Is the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Still the Best First RF Lens?

Canon has released a wave of new RF primes since the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM arrived, including a fast 35mm in its VCM line and an inexpensive 45mm f/1.2. That raises a fair question about whether the older, cheaper lens still deserves to be the first one you put on an RF body.

James Reader still calls the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM his most recommended RF lens more than two years after first making that case, and this time he leans much harder on video. At Ruby Beach in Washington, he works as a one-person hybrid crew, trading between portraits of a model and clips of the coastline as the light turns. For stills, the center is sharp even wide open. On his copy, he tends to stop down to f/2 for a little more bite. After sunset, the f/1.8 aperture gives full-length portraits enough separation and softens the glowing sky into something close to dreamy, a look zooms rarely give you. His bigger claim is about footage: he considers this about the least you can spend on an RF lens and still get video with real character, a step up from what an f/2.8 or f/4 zoom produces.

Reader owns the Canon RF 35mm f/1.4 L VCM and uses it as his main 35mm at weddings, yet he doesn't think it has made the cheaper lens redundant, even with price set aside. The VCM has no optical stabilization. On bodies without IBIS, like the Canon EOS C50, C70, and C80, that limits how well it works handheld. The 35mm f/1.8 is stabilized. Its rendering is also a bit softer and less contrasty than the very sharp VCM, which Reader actually prefers for moving images. He also gets steady use from the macro capability, which reaches half life-size and has handled ring shots at weddings for him.

The 35mm f/1.8 launched in 2018 alongside the original Canon EOS R, so it's one of the oldest RF lenses still showing up on anyone's shortlist. Since then, Canon has steadily pushed toward hybrid work. The C50 and C80 put Cinema EOS features into bodies small enough to shoot handheld, and neither has sensor-shift stabilization, so a stabilized lens takes on that job by itself. On a body like the Canon EOS R6 Mark II, the lens' stabilization works together with IBIS instead. A small, fast prime also makes a good partner to whatever zoom you already carry. If your main lens is an f/4 zoom, dropping to f/1.8 buys you a little over two stops, roughly the difference between ISO 6,400 and ISO 1,250 in the same light. A lens this small and cheap can ride along in a bag all day and only come out when the light fades.

Size is a big part of why it goes everywhere with Reader. Even on a full frame body, the setup stays compact enough to disappear into a sling bag, and it's his usual pick when friends or family ask him to bring a camera to an event. Colors come out vivid but natural, which he says isn't a given among budget RF primes. The lens has weak spots, too. Autofocus is fine for stills short of fast action, but in video it can be slow, especially when it gets stranded out of focus near its minimum focusing distance and struggles to find the subject again. Reader finds a benefit in how smooth and natural those slower pulls look on screen. He also shows how vignetting behaves in low-light shots and points out the missing weather-sealing.

When people ask Reader for a first RF lens, he usually names this 35mm alongside the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2.8 IS STM and the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. Those zooms cost two to three times as much, and in the UK, the 35mm sells for roughly $400 to $540. This year, the Canon RF 45mm f/1.2 STM has pushed its way onto that list. He calls choosing between the 45mm and the 35mm one of the hardest decisions on the mount. His split depends on what you shoot most, how much of it happens after dark, and whether you know what a trip will throw at you before you leave.

Reader's full breakdown of the 35mm against the 45mm, along with the low-light footage that shows the lens' tradeoffs, is in the video above.