Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens Review

The Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens has been announced, and this review will be completed at a high priority upon its arrival. B&H expects to ship this lens on June 27th. In the meantime, here is information about and expectations for this lens.

Ask a group of photographers what their favorite lens is, and the classic 35mm f/1.4 models will surely rise to near the top of that list. However, nearly 6 years into the Canon RF series, this model remained missing, and certain is that I was not the only one asking for it.

To Canon's credit, the long-available Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens is an outstanding performer and easily adaptable to R-series cameras.

Now, the Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens fills the glaring RF series hole, with its pent-up demand launching it to near the top (initially #4) of the best-selling mirrorless lens list at B&H.

Why the popularity?

The 35mm angle of view and ultra-wide f/1.4 aperture are tremendously useful, and the look of images captured with that combination is highly desired and much loved. This relatively compact lens's "L" nameplate assures optimal build and high performance. The VCM and nano USM AF system promises fast, smooth, and quiet operation. Near the top of the popularity reasons list is the phenomenal image quality this lens is expected to produce.

Focal Length

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Focal length is a primary consideration for lens selection. A specific angle of view is required to get a desired subject framing with the optimal perspective (or from within a working distance limitation).

How popular is the 35mm focal length? A look at how many 35mm prime lenses are currently available at B&H provides a clue to that answer. Hint: the number is much higher than you expected and is perhaps only exceeded by the ubiquitous 50mm models.

Why choose a 35mm lens? That this moderately wide angle of view invites a subject distance that creates a natural perspective and makes the viewer feel present in the image is one reason. This focal length is wide enough to capture the big scene but not so wide that people and other subjects are readily distorted by the close perspective invited by ultra-wide angles. It is often easy to sneaker zoom to the right distance to get the ideal 35mm subject framing.

The 35mm focal length has great general-purpose use, making it an ideal choice to leave on the camera for whatever needs arise. I often press the lens I'm reviewing into the around-the-house, walk-around, general-purpose lens role, and I love it when a 35mm lens is mounted. It works superbly for mounted and ready for use purpose.

Here is a 35mm f/1.4 sample picture captured with a different lens:

For similar reasons, the 35mm focal length has long been a first choice for photojournalists. Wedding photographers, who work in some of the darkest venues, also frequently use wide aperture 35mm lenses. Portrait photographers like the 35mm focal length for full to mid-body portraits and for group portraits. This is a great lens to take for a walk with your friends.

The 35mm angle of view is inviting for street photography, and landscape photographers have plenty of uses for the 35mm focal length.

Sports photographers who can get close to their subjects (such as basketball shot from over or under the net) or want to capture a wider/environmental view of their events appreciate this focal length. The perspective invited by 35mm can make action figures large in the frame.

Parents love 35mm lenses for capturing their indoor events, and most pets will let you get close enough to capture a nice perspective with such a lens. 35mm is popular with videographers, especially for documentary work. Many medium and large products are ideally captured at 35mm.

With the ultra-wide f/1.4 aperture available, the night sky is an inviting subject for this lens, and those photographing the night sky frequently target the Milky Way.

Again, that image was captured with a different 35mm f/1.4 lens, but it clearly illustrates the capability. While the 35mm angle of view is narrower than commonly chosen for this subject, the heart of the Milky Way significantly filling the frame is awesome. Relative to wider focal lengths, 24mm for example, 35mm requires a faster shutter speed to avoid star trails, and it provides a shallower depth of field, increasing the challenge of including in-focus foreground subjects in a starry sky image.

To visualize where 35mm fits among other common focal lengths, I'll borrow a focal length range example from a zoom lens review.

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The full list of 35mm uses is massive and limited only by our imaginations.

On an ASP-C/1.6x sensor format body, the 35mm focal length provides an angle of view similar to a 56mm lens on a full-frame sensor format body. This angle of view is slightly narrower than 50mm and useful for all applications this extremely popular "normal" focal length is used for. Those uses coincide with most uses of the 35mm focal length with slightly tighter framing or slightly longer perspective for the same framing being the difference.

Max Aperture

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This lens's f/1.4 max aperture is nearly as wide as it gets at 35mm, and this wide aperture is a huge advantage.

F/1.4 allows a significant amount of light to reach the imaging sensor. Use that light to enable action (subject and camera) stopping shutter speeds in low light levels while keeping ISO settings and noise levels low. It seems there is always enough light for handholding 35mm at f/1.4.

Another advantage of a wide aperture lens is the background blur it can create. While wide-angle lenses are not able to create the strongest blur, 35mm f/1.4 with a close subject creates a shallow DOF, drawing the viewer's eye to the in-focus subject against a smoothly blurred background. Add artistic capabilities to this lens's list of highly desired features.

