The Canon 35mm f/1.4L lens is a fantastic lens. Here are my pros and cons about the lens:
PROS
- Great low light performance
- Very lightweight
- Very sharp from f/2.0 and on
- Versatile enough for half or full body portraits and landscape work
- For me personally it could be the best walk-around lens I’ve had, second to my 24-70mm f/2.8
CONS
- Too soft for my taste at f/1.4 through 1.6, although it’s usable for wide shots. F/1.8 gets better, but nice & sharp from f/2.0 and on.
- Might be pricey for some people at around $1350-1400 at my favorite store, B&H Photo (but worth every penny to me!)
- A little slow to focus, but focuses slightly faster than the 85mm f/1.2L just to give you a perspective for those that have the 85 1.2.
If you’re looking for a 35mm professional lens from Canon, this one is a fantastic performer. Thanks to Canon Professional Services for loaning me this for a few weeks. I will have to add this to my arsenal… “Dear Santa.… “ 
Here are some photos I took with the 35mm…
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- Jordan – LENS: Canon 35mm f/1.4L
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- Megan, Steffen & Ayden – LENS: Canon 35mm f/1.4L
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- Kids making sugar-packed cupcakes!
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- The lens isn’t wide like my 16-35 or 24mm lenses. But it’s not like my 50mm or 85mm where I have to stand back a little farther. The 35mm lets you get close enough to the action, or back away just a bit to get wider action shots.
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- The combination of my 5D Mark II and 35mm f/1.4L lens produced some amazing color and detail. And yes, Nathan was not in the mood for dad to take his picture here, lol.
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- It took a hundred tries to get Nathan to stop and smile, lol. My kids don’t care for dad-with-camera as much these days lol.
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- Even Jordan wasn’t feeling the camera either… she was more interested in playing behind our house than getting her picture taken.
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- HA, got one of my Jordan! SCORE! lol =) It was a very cloudy day as you can tell, but the images straight-out-of-camera were still great, although this might be a bit overexposed for my taste (user error! lol)
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- Another one of Jordan … she’s done smiling for me.
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- And she’s done even looking at the camera! lol. I really like the not-so-tight and not-so-wide focal length of the 35mm lens. It’s why I personally feel it’s a great walk-around prime lens.
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- This was shot at f/1.8 so you can see the bokeh fall out… very nice on this lens. Nate got a bloody nose while we were playing outside. He’s okay!
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- This was also shot at f/1.8.
by Armin
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