At last, Canon has released a USM driven 35mm lens with f/2. This is the lens I have been waiting for for years. I have always loved this focal length back in the analog days with my FD system. The old EF 35mm f/2 with a microdrive, however, never had any real appeal to me. And owning a 28mm lens and then later also a zoom (not the best but quite capable) that offered 35mm within its range, I didn’t feel exactly pushed toward buying that old lens. With this brand-new lens the situation has now changed.

With its integrated image stabilization, it is quite a big and expensive lens. Usually, I would wait for a while and hope the price comes down at least a bit from the insane levels where all three of Canon’s new IS USM wide-angle lenses are. Yet, I definitely want to take this lens on my trip to New Zealand, starting next month.

The first impression of this lens is great. The build quality is about the same as that of the EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM, the image quality even better. The vignetting at open apertures is nothing that bothers me – post-processing is one reason, my intended main uses for landscape and architecture where I usually use f/5.6 or smaller is the even more important reason. All other features seem to be close to flawless: sharpness, contrast, chromatic aberrations and distortion. I am really looking forward to using this lens; it might soon become my favourite lens just like its distant cousin in the old FD days was.

Update: I have published a review after having used the lens quite a bit.