The following examples (borrowed from another lens review) show the maximum blur 35mm f/1.4 can create at the respective aperture setting.

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Notice how the background blur at f/1.8 compares to f/2.8 and other apertures?

The background is a significant percentage of many images, and when the background is not complementary to the subject (or even distracting), blurring it away is extremely advantageous. That capability is in this lens's skill set.

If there were no disadvantages to a wide aperture, every lens would have one. A wide aperture requires an increased physical size of the lens elements, which comes with the additional penalties of heavier weight and higher cost. In this case, those downsides are modest, and this lens is compact, lightweight, and relatively affordable.

If you are shooting under a full sun at f/1.4, you will likely need a 1/8000 sec shutter speed at ISO 100 to keep the exposure dark enough. Positive is that there is little action that a 1/8000 sec shutter speed cannot stop, but if the subject has bright or reflective colors, even a 1/8000 sec shutter speed might not be fast enough to avoid blown highlights. Some cameras have an extended ISO setting as low as 50 that can optionally be used in this situation, though dynamic range is usually impacted. Better still is that some cameras have shutter speeds faster than 1/8000 available.

Using a neutral density filter is a good solution to retaining the use of f/1.4 under direct sunlight when the shutter limitation is exceeded, and this is an especially good option for cameras with 1/4000 sec. maximum speeds. Stopping down (narrowing) the aperture is always an option for preventing an image from getting too bright, though stopping down negates the need for the wide f/1.4 aperture, and the subject-isolating shallow depth of field is lost.

As first seen on the Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 L IS USM Z Lens, the RF 35mm F1.4 L Lens has a smoothly integrated step-less manual aperture ring, a feature primarily desired by videographers. With the ring in the A (Auto) position, the camera controls the aperture setting, and all other settings force the aperture to the selected opening. A spring-loaded Iris Lock switch holds the aperture ring in the A setting, avoiding inadvertent changes, or in the manual range, locking out the A option.

Note that an EOS R-series camera model introduced in 2024 or later is required to use the aperture ring for stills.

Image Stabilization

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The 35mm and f/1.4 combination is usually handholdable without resorting to ultra-high ISO settings, and the Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens does not feature optical image stabilization. Omitting the optical stabilization system reduces the size, weight, complexity, and cost. However, image stabilization is a very useful feature, especially when narrow apertures are needed.

Canon addresses that omission with IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilization) in some of their EOS cameras, and this lens has a high 7.0 stop hand-held shake correction rating with the EOS R3. In addition to reducing camera shake, the stabilized imaging sensor provides a still viewfinder image, enabling careful composition. Furthermore, sensor-based AF takes advantage of the stabilized view for improved accuracy.

With no IS switch on the lens, the camera menu must be used to enable or disable IBIS or check the current settings. This extra step is a slight impediment to working quickly, going from tripod mounted to handholding, for example.

Image Quality

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The optical quality expectation for an RF L prime lens, especially one following the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens, is super high. I'm anxious to test the Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens's optical performance in the lab, but in the meantime, we have Canon's theoretical MTF charts to consult.

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The black lines indicate contrast (10 lines/mm), and the blue lines show resolution (30 lines/mm). The solid lines are sagittal, and the dashed lines are meridional. The higher, the better, and that comparison tells a story.

The EF 35 II is optically great. Thus, its performance sets the bar high. In the precise center of the frame, that lens appears to have a tiny (imperceptible) advantage over the RF lens. The RF lens takes the advantage at 5mm into the image circle and holds a considerably bigger advantage in the periphery and corners. Still, the RF's dashed (meridional) line drops slightly in the corner.

The consumer-grade Canon RF 35mm F1.8 IS STM Macro Lens lacks the wide aperture, but it is far less expensive and adds macro capabilities. For the purpose of this discussion, it is Canon's other RF 35mm lens. The results are as expected, with the L lens showing considerably better wide-open-aperture optical performance despite the 2/3 stop wider aperture.

This lens has strong barrel distortion. Canon forces geometric correction in camera (EVF, LCD, JPEG & HEIF images, movies) and in DPP, regardless of the lens corrections settings.

Every lens is a compromise, and reasons for designing a lens with uncorrected geometric distortion include lower cost, smaller size, lighter weight, reduced complexity, and improved correction of aberrations not software correctable. Geometric distortion can be corrected, including in-camera, using software and a correction profile, and once properly corrected, it is no longer a differentiator between lenses. However, the stretching required for correction can affect the final image quality. Base your evaluation on the corrected image quality.

