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Canon RF 35mm F1.4L VCM Review | A Polarizing Successor to the 35L II
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Oct 31, 2024
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a deep dive review of Canon's somewhat controversial RF 35mm F1.4L VCM lens. What's the controversy about? | This episode is sponsored by Fioboc. Visit Fioboc.com and use code DUSTIN20 for 20% off everything. | Read the Text Review: https://tinyurl.com/35VCMreview | Visit the Image Gallery: https://tinyurl.com/35VCMpics | Purchase the Canon RF 35mm F1.4L VCM @ Camera Canada https://shrsl.com/4q9xh | B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/4hkRwzo | Adorama https://howl.link/1g33k2l71cvyy | Amazon https://amzn.to/3YnPWEb | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3Yg9x9a | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/40sUADo | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/4hjblad Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.me/cjU0LKdp3LN Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today to give you my review of the Canon RF 35 millimeter F1.4L
0:17
This is a VcM lens. I'll preference this review by saying that I loved the EF 35L Mark 2
0:25
In fact, as the EF lenses slowly left my kit years after I'd switched to mirrorless
0:32
the 35 millimeter was actually the last one that I let go of
0:35
because I just really love that lens so much. We've been surprised, I think all of us
0:41
that it's taken Canon so long to have an RF mount replacement for that lens
0:46
particularly considering that we got the 50mm F1.2L six years ago at this point
0:51
And so I'm surprised that it's taken an additional six years now
0:55
nearly 10 years from the release of the 35L Mark 2 for us to have an RF mount replacement
1:02
This lens, however, has been far more polarizing than what that last EF-35L Mark 2 lens was
1:09
Polarizing for both professional reviewers like myself, but then also, as I have looked through user reviews of the people that have gotten early copies of this lens
1:17
it's really been quite polarizing there as well. So the question is, is this a lens that is worth buying at a price tag of about 1,500
1:25
US dollars. Well, that's what we're here to explore in today's review, right after a word from
1:30
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That's FioBoc.com and use code Dustin 20 for 20% off everything. So let's start by talking about the build and handling because it is in two out of these three major sections that I do
2:33
There are some controversy and all of them, including this one here. Now, on the positive, this is a smaller and lighter lens than the lens that it replaces
2:43
It is in fact 31% lighter, 555 grams versus the 760 grams that was present in the EF lens
2:51
So that is 1.2 pounds and obviously a pretty significant difference. Now, I will note that the Sony GM, 35mm, F1.4, manages to be lighter still at 524 grams
3:04
but that's 31 grams difference. It's somewhat negligible. This lens is also shorter than what the 35L Mark 2 was, 6mm shorter, so it's 76.5 millimeters in diameter or 3 inches
3:17
and it's 99.3 millimeters in overall length. And so it has shrunk a little bit, and we've also moved down from a 72-millimeter filter thread
3:27
to a 67-millimeter front filter thread. A change that I appreciate, obviously, if you're coming from the EF lens and you already have 72-millimeter
3:34
filters, that's not necessarily fantastic. However, 67-millimeter is a far more common filter point, and so I appreciate that
3:43
Interestingly, I'm not quite sure why. They also include a gel filter holder in this package, and so you can cut out very
3:51
very thin rear mount gel filters. I'm not quite sure why you would want to do that
3:56
when you have traditional threaded filters up front. But anyway, it's there and they included that here
4:01
Again, on the positive side, we have great weather sealing. 12 different seal points in the lens
4:06
flooring coating on both the front and the rear element. You're not going to get a prime lens
4:11
35mm prime lens. It has better weather sealing and more professional grade
4:16
than what this lens does here. So overall, that's really fantastic. Now, one of the things that sometimes people get really vexed about that I hope you're not one of them
4:25
is that they'll say, oh, there's something that clunks in this lens as I move it around. Yes, there are
4:30
floating lens elements that are a part of this design, but frankly, I'm surprised that people
4:35
haven't figured out that that's true of a lot of high-end lenses, including, by the way
4:39
the 50-millimeter F1.2L and the RF 85-millimeter F-1.2L both also employed floating elements
4:47
And in fact, floating elements have been around since the 60s, in fact. So it's not anything new
4:52
However, those floating elements are there to allow for better up-close performance
4:57
They have some advantages. But yes, it feels like something moves around a little bit as you shake the lens when it's not powered on
5:03
But when it's attached and powered on, you can do that same motion and you don't feel or hear anything any longer
5:09
And that's because those elements are now energized and they are no longer moving
5:14
