Canon Primes Dilema!

a1ex2001 · 29 May 2015 at 11:11

I currently have the following primes:

Canon 35mm f2
Canon 50mm f1.4 USM
Canon 85mm f1.8 USM

I use all three of them reasonably regularly to complement my 24-105mm F4L on my 5D mkii. My dilema relates to the 35mm as I've wanted to upgrade it for sometime purley because the AF irritates me when switching from one of my other lenses as they are all USM and it is an ancient micro motor design. I'm more than happy with the f2 max aperture as I rarely shoot wider than 2.8 anyway and I really like the compact size this allows when compared to the f1.4 options.

The only reason I haven't upgraded it before is cost but Canon have recently released the new 50mm f1.8 STM which has me thinking sell my current 35mm and 50mm netting me around £320 then buy the 35mm f2 IS and the new 50mm f1.8 STM total cost grey is about £470 meaning the switch would only cost me £150 which I think is pretty decent value.

What do others think of this solution or am I simply being mad!

julianhj · 29 May 2015 at 15:11

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Sh4rkie · 29 May 2015 at 15:18

If you rarely dip below f2.8 and you don't need the reach on the 24/105f4 why not chop all 4 lens in for a 24/70 2.8?

a1ex2001 · 29 May 2015 at 20:18

Sh4rkie said:
If you rarely dip below f2.8 and you don't need the reach on the 24/105f4 why not chop all 4 lens in for a 24/70 2.8?

It is something I've considered but I love the size of the primes I find the camera really comes alive for me when I use them. The 24-105mm is such a fantastic range for walk around use on holiday or in the hills that I don't think I would want to give it up!

crinkleshoes · 31 May 2015 at 23:37

Have you tried the 24-70 2.8? It is a bit bigger and heavier than the 24-105... but it's not such a big difference that it'll take you a while to get used it it... it will be a short adjustment period and the picture quality improvement, I think, will be worth it.

Take a look at the Flickr groups and see what you think:

24-70 2.8 ii:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/canon24-70f2point8l2/pool/

50 1.8 stm:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/ef50stm/pool/

35 2 is:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/canon35mm_is_usm/pool/

See what you prefer the look of and pic from that

a1ex2001 · 2 Jun 2015 at 10:47

crinkleshoes said:
Have you tried the 24-70 2.8? It is a bit bigger and heavier than the 24-105... but it's not such a big difference that it'll take you a while to get used it it... it will be a short adjustment period and the picture quality improvement, I think, will be worth it.

Take a look at the Flickr groups and see what you think:

24-70 2.8 ii:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/canon24-70f2point8l2/pool/

50 1.8 stm:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/ef50stm/pool/

35 2 is:
https://www.flickr.com/groups/canon35mm_is_usm/pool/

See what you prefer the look of and pic from that

When I got my 24-105mm I thought for a long time about going for the 24-70mm f2.8 it was especially tempting as I was coming from a tamron 28-75mm f2.8 so I had got used to having f2.8 available. Eventually it was the extra range and slight weight saving that won the day knowing that I always have a lightweight prime in the bag which covers low light/Shallow DoF and also provides a handy backup if the 24-105mm packs up like it did on a recent trip.

I might hang fire until some more 50mm STM reviews are up particularly any comparisons to the 50mm f1.4 in terms of focus speed and accuracy. I wsh the 35mm f2 IS was £100 cheaper as then it would be a no brainer but it is annoyingly close to the35mm f1.4's second hand even though I don't want the size and weight it is hard not to be tempted!