When the diaphragm is narrowed, point light sources will show a sunstar effect (diffraction spikes). Each blade is responsible, via diffraction, for creating two points of the star effect. If the blades are arranged opposite of each other (an even blade count), the points on the stars will equal the blade count as two blades share in creating a single pair of points. The blades of an odd blade count aperture are not opposing, and the result is that each blade creates its own two points. This lens's 11-blade count times two points means 22-point star effects. Generally, the more a lens diaphragm is stopped down, the larger and better shaped the sunstars tend to be, and this lens should produce beautiful 22-point stars.

The design of this lens is illustrated above featuring 2 UD (Ultra-Low Dispersion) glass elements and 2 glass-molded Aspherical elements.

The foreseeable optical design drawback is the strong barrel distortion. Still, optical quality expectations from this lens are high. Expect it to be a great performer.

Focusing

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"VCM" in the name refers to the linear Voice Coil Motor, and the RF 35mm F1.4 L is Canon's first lens to feature a linear VCM. The RF 35 F1.4's 4-element focusing group is among the heaviest in a Canon lens, and the VCM, nearly as powerful as the Ring USM driving large super telephotos, was chosen for its high torque at low speed characteristic to provide the desired starting and stopping power.

It is not unusual for a lens to have multiple motors driving AF, and this lens also features a nano USM motor. A dedicated USM (Ultrasonic Motor), seen at the bottom of the lens, in front of the VCM motor, powers an additional independent lens element for coordinated movement with the main focus group.

The floating element design provides superior close-up optical performance.

Expect this internal-focusing lens's AF to be fast and accurate. As a "hybrid" lens, video AF performance was a key design factor, and this AF system provides the smooth and virtually silent behaviors necessary for high-quality movie recording.

Especially with the f/1.4 aperture, expect outstanding low-light AF capabilities.

VCM requires power to hold its position, so expect to hear a harmless rattle when this lens is not under power.

FTM (Full Time Manual) focusing is supported in AF mode with the camera in One Shot Drive Mode, but the shutter release must be half-pressed for the focus ring to become active. Note that FTM does not work if electronic manual focusing after One Shot AF is disabled in the camera's menu. The lens's switch must be in the "MF" position and the camera meter must be on/awake for conventional manual focusing to be available.

A single customizable control button is provided. With the camera set to continuous focus mode, press the control button to lock focus at the currently selected focus distance, permitting a focus and recompose technique. Or, customize this button to one of numerous other functions using the camera's menu.

The ribbed rubberized focus ring is moderately sized and optimally located just forward of the center.

This lens has a minimum focus distance of 11.0" (280mm), where it generates a modest 0.18x maximum magnification spec.

Model	Min Focus Distance		Max Magnification
Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens	11.0"	(280mm)	0.18x
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens	11.0"	(280mm)	0.21x
Canon RF 35mm F1.8 IS STM Macro Lens	6.7"	(170mm)	0.50x
Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG DN Art Lens	11.8"	(300mm)	0.20x
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Lens	11.8"	(300mm)	0.19x
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens	11.8"	(300mm)	0.19x
Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM Lens	9.8"	(250mm)	0.26x
Sony FE 35mm F1.4 ZA Lens	11.8"	(300mm)	0.18x
Tamron 35mm f/1.4 Di USD Lens	11.8"	(300mm)	0.20x
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Milvus Lens	11.8"	(300mm)	0.22x

Mount an extension tube behind this lens to significantly decrease the minimum focus distance and increase the magnification. As of review time, Canon does not offer RF mount-compatible extension tubes, but third-party options are available.

This lens is not compatible with Canon extenders.

Design & Features

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The red ring and the "L" in the moniker indicate this lens's inclusion in the exclusive Canon L-Series, the company's best-available, professional-grade lens models. These lenses are strongly constructed and ready for the rigors of daily professional use.

Utilizing engineering plastic construction, Canon's small and mid-sized L lenses feature a slightly textured exterior barrel that looks and feels nice. The straight exterior diameter of this design is comfortable to use. The manual focus ring has a ribbed surface with the control ring being strongly knurled for a tactile difference.

The control ring is configurable for fast access to camera settings, including aperture, ISO, and exposure compensation. Note that the control ring is clicked by default, and its clicks are usually audible in camera-based audio recordings. Canon offers a click stop removal service (at a cost).

Canon's AF/MF switches are flush mounted with just enough raised surface area to be easily used, even with gloves. Expect this 2-position switch to snap crisply into position.

As seen installed above, a detachable rear bayonet mount gel filter holder is provided.

