In summary
This new series of f/1.4L VCM lenses was developed with high-end cinema video in mind, although they can also be used for shooting stills.
Features that make the RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lens well-suited to video work include the dedicated iris ring which lacks click stops, the 11-bladed diaphragm, which creates soft, cinematic bokeh and the dual AF motors, which are optimised for video and provide fast and quiet performance.
It’s not stabilised, although it does have weather-resistant sealing distributed throughout the barrel to exclude moisture and dust. In terms of build quality, the RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lives up to L-series standards and is priced accordingly for professional users.
Full review
Announced on 5 June 2024, the RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lens is Canon’s smallest and lightest model in its class and was the first model released in what is now a line of four ‘hybrid’ lenses designed for use on both EOS and Cinema EOS cameras with RF mounts. According to Canon, a 35mm lens encompasses a ‘natural human angle of vision’ when used on full-frame cameras and a 56mm equivalent focal length on cameras with APS-C sensors. The fast f/1.4 maximum aperture gives users depth-of-field control for separating subjects from potentially distracting backgrounds. It also produces attractive bokeh effects. We reviewed the lens on a Canon EOS R5 II camera body.
Angled view of the RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lens without the bundled lens hood. (Source: Canon.)
The optical design of the lens contains 14 elements in 11 groups and includes two ultra-low dispersion (UD) elements to minimise chromatic aberration and two aspherical elements for edge-to-edge sharpness. Air Sphere Coating (ASC) and Super Spectra Coating have been applied to various elements to reduce ghosting and flare and a fluorine coating on the front element repels moisture and dust and makes the lens easy to keep clean.
The 11-bladed iris diaphragm is manually adjustable via a dedicated ring, enabling users to create soft, cinematic bokeh effects at wide aperture settings. The lens resists focus breathing, enabling smooth focus pulls and the focus ring can be used full-time thanks to manual override
This lens is the first Canon RF lens to feature autofocusing driven by combining a VCM (Voice Coil Motor) with a Nano USM and including electronic floating focus control. Note: According to Canon, the VCM in the lens emits a low-level magnetic field that could affect implanted pacemakers or other medical devices. The lens also sports an iris ring for continuous, smooth manual aperture adjustment when shooting movies.
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This illustration shows the structure of the electronic focus control mechanism in which a VCM (Voice Coil Motor) does the heavy lifting of moving the focusing lens group while the compact, energy-saving Nano USM adjusts the lightweight floating lens to fine-tune the focus. (Source: Canon.)
The lens is supplied with front and end caps plus an EW-73F lens hood, which is petal-shaped and has a locking button. A soft drawstring pouch is also provided. Note: this review should be read in conjunction with the review of the RF 50mm f/1.4L VCM lens since both lenses are almost identical in structure and functionality.
Who’s it For?
This new series of f/1.4L VCM lenses was developed with high-end cinema video in mind, although it can also be used for shooting stills. Features that make it well-suited to video work include the dedicated iris ring which lacks click stops, the 11-bladed diaphragm, which creates soft, cinematic bokeh and the dual AF motors, which are optimised for video and provide fast and quiet performance.
It’s not stabilised, although it does have weather-resistant sealing distributed throughout the barrel to exclude moisture and dust. In terms of build quality, the RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lives up to L-series standards and is priced accordingly for professional users.
For those seeking alternatives, Canon also offers the RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM AF lens with an RRP of AU$839 and the RF 14-35mm f/4L IS USM zoom lens (RRP AU$2399), both of which are stabilised. The table below compares key features of these lenses.
| RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM | RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM AF | RF 14-35mm f/4L IS USM | |
| Picture angle | 63 degrees | 63 degrees | 114 to 63 degrees |
| Minimum aperture | f/16 | f/22 | f/22 |
| Diaphragm Blades | 11 | 9 | 9 |
| Weather resistance | Yes | No | Yes |
| Focus drive | VCM plus Nano USM | Gear type STM | Nano USM |
| Minimum focus | 28 cm | 17 cm | 20 cm |
| Stabilisation | No | Yes (5 stops) | Yes (5.5 stops) |
| Filter size | 67 mm (plus rear-mounted gel filter slot) | 52 mm | 77 mm |
| Dimensions (d x length) | 76.5 x 99.3 mm | 62.8 x 74.4 mm | 84.1 x 99.8 mm |
| Weight | 555 grams | 305 grams | 540 grams |
| Hood included | EW-73F | EW-52 l | EW-83P |
| RRP | $2699 | $839 | $2399 |
Build and Ergonomics
The RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lens combines a metal mount (and, presumably at least part of the inner barrel) with a cladding of engineering plastic. It’s quite compact and light in weight for such a fast lens, which will be welcomed by many potential purchasers.
Build quality is good for a lens of its type and up to professional standards. However, because of its optical design – with floating autofocus – the focusing elements will move if you shake the lens (gently) when no power is supplied by the camera. This stops once the camera is powered-up.
The front element is approximately 35 mm in diameter and sits within a narrow, raised plastic ring, which is surrounded by a thinly ribbed annulus that is 10 mm wide and extends outwards to meet the 67 mm diameter, raised filter thread. There is a bayonet moulding on the outside rim for the supplied lens hood. The diagram below (copied from the downloadable user manual) shows the positions of the various parts of the lens.