It's not a problem. and so those that try to say, well, maybe it's going to affect longevity of the lens
5:19
I'm very skeptical of that, again, because we have had this technology employed for nearly 60 years at this point
5:26
and so far it's not caused any kind of failure rate. So not a big deal
5:30
Don't worry about that. But as noted, that does allow for better up-close performance
5:34
But again, there's a caveat when it comes to that. Minimum focus distance is 28 centimeters here, but maximum magnification is just 0.18 times
5:44
which is actually less than what the EFL Mark 2 was, 0.21 times
5:49
and the Sony GM lens is 0.26 times. So, yes, it does perform well in terms of sharpness and contrast up close
5:56
but the magnification level is actually a little bit of a step back relative to what we had before
6:02
Now, the big area of controversy in the build is going to come with the fact
6:05
that this is the first of their prime lenses to have an aperture ring
6:09
But unfortunately, somewhat typical canon fashion, on RF lenses, the implementation is frankly just a little bit weird
6:19
Unless you have the two most recent camera bodies like the R5 Mark 2 or the R1
6:25
they're the only ones that will allow you to have kind of more typical aperture control
6:30
in that you can use the aperture ring for both stills and video. For every other camera body out there at this point
6:36
this ring right here does absolutely nothing if you're in stills mode. You can rotate it back and forth all day and it will not control aperture for you
6:43
It will only control aperture while recording video for some crazy reason
6:48
And it's clearly more than just some kind of firmware fix because you would think that they would have updated the firmware across these cameras to allow for this because you've had the same problem already in the RF 24 to 105 F2.8L
7:02
And so for whatever reason, they've got this implementation where it is video specific, although that's changing with the most recent camera bodies or so has been rumored at this point
7:12
So that means that unless you're shooting video, you don't have an aperture ring. And to further
7:18
complicate things, most of the time I use Canon's control ring as an aperture ring. I actually like
7:23
having a manual aperture ring And so I use it for that purpose So I have to just continue to control aperture from the control ring But unless you if you have this actually active right now I locked out of it
7:36
Because if you don't lock out of it, once you switch into video mode, now the control ring will not control aperture
7:42
And so you have to go back and forth where you're controlling aperture from the aperture ring. Now, the only option to avoid that is, which I've taken right now on my R5 body
7:50
as I use the iris lock here and I've locked into the automatic mode to where aperture is controlled from within the camera
7:56
which allows me to control aperture from the control ring in both stills and video
8:03
It's just a really convoluted approach. And I'll note that even the aperture iris, it's spring-lock, it's spring-loaded
8:08
So you have to almost hold it down with one hand and then rotate the ring with the other hand
8:13
You can't even really hardly do it as a one-handed operation. It's just odd all around
8:16
Now the aperture ring, if you are using it for video, it is clickless and so you can do smooth aperture racking
8:24
It seems to me like there is very minimal lag in doing that
8:28
And I will also note that obviously there's not detent anywhere. This is clickless, but it does have the markings in the one-third aperture positions
8:37
And so anyway, just be aware of that. Now the aperture iris itself has 11 rounded blades, which is better than the nine blades that were in the EF lens
8:46
It gives you a little bit more rounded specular highlights when the lens is stopped down
8:51
You'll also get a 22-point sun star when you're stopping the lens down and shooting into bright lights
8:58
Now, there's less controversy with the other rings. I've long loved Canon's control ring
9:03
I think that's a great feature and it's well implemented here. The manual focus ring is also good
9:08
It has a nice damping to it. It is a non-linear and so that means it is speed-dependent
9:13
I did note if there's any negative there that I did feel like there was a lot. a little bit of lag between input and actual focus changes
9:20
enough that I saw that difference, not a lot, just a very minimal amount
9:24
But anyway, it was there. Also, this is the first one of their primes that I've reviewed
9:29
Now, I realize I believe that the 135mm F1.8 also had a clickable, programmable button
9:35
custom button on the side. But this is the first of their lenses that I have reviewed that actually has that of their prime lenses
9:41
And so always great to have additional points of control on the lens itself
9:45
Now we have a very deep pedal-shaped lens hood here. Kind of flimsy plastics, but it's fine
9:52
It locks into place. It does have a locking mechanism there. It is quite deep, and as you can see in this comparison with the hood on the Sony 35GM
10:01
it's almost double the thickness of that particular hood. I don't know if it's necessarily needed, but anyway, that's what we have got here
10:08
You also get the typical, like, L-series pouch, you know, that's got kind of the padded bottom
