Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lens review

Popular prime lenses for astrophotography often come in at 24mm or wider to allow for capturing a much wider view of the sky with little ground interest, which makes sense. But when you're incorporating ground elements to act as significant foreground interest, slightly longer focal lengths can be advantageous. This is where 35mm lenses come into play, with the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM offering a versatile focal length for Canon R-Series camera owners.

What's more, 35mm is a popular focal length for landscape, cityscape, portraiture and street photography alongside astrophotography, so this lens has the potential to be something of a workhorse for many photographers. The fast f/1.4 maximum aperture will also be attractive to many for shallow depth-of-field effects and shooting in low light.

The RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM is also a hybrid lens, designed for photography and video capture, sitting alongside the 35mm f/1.4L VCM and the 50mm f/1.4L VCM with identical dimensions and the same 67mm filter thread. The weights do differ slightly, but this does mean that videographers can swap between the three lenses when using a gimbal, with minimal adjustments.

If you're looking for one of the best cameras for astrophotography, check out our guide, where you may just find the perfect companion for the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM. But for now, let's take a closer look at this prime lens to discover whether or not it deserves a spot in your kit bag for capturing the night sky.

Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM: Design

• Simple and compact design
• Excellent build quality
• Weather sealed

Like the other two lenses that make up Canon's hybrid prime lens trio, the RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM offers a simple design that's backed up by excellent build quality and weather sealing. This is, after all, a premium L-Series lens. Prime lenses are also traditionally simple, and this lens is no exception, with just a handful of controls available.

Controls include an AF/MF switch, a Custom Function button and a switch to move the manual aperture between the A setting for camera control and manual use of the stepless aperture ring when shooting video. There's also a lens control ring at the front of the lens in front of the manual focus ring that can be programmed in-camera to adjust some camera settings.

The lens control ring is easy to accidentally turn in the dark when manually focusing on stars, so it's best to leave it inactive for astrophotography. The aperture ring is stepless, so there are no clicks to denote a setting and hold the ring at the desired f-stop. Stepless is a video feature for smooth adjustments, and it's a shame that there isn't a switch to allow for clicked or stepless rotation of the aperture.

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This lens is just 3.01x3.90 in / 76.5x99.3 mm with a weight of 19.58 oz / 555 g, so although it's not the smallest and lightest Canon lens you can buy, it's still fairly compact and lightweight. Plus, as previously mentioned, it has the same dimensions as the other two hybrid prime lenses, with only a slight variance in the weight of each.

The RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM comes with a rear filter holder that's designed for gel filters to be used. This means that to change filters, you have to remove the lens, which is neither convenient nor practical because dust can enter the camera.

Circular and square filters mounted on the front of the lens via the 67mm filter thread are a better option. Rear-mounted filters are only really necessary for lenses with extremely large or bulbous front elements.

Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM: Functionality

• No optical Image Stabilization
• Fast and silent autofocus
• Precise manual focus

Autofocus is incredibly fast and silent thanks to Nano USM combined with Voice Coil Motor (VCM) technology. This is fantastic for general photography but for astrophotography, it's manual focus that's most important for precise focusing on stars. The minimum focusing distance of the lens is 11 in / 28 cm, which is short and opens up creative possibilities depending on the subject you're shooting.

Being a prime lens, the 35mm f/1.4L VCM doesn’t include Optical Image Stabilisation, which is common for these types of lenses. This feature would increase the size of the lens, and since some R-Series cameras offer In-Body Image Stabilization, its absence isn’t a major problem. Plus, for any type of tripod-mounted photography, you shouldn’t use Image Stabilization anyway.

Just like the 24mm f/1.4L VCM, the manual focus ring provides a pleasing level of resistance that allows for fast and precise manual focus. Manual focus is fly-by-wire, so it's not quite as responsive as traditional manual focus, but this approach causes no issues when shooting inanimate or extremely slow-moving subjects.

Of course, stars don’t move, but the rotation of the earth does create the illusion of movement in the sky. But, it's so slow that it doesn’t negatively affect focusing. We've already covered basic features including the Custom Function button, manual aperture ring and the lens control ring, so let's move on to the optical construction of the lens.