A 4 mm wide band, which ends with the red branding ring, separates the hood mount from the 10 mm wide control ring, which is programmable and adjustable in soft click stops, which shouldn’t interfere unduly with video recording. (Canon will de-click the ring for a service fee.) Fine rubber-like hatching covers the control ring to provide a secure grip surface.
Another 6 mm wide band separates the control ring from the focusing ring, which is 25 mm wide and almost entirely clad in thin rubberlike ribbing. Because focusing is driven from the camera, this ring turns through 360 degrees when no power is supplied.
Aft of the focusing ring is a 21 mm wide band that carries the main lens controls, which consist of an AF/MF slider switch, lens function button and iris ring lock release switch. The name of the lens is also stamped on the top of the lens barrel, while a white line just behind the ‘35’ mark provides an index for aligning the iris ring (which is not clicked).
The iris ring is approximately 11 mm wide, with aperture markings around its leading edge and moulded ribbing forming a grip band around the trailing edge. This ring is clickless, which can be initially disconcerting but we found the aperture settings were easy to adjust and the EXIF metadata showed them to be accurate.
The lens barrel extends for roughly 11 mm behind this ring, curving inwards to meet the chromed mounting plate. A detachable rear bayonet mount gel filter holder is provided with the lens for photographers who use special filters. Canon provides a downloadable filter template to make cutting gels to size straightforward.
The lens features a dust- and moisture-resistant design, with a rubber gasket around the lens mount. The supplied lens hood is plastic with a plastic bayonet mount and plastic locking button.
Performance
Our Imatest tests showed the review lens fell a little short of meeting expectations for the 44-megapixel sensor on the EOS R5 II camera we used for our tests with both JPEG and CR3.RAW files at optimal aperture settings. It also showed more edge softening at wide aperture settings than the 50mm lens we tested at the same time.
This edge softening was gradually reduced by stopping down and, from about f/2.2 on, resolution remained reasonably consistent across the image frame. The graph below shows our Imatest test results.
Although we turned off the in-camera processing of JPEGs in the review camera, we still carried out our assessments of vignetting and rectilinear distortion on raw files, which were converted into TIFF format with all optical adjustments disabled using Adobe Camera Raw. Vignetting was apparent at f/1.4 but it had largely been eliminated by f/2.8.
The review lens showed obvious barrel distortion in uncorrected files. Fortunately, both vignetting and distortion are fully addressed by activating in-camera corrections so they’re not an issue for normal shooting.
Autofocusing was fast and accurate when shooting normal subjects in bright conditions, as well as virtually noise-free, which will please videographers. However, we experienced quite a lot of hunting with close-up shots. We also found the selection of the most appropriate AF mode and the focusing area and its placement to be vital in these conditions.
The minimum focusing distance of 28 cm is only suitable for photographing close-ups of larger flowers and similarly-sized subjects. However, it can work well for product and food photography, where control over depth of focus is required.
Bokeh at wide aperture settings was variable. Tonal transitions were mainly smooth in low-contrast areas at f/1.4, although outlining could be seen around brighter areas. This became more obvious as the lens aperture was stopped down, when bright highlights took on harder edges and the ‘onion skin’ effect could be seen in some highlights near the centre of the frame.
We found some obvious purple fringing along high-contrast boundaries in some backlit shots, although normally backlit scenes were handled quite well. Stopping the lens down to f/16 produced 22-pointed sunstars around direct light sources within the frame. However, if the light source was very direct and strong it often created flare artefacts.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Picture angle: 63 degrees diagonal
Minimum aperture: f/16
Lens construction: 14 elements in 11 groups (including 2 aspherical and 2 UD elements), Super Spectra multicoating plus Air Sphere coating on two internal surfaces & fluorine on front element
Lens mounts: Canon RF
Diaphragm Blades: 11 (circular aperture)
Weather resistance: Yes
Focus drive: Voice coil driven plus Nano USM motor
Stabilisation: No
Minimum focus: 28 cm
Maximum magnification: 0.18x
Filter size: 67 mm front filter (also features a rear-mounted gel filter slot)
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 76.5 x 99.3 mm
Weight: 555 grams
Standard Accessories: Front and rear caps, EW-73F lens hood, LP1219 soft pouch
Distributor: Canon Australia
TESTS
Based on JPEG files taken with the Canon EOS R5 II camera.
Based on CR3.RAW files converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at f/1.4.
Rectilinear distortion.
Close-up at f/1.4; 1/1000 second, ISO 200.
Close-up at f/4; 1/160 second, ISO 200.
Close-up at f/1.4; 1/1000 second, ISO 200.
ISO 1250, 11/60 second at f/11.
Crop from the top left corner of the frame showing edge sharpness at 100% magnification.
ISO 250, 1/16 second at f/6.3.
Crop from the above image enlarged to 100% showing coloured fringing along high-contrast edges.
ISO 100, 1/500 second at f/8.
ISO 100, 1/1000 second at f/7.1.
ISO 200, 1/60 second at f/14.
ISO 100, 1/500 second at f/9.
ISO 800, 1/60 second at f/6.3.
ISO 400, 1/80 second at f/8.
ISO 200, 1/25 second at f/5.6.
ISO 250, 1/40 second at f/4.
ISO 800, 1/40 second at f/6.3.
ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/7.1.
ISO 250, 1/80 second at f/5.6
Sunstar; ISO 100, 1/125 second at f/16.
Rating
RRP: AU$2699
- Build: 9.0
- Handling: 8.8
- Image quality: 8.8
- Autofocusing: 8.8
- Versatility: 8.6
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