I never thought I was a 35mm kinda guy. Well, until I got my hands on Canon's first mirrorless camera, the EOS M, which came with the kitted EF-M 22mm f/2 STM, which when you apply the 1.6x (Canon) APS-C crop, is 35mm. It's truly amazing the breadth of things you can capture with the 35mm focal length. And, like the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM, which is light, compact, sharp, and cheap, Canon has provided the latest EOS R with an equivalent, the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM.

But, unlike our Japanese counterparts (or the original EOS M), the EOS R and RP do not sell with the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM kitted here in the United States. Instead we get the RF 24-105 f/4L USM as the kit lens (or EF 24-105 f/3.5-5.6 IS STM with the adapter). Although more versatile with 24-105 focal range, full frame really comes into it's own with fast aperture lenses (f/2.8, or even faster like the RF 35mm f/1.8...) that really suck in light for indoors and nightlife allowing you to get clean shots in the dark with natural lighting without the noise as well as blur out backgrounds making for beautiful portraits or creative bokeh shots.

The RF 35mm delivers the goods on the promise of mirrorless cameras; smaller and lighter, but has even better specs than it's mirror-lens (EF) counterpart, in this case the EF 35mm f/2 IS USM. Now, granted, the EF 35mm f/2 IS USM is quite close in performance to the RF 35mm, but where it really differs is in total package. The moment you add that adapter for the EF 35mm f/2 IS USM, it's now a much bigger total package if you will.  When you pair an RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM with say the EOS RP, you're now dealing with a very lightweight, very inexpensive full frame package. It's a-lot of bang for the buck, or bulk for that matter.

To get some minor hiccups out of the way, it doesn’t handle flare well due to it’s lack of Canon’s premium coatings which it reserves for it’s (more expensive) L series; contrast dips in flare which is an annoyance in those situations. Also, if you have some more distant background bokeh in your background, it can get busy at f/1.8 but stopping down to f/2.8 clears things up. This isn’t as much of an issue in macro or less than about of 10ft depth framing but shows up in landscapes or other frames where the bokeh extends to infinity. Once again, f/2.8 will (largely) resolve this.

To point out some pro’s though, it’s well performing like the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM in terms of sharpness once you stop it down to f/2.8 it’s practically invincible in sharpness in contrast, but, it’s decent at f/1.8 to begin with. Of course at f/1.8, that’s a lot of light to pull in to take on the most difficult low-light scenarios when paired with either the EOS R or EOS RP. It’s 5-stops of IS really do perform when shooting video (or combined with f/1.8 for shooting in absolute darkness); I’ve heard folks compare it to being vastly superior to IBIS for video, I believe it. The RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM is my video lens of preference due to it’s silent STM motor, f/1.8 availability and 5-stops of IS. It’s light and cheap for what it is.

Some comments IE observations (neither positive or negative); the STM motor isn’t as fast as it’s USM lens counterparts out there for very fast moving objects, but, tracks things well IE eye-AF or facial tracking. It doesn’t have that L lens look if you will, but it gives generally pleasing results as far as color reproduction / transmission. At 0.5x macro it’s nothing to write home about in the macro department despite being labeled a macro lens, but nice to have in conjunction with 35mm for food photography and less demanding macro tasks; combined with 5-stops of IS and the AI-servo of the R or RP though makes it a formidable handheld macro lens.

Where this lens comes into it’s own is paired on say an RP where it’s total package is in fact smaller than Canon’s own smallest (APS-C at that) DLSR, the SL2/SL3 paired with it’s stock 18-55 lens, but only weighs about 100g more. It can handle some of the most challenging low light situations as such between being full frame and f/1.8 with 5-stops of IS. Restaurants, “street” shooting, nightlife, casual event shooting, food photography and general purpose fixed lens shooting all apply.

Like the EOS M paired with the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM before it, it really punches above it’s value and bulk. But, like the EF-M 22mm f/2 STM, it’s a non-L offering (IE doesn’t perform quite as well as the best 35mm’s out there, nor should it at $499) however it represents an excellent entry level option for Canon’s mirrorless R for low-light photography. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to shoot in natural light indoors or otherwise low-light or looking to have a lightweight, compact full frame package for a reasonable price.

Click here to view my RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM sample Flickr Gallery