Widen Your Horizons.
Written: Nov 08 '03 (Updated Nov 09 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sharp wide angle images, fast and quiet focusing, sturdy construction, minimum barrel distortion at 20mm.
Cons: Lens hood not included.
The Bottom Line: This is a versatile and affordable wide-angle lens, which captures super sharp and vibrant images. Its sturdy construction ensures many years of reliable service in your camera bag.
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| aashok's Full Review: Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens |
After viewing the work of Henri Cartier Bresson, I took Howard’s suggestion to try my hand at street photography in New York city. Street photography usually requires a good wide-angle lens stopped down to a small aperture to increase depth of focus. I know someone who uses a camera body cap with a small hole in the center, to convert his SLR into a pinhole camera with almost infinite depth of focus. Some of his shots are absolutely fantastic. Since a good wide-angle lens was missing from my camera bag, I decided to go shopping.
What is it, and why did I buy it?
While the great ‘grains’ vs ‘pixels’ debate continues, digital SLRs are slowly making their way from professional circles, into the hands of consumers. The new Canon Digital Rebel 300D, is an excellent example of a sub $1000 fully featured digital SLR (including lens). However the most significant drawback to most of them is that their digital image sensors are not full frame (35mm film). The sensor in the Canon 10D and the Rebel 300D are about 40% smaller than a 35mm film frame. Canon acknowledged this weakness by including the EF-S 18-55mm lens with the new digital rebel camera. The advantage of a smaller image sensor is that a 300mm lens performs like a 480mm lens (1.6x magnification factor). However the disadvantage is the severely reduced field of view. This becomes painfully obvious when you are capturing portraits, groups of people or scenery. I decided to bring my 10D with a 50mm lens to the Epinions meet-n-greet in NYC (http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/bigmama/387/id16.htm). Big mistake! I constantly found myself walking backward trying to include everyone in the shot. It was immediately obvious to me that I needed a wide-angle lens.
As I started my comparison shopping, I discovered that there are many types of wide angle lenses available for the Canon EOS platform. Some are fixed focal length lenses such as:
Canon EF 14mm, 15mm, 20mm and 24mm lenses.
Sigma 8mm, 14mm, 15mm, 20mm and 24mm lenses.
While other lenses have variable focal lengths (zoom), such as:
Canon EF 16-35mm, 17-40mm and 20-35mm lenses.
Sigma 12-24mm, 15-30mm, 17-35mm, 20-40mm 24-70mm and 24-175mm lenses.
I had previously purchased a Sigma 28-200mm lens, which consistently produced flat and washed out images. I also found out that Canon does not license their technology or authorize other companies such as Sigma, Tamron or Promaster, to manufacturer Canon compatible lenses. These third party manufacturers basically reverse engineer Canon lens technology in order to produce compatible products under their own brand name. I had also read many complaints where a Sigma lens had caused freeze-ups and error messages on new model Canon SLR cameras. For all these reasons, this time I made a conscious effort to limit my choices to only original Canon lenses. After some analysis of my current shooting needs and my spending budget, I narrowed down the list to the following two lenses:
Canon EF 20mm f2.8 USM and
Canon EF 20-35mm f3.5-4.5 USM.
After test driving both lenses for a day, I found that I preferred the flexibility of a zoom, over the larger f2.8 aperture. So I drove to B&H Photo on 9th Ave and 34th St in NYC, and purchased the EF 20-35mm lens for $329. If you don’t mind spending twice as much, I would recommend the Canon EF 17-40mm f4 L series lens. It has three aspherical lens elements and one UD (ultra low dispersion glass) lens element. It also has a diaphragm that produces an almost circular aperture.
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What’s HOT.
Superb image quality.
The color fidelity under almost all light conditions was right on. Among all the Canon lenses I own, this one consistently produces sharp and vibrant images. Wide angle lenses usually have a tendency to produce dark areas around the edges of a shot. I have not seen this happen with this lens as yet. Barrel distortion which is common to most wide-angle lenses, was minimal but noticeable. The field of view is between 94-63 degrees, which is more than sufficient for my typical usage. If you enjoy capturing really wide angle shots, then you might want to try a fisheye lens instead.
Comfortable size, weight and ergonomics.
The lens measures around 3” long with the lens cap, and weighs about 12oz. When installed on the 10D, I found all the lens functions were easily accessible, and the entire camera assembly was very intuitive. The zoom ring is towards the front and has a wide rubberized grip. It has a 30-degree range of motion between 20mm and 35mm focal lengths. Behind it is the full-time manual focus ring. It has a 120-degree range of motion that locks focus between 13 inches to infinity. And lastly the auto/manual focus switch is located near the camera body. The lens has a bayonet type mount for a lens-hood, and is threaded to accept various types of 77mm filters.
Internal focusing element.
Many lenses focus by moving the front elements in and out of the lens barrel. This prevents the use of polarizing filters and other front mount accessories like close-up lenses. The EF 20-35mm lens has an internal focusing element located behind the diaphragm. This allows for faster focus, shorter minimum focusing distance, smaller overall lens size and the use of polarizing filters.
Full-time manual focus ring.
When set on auto focus, the lens will automatically move the internal focusing elements to achieve focus. However it still allows you to manually fine tune the focus using the focus ring. In my previous three lenses I could not do this. I had to flip the focus mode switch to ‘M’ before I could manually focus. The full time manual focus is great for manually fine tuning the focus while you are shooting. Unlike other lenses, the focus ring does not automatically rotate while the camera is auto focusing.
Rugged construction and metal camera mount.
I use this lens for street photography in NY city. As such it receives more than it’s fair share of bumps and knocks. One day I was changing the lens on the camera and I dropped this lens about 3 feet to the floor. Luckily the wide petal hood took most of the impact. The lens still works perfectly. The metal mount ensures a positive and secure mating with the camera body.
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WHAT’s NOT.
Lens hood is optional.
A wide angle lens has light coming in from various different directions. This is why a petal lens hood must always be used to prevent light from extraneous sources from entering the lens. But for some strange reason, Canon does not include it. I had to purchase it separately for $25. This lens accepts the EW-83II lens hood.
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The BOTTOM LINE.
This wide angle lens has truly taken my digital SLR experience to the next level. It is versatile enough for street photography as well as for regular point-and-shoot work. If you are a photography enthusiast who takes the camera everywhere you go, then you will appreciate the rugged and reliable build quality, in addition to the sharp and vibrant shots. However, if you can afford to spend $650-$900, then I would suggest to skip this lens and buy it’s big brother, the EF 17-40mm f4 L lens.
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Read my reviews on other related products:
Canon EOS 10D
Canon EF50mm f1.8 II lens
Sigma 28-200mm Macro lens
Samyang 650-1300mm Super Telephoto lens
Canon BG-ED3 battery grip.
Recommended:
Yes
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