10:13
but not a whole lot of protection value. you. Finish here is very consistent with other L-Series lenses. It's kind of a matte-flocked finish on it
10:22
In my experience, this is a very durable finish, very resistant to any kind of marks. The
10:28
lens would have a similar finish to it and should hold up good with it comes to ballmarking
10:32
or scratches or things like that. It's a good durable finish. I've used L-series lenses for a
10:36
decade, use them regularly and they've held up just fine. So I suspect that this is going to be
10:41
the same. One final thing to note, unlike the RF 35-millimeter F1.8 IS. This lens does not have lens-based stabilization. It's going to be dependent upon
10:51
in-body image stabilization if your camera is so equipped. So let's talk about autofocus. This
10:57
to me, is the one non-controversial area of this lens design. This is the first of their
11:02
lenses to employ a V-CM motor, which stands for voice coil motor. I actually really like VCs
11:08
motors. And in this case, it's actually a combo motor. It's a VCR motor at the rear driving
11:14
the focus group and then there's a nano-USM motor at the front. So we actually have a dual
11:19
focus motor system here, which in some ways reminds me of Sony's approach with their GM lenses
11:25
It's great, however. It is quiet, it's fast, it's smooth. This is probably the best focusing
11:31
prime that they've put out to this point. And certainly I would say preferable to the older USM
11:36
tech that we had in the 50 and 85 millimeter F1.2L lenses. That's kind of a DSLR technology. Well, this
11:44
is really cutting edge. And so the great news is that this is a great focus motor or focus
11:50
arrangement for both stills and video. So it's very, very fast, very quiet, very smooth. You can
11:55
see that focus changes here are basically instantaneous, whether indoors or outdoors, no slow
12:01
down there. Definitely fast enough to keep up with action. And even though this is kind of a complicated
12:05
focus situation with Nala coming through, she kind of blends in really, really well and the
12:10
the environment that's out there right now, but it was still able to track her moving along
12:16
And with a better contrast subject, you'll get better tracking than what you can even see here
12:21
I also found that it worked well in low light situations, just quick, basically instantaneous
12:26
autofocus, even in lower light. I got good portrait results. And yes, the portrait subject is me because I was available
12:34
But all the portrait shots at F1.4 are well focused. It was just grabbing the eye consistently, doing a good
12:40
good result there. Both in shooting in a church situation a little bit further distance
12:46
I got well-focused results. Also shooting in back-lit conditions. I got good focus results
12:51
No problem there. On the video side of things, video AF just really stood out as being
12:56
extra excellent. And this is probably one of the best setups that I've seen for video
13:01
You can see in my focus pools, it's just really nice and steady. There's no steps or pulses
13:07
but also it's not just jumpy, like back and forth. Very nice
13:10
nicely damped and somewhat cinematic back and forth with that. Now, I did see a bit of focus breathing
13:17
there, not a significant amount. And if you, again, if you have one of the newest camera bodies from
13:22
Canon, you do have focus breathing compensation as an option. That's not present on my R5 body
13:27
unfortunately. But you can get that, reduce that even more if you have a camera body that is
13:32
capable of doing that, minimizing a focus breathing. Now, when it came to my hand test, overall
13:38
I felt like it was good. You do have to give a little bit. You do have to give a little bit. bit of patience because this is tuned for smoothness, not just snapping back and forth. And so
13:46
you can see sometimes there's a little bit of delay once I add or remove my hand before focus
13:50
changes. But again, the focus is really nicely damp. And I found out in real world shots that
13:56
focus transitions were good. Again, it's not jumpy, but rather it's a nice smooth transition
14:02
from one focus subject to another. And I really liked the look of those shots. As far as video
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A-F, this is as good a lens as I've used in that regard. So I give it like unreserved high marks when it comes to the auto-focus performance
14:18
Unfortunately, I can't say the same when it comes to the image quality results. Now, I'm going to give you a summary here
14:23
My deep dive breakthrough will follow at the end of the video. It's been somewhat surprising, considering what a big deal it was
14:29
When Canon debuted in 2015, their blue spectrum refractive optics. We call it the blue goo that was in the first 35 L-mark 2
14:38
And that seemed to be a real optical breakthrough that allowed them to really minimize chromatic aberrations and just deliver a, you know, more contrasty, great-looking result
14:48
People fairly universally love the optics in that particular lens. And so I thought at that point when I did that review that this was going to be somewhat commonplace for Canon moving ahead Surprisingly the only lens that at least I aware of maybe it in something else but the only one I aware of is actually the RF 85mm F1