The lens is made up of 14 elements in 11 groups, which include two UD and two GMo Aspherical lenses. The aperture is made up of 11 blades. Lens coatings include Super Spectra to eliminate ghosting and ASC coatings maintain color balance across the frame, while the front element is Fluorine-coated to help repel dirt and make cleaning easier.

If you own an APS-C R-Series camera with a 1.6x crop factor, the 35mm f/1.4L VCM will provide an equivalent focal length of 56mm. This is also a useful focal length for the subjects you might shoot with a 35mm lens. Not to mention, you'll be capturing images with more of the central area of the lens which is typically the sharpest part of any lens.

Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM: Performance

• Fantastic sharpness at f/1.4
• Sharpest at f/8
• Reduction in sharpness from f/11

The image quality and characteristics of the lens are extremely similar to the 24mm f/1.4L VCM, possibly practically identical, and we have also reviewed that lens. The 35mm f/1.4L VCM also exhibits excellent sharpness at f/1.4 with the sharpest aperture overall being f/8.

Sharpness increases gradually up to this setting, but diffraction does begin to come into play at f/11 where sharpness drops slightly and continues up to the minimum f/16 aperture, as we find with almost every lens in existence. For astrophotographers typically shooting wide open, sharpness at f/1.4 is naturally one of the most important points of consideration.

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This lens relies heavily on in-camera and in-software lens corrections, with uncorrected images exhibiting barrel distortion and vignetting. The uncorrected results are much better than the 24mm lens, but you still cannot avoid using in-camera corrections when shooting JPEGs and software corrections when shooting in Raw. The main point to make here is that despite the reliance on lens corrections, overall image quality is still great.

Vignetting is strongest at f/1.4, but it's completely removed with lens corrections. All the other aperture settings do suffer from vignetting but this reduces gradually as the lens is stopped down, with f/16 producing the lightest vignette. This may all sound bad, but since fine detail is rendered sharp and the barrel distortion and vignetting are successfully removed, it's not a major issue.

Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM: Price

The Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM costs the same as the Canon RF 24mm f/1.4L VCM in the US at $1499, while UK photographers will have to pay more at £1679. It's a premium L-Series lens, so it was never going to be budget-friendly. It's also a professional lens aimed at photographers and videographers, so the price is to be expected.

In the bo,x you get the lens, a lens hood, front and rear lens caps, a lens case and a rear filter holder. The rear filter holder is designed for gel filters to be positioned on the rear of the lens, but this probably won’t be the most convenient filter attachment method for most photographers for a couple of reasons.

Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM: User reviews

Users are overwhelmingly impressed with the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM. One owner said, 'I love this lens - it amazes me every time I use it', which is incredibly positive. While other users reported that, 'It is beautifully sharp and renders wonderfully'. With feedback as positive as this, it's impossible to ignore the potential of the lens for astrophotography.

How we tested the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM

The Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM was tested during a clear night paired with the Canon EOS R6 Mark II to assess its low-light performance. Additional testing took place in daylight to asses image quality including distortion, which are more effectively viewed in daylight conditions.

Should you buy the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM?

35mm is a popular focal length for astrophotography as well as landscape, cityscape, portraiture and street photography, so this is an incredibly versatile lens with the potential to spend a great deal of time attached to your camera. Image quality is great overall, not perfect, but at f/1.4, it does perform well.

Like the Canon RF 24mm f/1.4 L VCM, this is a hybrid lens designed for both photography and video, and the stepless manual aperture is a fantastic feature for video. Build quality is excellent and weather-sealing makes it an appealing choice for outdoor photographers in need of a fast 35mm prime lens.

If this lens isn't for you

The Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM is the best ultra-wide-angle zoom available for Canon R-Series cameras and is ideal for a range of subjects including landscape, cityscape and astrophotography.

The Canon RF 24mm f/1.4L VCM is a wider-angle version of the 35mm and performs similarly in terms of image quality. The main difference is the wider field of view it produces.

The Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens is a sublime short telephoto with a fast maximum aperture and fantastic image quality. It's not going to be for everyone, but if you need a fast telephoto, this one is the best.

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