The Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens is a highly portable lens with high optical performance and a light weight of 12 oz. (340g). A very practical ultra-wide-angle zoom. The large front lens group minimizes peripheral darkening, and the flare-blocking diaphragm minimizes flare. Also, with lens group 2 being the zoom group, distortion is corrected. (Canon)
The Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM is equivalent to a 32-56mm field of view on a APS-C sensor DSLR like the Canon 40D or Rebel XTi.
Sample Images
Reviews
Although I don’t consider it quite as good optically as the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM Lens or the Canon EF 17-40mm L USM Lens, the Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens performs reasonably well.
It is reasonably sharp wide open and improves slightly when stopped down (narrower aperture selected). Corners are a bit soft wide open. Vignetting is strong at wide open apertures – especially at the widest angle focal lengths.
It´s a true IF lens so the physical length of the lens remains constant and unlike the newer Canon L zooms in this range there´s no moving inner lens tube. The front element does not rotate so using a polarizer remains easily possible. The rubberized zoom control ring operates pretty smooth and reasonably well damped. The focus ring is quite narrow as typical for many consumer grade Canon lenses. The lens features a very fast and virtually silent ring-type USM drive. Full-time manual focusing (FTM) remains possible in one-shot AF mode.
The Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens image sharpness is amazingly good when it is compared to it’s competitors the the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 USM lens and the Canon 17-40mm f/4L USM lens. I found that for the most part the overall image quality when compared side by side was really about a 7 or and 8 out of 10 (considering the L-Series lenses a perfect 10). All-in-all the Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens is an amazing lens for a pretty affordable price. I think you will be more than happy with this addition to your lens collection.
Fred Miranda Forum User Reviews
On a 35mm (or full frame digital for that matter,) this lens is fantastic. 20mm gets a lot of picture in the frame. I can stand just a few feet away from a 15-story building and get the entire picture in the frame. The only hard thing with this lens on a full frame body is that it can be quite difficult composing the right picture- many distractions can come in the frame since the lens is so wide.
Photography Review User Reviews
I believe this lens is too often overlooked as a serious consideration for a wide-angle zoom for the advanced amateur to semi-pro photographer. I have gotten very sharp prints at 9 X 13.5 inches. This lens has the inherent drawbacks of a consumer zoom (flare, distortion, etc) but it can be a very useful tool for general photography. There is surprising little light fall-off at its widest focal length on a film camera. The compact size and light weight are welcome attributes. This lens is a very good performer and an excellent value.
Photographic Community of Malaysia
Basically, the product concept of Canon is quite straight forward:- Portable, easy to use, highly affordable ultra wide-angle lens that couples with some top Canon optical innovations. Suitable applications includes achieve interesting effects with landscape, portrait and travel photography and via changing the camera angle, photographs With a highly effective perspective can be taken. The close focus ability also permits macro photography at a reasonably close-up working range with a full field of view of an wideangle without the need to purchase dedicated Macro lenses. Although it is a completely spherical lens type, but if the lighting condition is favorable, sharp, high-resolution photographs with minimal distortion is possible.
Where to Buy
First off, consider going to your local camera store (and I don’t necessarily mean Wolf Camera at the mall). By going to your local camera store, you’re supporting your community and you just might build a lasting relationship with people you can rely on when you need some help or answers. If you’re buying online, I recommend sticking with Amazon, B&H Photo or Adorama. These three vendors are reliable, trustworthy and generally have the best (legitimate) prices. Additionally, purchasing your gear through these links helps support this site.
[tags]canon, EF, 20-35mm, f/3.5-4.5, USM, lens, review[/tags]