15:06
Another lens that has very low aberrations and it's just a really nicely corrected lens
15:11
Surprisingly, this lens does not. It does have a similar 14 elements in 11 groups, but not quite the same optical design
15:18
We have two extra low dispersion elements, two asphyrical elements, but notably none of those BR optical elements in this design
15:27
You can see from the MTF chart that it looks good, but it's not exceptionally good
15:32
It's not quite as sharp in the center of the frame and midframe
15:36
as what the EFL Mark 2 was. It's also not as good as what the Sony GM lens is
15:41
Now, the first kind of major issue became obvious when I found that in the menu I could not turn off
15:48
the lens distortion correction. It is enabled by default and it is not defeatable
15:55
That can't be a good thing. And I found sure enough that when I looked at raw images with that profile correction turned off
16:02
there is an unbelievably massive amount of barrel distortion, a plus 26 to correct
16:07
Now, of course, I've seen lenses with more barrel distortion than that, but this is just a 35 millimeter prime
16:12
I don't even understand why it would need to have that level of correction
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and much less for that to be left in the lens design. The 35L Mark 2 basically had no distortion
16:23
The Sony GM lens basically no distortion. This lens has a massive amount of barrel distortion
16:29
Very, very surprising. It also has very heavy vignette, a plus 96 to correct
16:34
That's almost maxing out the sliders and lightroom. And, you know, of course, the profile does a good job of correcting things
16:41
but that's not a no penalty correction, particularly when you're shooting at higher ISOs
16:46
If you're having to correct a ton of distortion in vignette, the corners, you are going to have an impact on image quality. And certainly in some of my
16:54
test, I found exactly that. There's additional noise. There can be some color blotches that are
17:01
there. It's unfortunate that in an L-series lens at this point, we would have that amount of
17:07
uncorrected issues there. And to have to rely on electronic corrections is frankly somewhat
17:14
unacceptable in a lens that costs $1,500 U.S. dollars. Now, other areas are better
17:20
There is a little bit of longitudinal chromatic aberration, more so than the 35L Mark 2
17:25
Not a significant amount. I don't think it's going to be any kind of deal breaker. Certainly better than the first 35L lens when it comes to that
17:33
Almost no lateral chromatic aberration is just a tiny, tiny amount. So no big deal there
17:39
Sharpness is exceptionally good. From wide open, I found at F1.4, that sharpness was consistently good all across the frame
17:46
No issues, no complaints there. I found that stopping down to F2 increased contrast a bit, stopping on down to F2.8 a bit more
17:55
At F4, you hit pretty close to maximum optical performance, and it's pretty consistent from F4 to F8
18:03
That's pretty much perfect for landscape use across that range. At F11, you'll start to see a little bit of softening due to diffraction, and of course, a little bit more at the minimum aperture of F16
18:13
So just be aware of that. Now, the bouquet quality is good
18:17
it's not exceptionally good. I love the rendering from the 35L2. I also really like the rendering from the
18:23
Sony 35 GM. I think it's a really great lens. This lens in a lot of direct comparisons that I did to that
18:29
GM lens, the bouquet quality is just not quite as good. There's a little bit more outlining. It's not
18:35
quite as soft or creamy. And so again, I think the bocette quality is just fine. Most people will be happy
18:41
with it, but it's certainly not magical, in my opinion, in the overall rendering there. Colors are, as
18:47
typical for canon glass. They're great. I really love the colors that the lens is producing
18:52
Flair resistance is only so-so. That was one area where I did dock the 35 L-Mark 2
19:00
It just was more flare-prone than what I expected. And I actually had moved from the Canon EF 35-millimeter F2-IS lens
19:09
to the L-S lens, and that was one area where I was disappointed
19:13
because the cheaper lens was actually better in that regard. And that's probably true here as well
19:17
well, it's just a little bit more flare prone than what I would expect with both some
19:21
veiling and some ghosting at large apertures and even more obvious at smaller apertures
19:27
And so kind of a mixed bag in the optical performance overall. So my conclusion is this
19:33
After spending time with this lens and wanting to love it, I'm not surprised that it has
19:38
become a bit polarizing. I don't like it as well as what I did the EF35L Mark 2
19:44
I don't like it as well as I do the Sony 35. GM lens either. Price-wise, obviously, it is significantly cheaper than what the 35L Mark 2 was
19:55
which is a little bit surprising, but Canon has discounted that price anywhere between $3 to $500
20:01
depending on the market. And so at $1,500, I do appreciate that that at least is a better price
20:07
because I don't think the lens is quite as premium. At the same time, that's still $100 more than
20:12
what the GM lens was, and I frankly think that the GM is a better lens. There were some weird decisions
