Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens

The Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM is a compact Ultra-Wide to Wide Angle zoom, ideal for travel, landscapes, group portraits, artistic shots, adventure photography and much more.

This is an affordable alternative to the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 "L" professional lens. Unlike the 17-40 L, this one can be used with your camera's built-in flash. The "L" lens causes an annoying shadow in your pictures, unless you use an auxiliary flash. It can't quite match the "L", but for about half the price it comes incredibly close!

This lens is threaded for 77mm filters and accessories. It has the HEAVY DUTY STAINLESS STEEL METAL LENS MOUNT that professionals demand and amateurs really appreciate.

This beauty features a true super-wide angle range, with an angle of view of 94° to 63°. It has a very useful close minimum focus distance of only 13.2 inches. There are 12 lens elements in 11 groups, the rear group performs all focusing functions. This lens is a pleasure to carry around, it weighs just 12 ounces and is only 2.7 inches long.

This lens employs Canon's "top-of-the-line" ultra fast and quiet Ring Type Ultrasonic Auto-Focus design, just like the "L" models. Manual focusing and zooming are performed buy two easy to grip rings that are well positioned for fast adjustments. Auto or Manual focusing is selected by an "AF-M" switch, which is conveniently located to make switching very fast and easy.

THIS IS AN FTM LENS, which stands for "Full-Time Manual" focus. This allows you to make focus adjustments WHILE THE AF SYSTEM IS ENGAGED! This is a very useful feature that I use all the time. The front lens group does not rotate while focusing or zooming, making it very convenient to use polarizing and special effects filters. The rear element "Internal Focus" design means that the lens does not change in length during zooming or focusing. These professional grade features insure that focusing will always be lightning fast, very precise and dead silent.

Image quality is really good! Sharpness and contrast are very impressive throughout the zoom range. Flare is extremely very well controlled, thanks to an ingenious "Flare Cutting Diaphragm". That feature makes it an excellent choice for sunrise and sunset photography.

Distortion is well controlled past about 25mm or so. In this regard, I think the EF 20-35mm USM is as good as the EF 17-40mm L. Distortion looks even better controlled in many shots that I have taken with the EF 20-35mm USM! Pictures produced through this lens are quite sharp with good contrast and are very rich in color saturation. Some reviewers have even used phrases like "three dimensional" and "vibrant" to describe the images that it produces.

On EOS "Full Frame" cameras, it is wonderful for interior photography. This is an ideal "group portrait" lens. It's great for everything from interiors to landscapes and scenic nature photography. This lens can be used to create some of the most artistic wide angle images you have ever seen. On my Elan 7e it produced some very interesting pictures with a uniquely artistic perspective.

When it is used on a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, 20D, 30D or 40D the "FOV" is equivalent to a 32-55mm zoom lens, due to the 1.6 X "crop factor". That makes it more of a "Wide to Normal Zoom" on these cameras. If you are looking for an affordable, high quality normal zoom lens to use with your Digital EOS camera, THIS IS THE PERFECT "COST EFFECTIVE" ALTERNATIVE to the $700.00 "L" lens.


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