Total winner. No-brainer RF lens

Oldwino wrote:

LeicaBOSS wrote:

Remember - I own that silly Leica Summicron M ASPH, which for many kinds of photography would be considered a complete joke from a technical standpoint. It also makes intensely beautiful images for me. Which point of view is correct?

Yup. This lens (Canon RF 35) reminds me very much of my old Leica Summaron 35/2.8. Has the same sort of smooth/sharp look to it, except the Canon has some aspherical elements in it, which makes the bokeh more nervous. To my eyes, it has 35mm-lens-bokeh, which is never that smooth anyway.

But overall, I like the lens. I've only has it for few days, but I like the way it renders. I like the way it makes my subjects look good. It's got a nice touch of distortion. It is interesting, rather than perfect and sterile and boring.

One day soon, I'll figure out which distances and apertures I like most. Same with any lens. I'll figure that out by shooting with the lens in a variety of conditions. I can promise you all, I won't be shooting any brick walls, and I won't be stressing out over the corners.

Everything in lens design is a trade off. If you (general "you", not you specifically LeicaBOSS) want small and light, you're going to have to put up with a few more aberrations. If you want "perfect", the lens is going to be big and heavy to hold all that glass needed to correct every last drop of CA, etc. But then you'll hate carrying around all that weight. At least I do. And the price, let's not forget the price!

I think here you are describing the RF 50mm which most seem to think is an excellent lens but is heavy and expensive.

I guess if your "photography" is all about numbers and statistics and corners, the weight penalty is a small price too pay. Me, I'll take some nice looking flaws over being a sherpa any day.

Recently retired with more time to fiddle with photography, I have been traveling with groups of travelers and have been putting together Blurb books at the end of each trip. I have discovered that you can do a lot with an EOS-M5 and the limited set of native lenses that are available for that platform.  I have now moved to the EOS-R for the next trip and have been considering this lens as somewhat equivalent to the 22mm I have for the "M5" (fast and small). I am looking for something that can do a good job yet be relatively small and light.

Non photographers are not nearly as demanding. That doesn't mean you can produce bad work but I can sacrifice some sharpness in the corners w/o loosing the impact of the photo as a documentary memory.

I hope we see a nice, compact 50/1.4 in the RF mount someday. Maybe it will remind me of my 1st generation Summilux, another lens of great beauty that's full of flaws. One can hope...