20:16
that were made with this lens. And I don't quite understand some of Canon's engineering philosophy
20:23
when it comes to their premium lenses in the RF space. Kind of leaves me a little bit of head scratching at times
20:30
This is still a very good lens overall. And I think that those that buy it
20:34
will probably end up loving it. They'll appreciate the smaller size, less weight
20:38
a lower price tag, and also the fact that you've got great, great autofocus
20:42
very versatile for both videos and still. At the same time, after all of this weight, it feels like this could have been a better lens
20:52
And that has left me with a little bit of uncertainty when it comes to my feelings about the Canon 35 millimeter F1.4L VCM lens
21:05
Now, if you want more information, you can check out my full text review that is linked in the description down below
21:09
Also linkage there to an image gallery, some buying links if you'd like to purchase one
21:13
And if you would like that deeper dive in the optical performance, Stay tuned with me right now. Let's jump into it together
21:19
Okay, we'll start by taking a look at Vignette and Distortion. Now, when I went to frame this particular image for testing in the camera, this is what I saw as far as my framing
21:30
because as noted previously, you cannot defeat the distortion correction in camera
21:35
When I got the raw file into Lightroom, however, this is what I saw instead
21:40
You can see there's lots of additional space that's left because it's going to be required for electronic correction
21:46
And doing a manual correction, I got this result. So I could, you know, it left a little bit wider with it pretty well corrected
21:53
than what the kind of profile correction does here. So you can see it definitely leaves itself plenty of room for correcting all of that
22:01
So I had to dial in a plus 26 to correct that distortion. Now, to be fair, you can see that it actually corrected pretty well manually
22:09
It's a very linear distortion. So that does help. Vignette is also extremely heavy, a plus 96 to correct for that
22:15
so you can see I've nearly maxed out that slider. So this is the kind of lens
22:19
you're pretty much going to absolutely need correction for So you can see here with the flat wall that here what it looks like before the profile correction Here what it looks like after profile correction again here with interior walls you can see all the bow there
22:35
and so again it needs that correction profile to get those straight lines it would be hard to
22:39
recommend this particular lens for architecture for that reason even for the vignette you can see
22:44
it pretty radically changes the look of an image from the left side to the right side with
22:49
that correction profile enabled and again my biggest challenge when you're talking about relying on electronic correction
22:56
is that that doesn't come without penalty. And so here we can see this is an ISO-6400 shot
23:01
And so, I mean, that part looks fine. But what I wanted to dial in is here
23:05
So you can see the amount of grain that is there where you're not having to rely on those corrections
23:10
If I go right down to this area, you can see just how much rougher that grain pattern is by comparison
23:17
Can coming back to this, you can see the grain here, but over here it is much harsher
23:22
and you can see up in this area of kind of shadow in this area. You can probably see, hopefully on your monitor you can see
23:28
but there is some green and magenta color blotching that is present there
23:32
that's primarily there because it's having to correct a number of additional stops of vignette in the corner
23:38
So rather than ISO 6400 that we've got in the center of the frame, over here, we're probably dealing with something closer to ISO 25,600
23:46
So as noted previously, it's a little weird where Canon already had this great technology
23:50
to eliminate almost all longitudinal chromatic aberrations in their 35 millimeter lens design
23:57
and they just didn't employ it here. And so you can see there is definitely some fringing
24:01
after the plane of focus in this shot. Here you can see on kind of these shiny reflective surfaces
24:07
that definitely not terrible, but some definite green fringing going on here
24:12
And we can also see in this shot that if we punch in here and we look at what should be white here
24:18
You can definitely see some fringing around these white markings on the lens
24:22
And if I put the GM lens side by side, you can just see how that does affect contrast somewhat
24:28
And there's fringing here that's just not present on the GM lens. Now, when it comes to lateral chromatic aberration, it's not like perfect
24:35
I see the tiniest little amounts around the edges, but I don't consider that to be much of an issue at all
24:40
So that's not bad overall. So here's a look at the test chart that we'll be looking at in detail here
24:46
This is on the EOS R5, so 45 megapixels. This is 200% magnification here
24:52
You can see in the center of the frame looks great. Good detail, good contrast, no complaints there
24:58
Mid-frame result also looking very, very good. As we pan down here, I like to look here and here
25:04
