Canon 35mm f2 IS

The Canon 35mm f2 IS lens makes me scratch my head with wonder, as in I wonder what they were thinking. The original Canon 35mm f2 lens wasn’t great with it’s ugly looking bokeh and very soft corners even on a crop body, but the price was around $300 or less making it’s short comings more then acceptable. Or for an extra $100 you could always go with the Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens (for crop sensor bodies).

On the other hand, the upgraded Canon 35mm f2 IS lens is around $850. Sure you get better corner sharpness, better looking bokeh, and image stabilization, but it’s $850. That’s only a stone throw away form the price of L glass and you don’t even get a metal body or the red ring.

With lenses like the new Sigma 35mm f1.4 and it’s better overall performance, not to mention matching price tag, what would cause someone to choose Canon’s new 35mm f2 IS lens? I don’t think image stabilization is valuable enough at 35mm to really justify a $550 price increase, but I guess Canon does. To me f1.4 is much more desirable and the Sigma 35mm f1.4 presents a much more attractive offering at the same price point. Maybe I’m missing something here, what do you guys think?




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