This lens features a dust and moisture-resistant design. The front of the lens is sealed, so a filter is not required to complete the sealing

The front lens element has a fluorine coating that repels fingerprints, dust, water, oil, and other contaminants and makes cleaning considerably easier.

While the RF 35 F1.4 is not the absolute lightest lens in its class, it is nearly so.

Model	Weight oz(g)		Dimensions w/o Hood "(mm)		Filter	Year
Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens	31.8	(900)	3.5 x 4.9	(88.5 x 125.7)	82	2019
Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens	19.4	(550)	3.0 x 3.9	(76.5 x 99.3)	67	2024
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens	26.8	(760)	3.2 x 4.2	(80.4 x 105.5)	72	2015
Canon RF 35mm F1.8 IS STM Macro Lens	10.8	(305)	2.9 x 2.5	(74.4 x 62.8)	52	2018
Sigma 35mm f/1.2 DG DN Art Lens	38.5	(1090)	3.5 x 5.4	(87.8 x 136.2)	82	2019
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Lens	22.6	(640)	3.0 x 4.3	(75.5 x 109.5)	67	2021
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens	23.5	(665)	3.0 x 3.7	(77.0 x 94.0)	67	2012
Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM Lens	18.5	(524)	3.0 x 3.8	(76.0 x 96.0)	67	2021
Sony FE 35mm F1.4 ZA Lens	22.2	(630)	3.1 x 4.4	(78.5 x 112.0)	72	2015
Tamron 35mm f/1.4 Di USD Lens	28.8	(815)	3.2 x 4.1	(80.9 x 104.8)	72	2019
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 Milvus Lens	41.3	(1170)	3.3 x 4.9	(84.8 x 124.8)	72	2017

View the complete Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens Specifications using the site's lens specifications tool for many more comparisons.

The RF 35 F1.4 has 67mm front filter threads. 67mm filters are modestly sized and priced and extremely common, enabling effects filter sharing with many other lenses.

As usual for an L lens, the hood is included in the box. This time, it's the EW-73F Lens Hood.

This petal-shaped hood adds significant front element protection from flare-inducing light and physical impact. The petal shape also looks cool, and a functional advantage of this hood shape is easier installation alignment (simply align the small petal to the top), though a round-shaped hood enables the lens to better stand on its hood. The ribbed interior avoids reflections.

Canon also includes a case with their L-series lenses, and the Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens comes with the Canon LP1219 Lens Pouch. While the drawstring pouch protects against scratches and dust, only the bottom is padded against impact.

Price, Value, Compatibility

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The Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens is moderately expensive. This price compared to its predecessor's high price alone sends the RF into great value territory. The RF lens's additional advantages should make it a great seller.

As an "RF" lens, the Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens is compatible with all Canon EOS R-series cameras, including full-frame and APS-C models. Full-frame imaging sensor models will automatically switch into APS-C mode when an RF-S lens is mounted. Canon USA provides a 1-year limited warranty.

Alternatives

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While an RF 35mm f/1.4 lens was expected long before this one arrived, Canon had another high-performing option in their easily adaptable EF lineup, the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens

Overall, the RF lens is expected to have superior image quality to the 9-year-older EF lens. The EF lens will have considerably less barrel distortion.

The Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM vs. EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens comparison shows the RF lens an impressive 7.4 oz (210g) lighter and modestly smaller. Also smaller are the RF lens's filter threads, 67mm vs. 72mm. The RF lens has a detachable rear filter holder.

The RF lens has 11 aperture blades vs. 9, keeping stopped-down out-of-focus highlights round and maintaining overall smooth bokeh. It also has an aperture ring, control ring, and lens function button to its advantage. The RF lens has VCM and USM AF motors (far better for video) vs. Ring USM, but the EF lens has a slightly higher maximum magnification of 0.21x vs. 0.18x. Making the decision easy is the RF lens's much lower price.

Use the site's tools to create additional comparisons.

Summary

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The Canon RF 35mm F1.4 L VCM Lens brings the highly desired, high-utility 35mm angle of view and ultra-wide f/1.4 aperture combination to Canon's RF mirrorless camera lens lineup. This long-desired lens brings nearly a decade of technological improvement to the EF 35mm F1.4 II, itself a highly regarded, high-performing lens.

Expect this lens to remain extremely popular throughout its lifetime.

Canon indicated that this lens is the first in a series of hybrid fixed-focal-length lenses. Watch for models with other favorite focal length and aperture combinations such as an RF 24mm F1.4 L and 50mm F1.4 L to be announced soon after this lens.