Pretty consistent result, only very, very slightly less contrast in that lower corner
25:09
And right here until the very edge, I would say you just start to get a little drop off right towards that corner
25:14
but overall a really consistent sharpness profile across the frame. So realistically, sharpness is never going to be your issue
25:21
So you can see here that for detail and contrast, for portrait work
25:26
I mean, you can't really ask for much more than that. It looks very good
25:29
Here is an F1.4 landscape image, and obviously depth of field is going to be constrained somewhat
25:36
by that very large aperture. But you can see as I go all across the area of focus here
25:42
right off to the very edge, very consistent sharpness and detail, nothing to complain about there at all
25:48
Now, if we stop down to F2, we can see that there is slightly more contrast
25:54
The shadow areas look a little bit darker, and so it makes the lighter areas look a little bit brighter
26:00
So consistently better results there down into the corners. Corners are improved some because we have some natural vignette lift
26:07
but overall, not a lot of additional sharpness, but definitely some additional contrast
26:12
Here's an F2 shot that I think looks pretty pristine here. You can see that the detail is really, really nice
26:20
You can see just those very fine bits of the steam that is accumulated there
26:25
And overall, just a really pure looking image. Not really a significant change from F2.8 to F4
26:31
It looks fantastic there. We'll look a few other spots. You can see here, again, I don't really see a huge difference between those two marks up into this left corner
26:40
Just right off towards the edge, in both cases. is looking really fantastic
26:44
Good centering, as you can see here. Finally, we'll look up in the upper right corner
26:48
You can just see really consistent results there all across, looking great. So real world landscape results are going to look great, as you might imagine
26:56
Here's at F4, and you can see once the textures have popped in, that you can see really, really good
27:02
consistent sharpness all across there, right off to the very edge of the frame
27:06
We go back another layer. Again, good sharpness in detail. And even towards infinity, you can see it's all results
27:12
solving very, very nicely all throughout this image. That's going to stay true through F8
27:18
By the time you get F11, you'll get a very slight softening due to diffraction
27:22
And you can see with F-16 on the side here, it is softer, though it's still quite good
27:28
I think you could probably use this lens at F-16 and still get really good-looking images
27:32
So I noted previously that our maximum magnification is not amazing. However, up-close performance is really quite good
27:39
And you can see here there's good detail and there's good, contrast there. The plane of focus is not perfectly flat, as you can see down here, but considering
27:48
how much distortion there is in the lens, that's really a pretty good up-close performance
27:52
And I found in real-world shots, for example, here, that's a beautiful amount of fine detail
27:57
that's resolved there. And so no complaints in that regard. Another shot here that I like
28:04
you can see even in those kind of little frost crystals along the edge of the leaf. It's nice
28:09
and clean looking. And here the bocette quality looks nice and soft
28:12
Colors I consider to be very good from the lens. And here, again, I think the bocaque quality looks fairly good overall
28:20
In this shot here, contrast and detail look very, very good. That's the real strength of the lens
28:25
A little bit of jitteriness and busyness as we start to transition towards defocus here
28:30
You can also see when it comes to the bocault quality. You're definitely going to get some of that cat eye shape
28:35
Here, stopping down to F2 makes a definite improvement. You can see much more circular shapes as I go back and forth
28:41
and forth. Obviously, you're getting smaller specular highlights, but if your plan is to have a more
28:46
circular one, stop down to F2, and you'll be happier in that regard. Now, again, flare resistance
28:51
kind of surprised me a little bit until I remember that I had similar issues with the 35L mark
28:57
2. So you can see here at a larger Aptor F1.4, definitely some veiling, some ghosting here, some
29:03
overall loss of contrast. Stopping on down, you get a more definite ghosting pattern, which seems to be
29:09
the issue there. Here again, you can. see some pretty obvious ghosting artifacts, which I don't love here
29:16
They're minimized a little bit because I'm blocking some of that flare, but it's still
29:20
present here, as you can see. And this shot here again at large apertures. Now, I actually like this kind of prismatic effect, but there's no question that that also
29:28
shows just that the coatings are not really doing as superb a job as you might want in
29:33
this kind of level of lens. So there you have it. Hopefully the deep dive into the optical performance has helped to answer the questions
29:40
the lingering questions you might have had as to whether or not this is a lens worth adding to your own kit
29:45
As always, thanks for watching. Have a great day and let the light in
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