Arguably, the 35mm focal length is a lens that renders the human perspective when it comes to the full frame 35mm format. They’re excellent general purposes lenses. The 35mm lens is often wide enough to photograph most subjects and if you need something more narrow and focused then you simply just step forward. The even better news is that there are loads of great options for anyone that is interested in obtaining one of these gems.
Here are seven excellent 35mm lenses from The Phoblographer’s reviews index along with sample images.
Sony Zeiss 35mm f1.4
The review states:
“As far as the Image Quality of this lens goes, you have very little to complain about. The image quality is sharp, saturated, and overall very beautiful. It beats much of the previous lenses that Sony has offered but in many ways also rivals the company’s 55mm f1.4 for their A mount.
It’s much better than the Zeiss 35mm f2 Loxia in terms of image quality–though Zeiss’s seems to be a bit more contrasty. For the most part it also really beats the 35mm f2.8 that Sony announced with the A7 series of camera when they were first introduced. In fact, this has to be one of the best 35mm lenses that we’ve seen in years. We don’t believe that it’s better than Sigma’s 35mm f1.4, but it’s very close.”
Buy Now $1,598: Amazon
Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art
The review states:
“For quite a while, I loved my Canon 35mm f1.4 L USM. But after some time, I started to believe that the company needed to update it with sharper optics. In my opinion though, they’re taking a bit too long and when I used the new 24-70mm f2.8, I was very disappointed. With that said, Sigma offers users not only a better and more affordable option, but one that you’ll end up proudly carrying around with you all the time.
This lens gets our Editor’s Choice award and our highest recommendations for DSLR users.”
Buy Now $899: Amazon
Nikon 35mm f1.8 G
The review states:
“Nikon’s 35mm f1.8 G ED is a lens that won’t excite those us that always reach for higher hanging fruit, but it will surely satisfy the appetites of those that are looking for a fairly affordable 35mm prime lens. Best of all, this lens is designed for full frame cameras as opposed to the last one which was for APS-C DSLRs. The company’s lens is sharp enough for most uses, has fairly good bokeh, color that can be reworked to be even better due to Nikon’s RAW file versatility, and contains focusing motors that really made it a joy to use all around.
As for the build quality, we wish that it were better: but again it isn’t aimed at the higher end audience. And for that we once again think that the lens will make most folks happy.
That’s why we’re awarding Nikon’s 35mm f1.8 an Editor’s Choice award–because it will make most users going for it more than happy and in the right hands it will make clients all over very happy customers.”
Buy Now $529: Amazon
Fujifilm 23mm f1.4
The review states:
“Though the Fujifilm 23mm f1.4 is expensive, could be sharper wide open, and faces off against competitors with better bokeh it is being awarded our Editor’s Choice rating. Why? Overall, it is the most versatile lens that you can use for the Fujifilm X series system and we considering to be the single best lens for Street Photography using mirrorless cameras out there. This is due to the autofocus offering and the clearly readable depth of field scale on the lens when shooting with the zone focusing method.
For what it’s worth, the lens will help you to create beautiful images that you’ll be incredibly proud of. We also believe that it may becomes your everyday lens that you can use to document all of life’s happenings. Indeed, you can use this focal length for food, portraits, candids, etc.”
Buy Now $899: Amazon
Voigtlander 17.5mm f0.95
The review states:
“The color rendition is terrific and one obviously gets what they pay for when they purchase this lens. It tends to change over the apertures though. Wide open, everything will be super saturated and wonderfully creamy and warm. Stop down to f4 and narrower, and things start to become much cooler.”
Buy Now $800: Amazon
Tamron 35mm f1.8 Di VC
The review states:
“One of the strongest points of this lens is the bokeh. The Tamron 35mm f1.8 Di VC is designed with 9 aperture blades and has a very close focusing distance. It can seriously render better bokeh than almost everything we’ve seen except for the Sigma 35mm f1.4 and Sony’s 35mm f1.4.
Bokeh fiends will really appreciate not only the affordable price and the weather sealing, but also the bokeh that they’ll get. It’s easy to get mesmerized and awestruck in what this lens can do when it comes to out of focus areas.”
Buy Now: Amazon
Canon 35mm f2 IS USM
The review states:
“When combined with the Standard color profile on a Canon DSLR, the colors will look very true to life and only a tad more muted. But it’s still a very beautiful film-like look that reminds one of Fujifilm Astia. Thankfully, Canon’s sensors have loads of color depth, so if you want to work with them in post to get more out of the colors, you surely can.”
Buy Now $549: Amazon
