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Why use a 35mm lens

In this feature we look why it’s a great idea to use a 35mm lens for a huge variety of photography styles. We compare 35mm vs 50mm focal width lenses as well as the advantages of shooting with a 35mm prime. We investigate the best options for camera brands including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Leica and some superb third party offerings from Sigma, Tamron and ZEISS.

Table of contents

What does a 35mm mean?

What subjects are a 35mm lens good for?

35mm vs 50mm lens comparison

Best lens options for:

• Canon
• Nikon
• Sony
• Fujifilm
• Leica
• L Mount

Conclusion

What does a 35mm prime lens mean?

Canon sample photo: EOS 5DS. 6 sec exposure at ISO 100

Lenses are categorised by their focal width and whether they are zooms or a fixed focal width, which is referred to as a ‘prime’. So a 35mm prime lens is simply a lens which only has a 35mm focal width and cannot be zoomed. 35mm just happens to be the same width as a full frame camera sensor, which is the same width. Perhaps it is this simple fact which makes this such a popular option for photographers of any skill level who shoot all types of photography and videography. Read on for details, samples and ideas of how you can build this classic versatile option into your own style of photography. Personally, I love 35mm and use this width prime on my camera often.

What’s the difference on a crop or full frame camera?

Leica sample photo: Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH. 1/1500th sec. ISO 400. f/6.8

Full frame cameras will be using the full width of the lens which produce 35mm wide images on a full frame sensor. Cropped sensor bodies will make the focal width slightly narrower, making it around 53mm, depending on the camera brand. Typically a crop sensor will be around 1.5x smaller, so the focal range appears to be closer, or slightly more zoomed in.

For crop sensor users this results in a more standard 50mm width, which is the biggest competitor of a 35mm prime. They are similar, but the key differences do favour the wider option as we discuss below. Having a 50mm is no bad thing and many advanced or professional users will indeed enjoy both depending on what they are shooting.

What subjects is a 35mm lens good for

Nikon sample photo: Z 35mm F1.8 S. 1/200. ISO 1600 f/1.8

The human eye sees at approximately 43mm which gives us a great starting point for why we could use a 35mm lens. It is slightly wider than our regular vision, which is sometimes referred to as ‘standard width’ in photography. Capturing images which are slightly wider than standard can result in wider compositions with more in the frame for us to look at.

This gives us a lot of versatility as we will be composing things which we see normally, but with around 20% more in the frame. This is a central advantage of a 35mm lens, which leads to the diversity of subjects which can be captured effectively at this width.

Subjects which are best for this width include:

• Street photography
• Portraits
• Travel
• Architecture
• Landscapes
• General shooting
• Weddings and events
• Night photography
• Video

As we can see this is quite the collection of genres, making for an excellent general purpose option. Physically 35mm lenses will tend to be quite compact, relatively lightweight with features bright apertures. This allows the lens to gather more light, shoot faster and isolate subjects from their backgrounds if that is the desired effect. This combination opens up all of the avenues above, as well as other subjects too, such as close-up photography.

Being able to capture a lot in the frame with minimal distortion makes for an appealing choice for many photographers. Going wider to say 27mm, will often result in barrel distortion or perspective distortion when a wide lens isn’t perfectly level. This is far less apparent at 35mm. Naturally this benefits many subjects, particularly where there are straight lines in the shot, such as in street photography, architectural photography or where there are buildings in the frame.

Sony sample photo: FE 35mm F1.8. 1/80 sec. f/1.8. ISO 100

35mm vs 50mm comparison

Arguably 35mm and 50mm lenses provide similar results as they both fall into the standard category, but are slightly wider. If I had to choose between just one of these, I would probably go for a fast 35mm and these are the reasons why:

1. Greater depth of field. With a wider (but not actually wide-angle) focal width we get more in sharp focus. When capturing several subjects this can be exactly what we require, for example with landscapes, street, architecture and travel images.
2. Emotional connection with our subject. When shooting portraits (of humans or animals) we can typically get closer to our subject than when using a 50mm lens, because it is wider. Being close to your subject can create an emotional connection, which is harder to achieve when standing further away.
3. We can fit more into the frame. A wider lens in its most simple terms fits more into the composition as mentioned above. More = better of course! Ok so that isn’t true at all, but when we want more than 50mm gets us all the better.
4. You can crop but you cannot add pixels. Following on from number three above, if we do want a tighter composition, similar to a 50mm lens, we can crop-in during post production. We’ll never be able to crop-out if we used a 50 though!
5. Lighter and more compact. On the whole, 35mm lenses are somewhat smaller and lighter than their 50mm counterparts. There are exceptions and all lens models are different, but the availability of incredibly small and light options gives us the choice.
6. Tell more of the story. For environmental portraits, events and other subjects we might want to show more of the surroundings to capture more of the story. In these cases a wider lens is really useful. If we are too close to our subject we can miss vital supporting elements around the subjects.

Best 35mm lens options for these camera brands

Canon

We’ve picked out three of the best 35mm lenses for Canon cameras. A native Canon own brand model, which happens to be one of the best in class as well as Sigma Art for DSLR and another Canon own mirrorless option. Users rave about all three and with good reason as they are all an excellent choice.

Nikon

The 35mm lenses we’ve picked out fit Z-mount mirrorless and DSLR F mount cameras. Once again the Sigma Art is one of our picks as it is excruciatingly sharp and effective. But it is not the smallest option here with the timeless AF-S taking that crown. Z System users will be thrilled with the S-Line option as this is one of Nikon’s best lens ranges ever.

Sony

Sony’s E mount mirrorless system users are spoilt for choice with these five primes making our list. All of these offer fast aperture’s of between f/1.4 and f/1.8 as well as compact size, fast AF and a variety of price points to suit any budget.

Fujifilm

Fujifilm 35mm lenses fit X System cameras which results in an equivalent 53mm focal width. Let’s just say that any one of these will be a killer option for shooting any of the subjects mentioned above, but personally I would pick the f/1.4 just because it is so good and brighter than the other two.

Leica

Leica lenses for Rangefinder cameras are achingly good, particularly from the Summilux series and they can also be used on Leica SL, T, and TL cameras thanks to the Leica M Adapter L. Leica perhaps claim the longest heritage with their original 35mm lenses being used for many decades, sometimes by incredibly famous photographers. If you are lucky enough to own a Leica camera and don’t already own one of these already, we recommend you invest straight away, you won’t be disappointed.

L-mount

With the relatively new full frame L mount there are already these three fantastic options from Leica and Sigma who form part of the alliance. Sigma features here once again with the Art thanks to providing such superb results.

Conclusion

There is an awful lot to love about using a 35mm lens, particularly if mounted on a full frame camera body. We get a lovely fast aperture, high quality optics and gorgeous results from a slightly wide standard focal width. Primes win over zooms for many subjects where we want to engage with the craft of making images more. With a zoom we can simply get closer or further with a twist of the zoom ring, but with a prime we move around more, work harder and become more involved in image making. This can over time yield better results as we have to look, compose and think more.

Having bright apertures of f/2 or even brighter gives us a lot of options for shooting in low light or for isolating subjects and helps to produce those lovely bokeh balls in the background. If you’ve never shot with a 35mm we throughly recommend giving one a try. Why not take a peek at our used camera lenses to see if there is an option available for your system, all of which come with a six month warranty.

More detailed information can be found with our Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM Lens review and Samyang 35mm f/2.8 for Sony E review here.

We’ve also written related guides including best buys for street photography and best gifts for portrait photographers which you might find useful. Let us know what you think.

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By Nick Dautlich on 10/02/2021