization and the built-in LED light.
Usage
Top Sample Images Introduction
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USA Version Performance Compared
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
How to Shoot Macro
Canon 35/2.8. bigger.
AF/MF
Leave this at AF, Autofocus. Set it to MF, manual focus, only if you want to lock the lens onto manual focus.
STABILIZER
I always leave this on.
LIGHT
Press once to turn on the LEDs. Press again to dim them, and again to turn them off. Read the manual and you ought to be able to get just one side on at a time, too.
The camera's battery powers these.
Recommendations
Top Sample Images Introduction
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USA Version Performance Compared
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).
This is a great lens for many uses. It excels as a general-purpose normal lens with a huge performance envelope that includes super-close focus.
I'd get at least a 100mm macro if I was getting this for serious macro use. Use close-mounted flash (there are special macro brackets) or studio strobes and try to shoot at f/32 to get things in focus at very close distances.
I use a clear (UV) protective filter instead of a cap. I only use a cap when I throw this in my bag, otherwise I leave a clear filter on my lens at all times.
The very best protective filter is the Multicoated Hoya HD 49mm which uses hardened glass and repels dirt and fingerprints.
For less money, the B＋W 49mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated B＋W and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD is the toughest and the best.
Filters last a lifetime, so you may as well get the best. The Hoya HD stays cleaner than the others since it repels oil and dirt.
I'd get my EF-s 35mm Macro IS used at eBay (How to Win at eBay).This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Canon does not seal its boxes in any way, so never buy at retail or any other source not on my personally approved list since you'll have no way of knowing if you're missing accessories, getting a defective, damaged, returned, non-USA, store demo or used lens. I use the stores I do because they ship from secure remote warehouses where no one gets to touch your new camera before you do. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.
Thanks for helping me help you!
Ken Rockwell.
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