Best Prime Lenses For Canon Cameras For All Budgets
Ready to take things to the next level and choose a new lens for your Canon camera? Let me help you by taking some of the guesswork out about which lens best suits what you want to try and shoot!
What exactly are prime lenses?
Put simply prime lenses are lenses that have a fixed focal length. You can’t zoom in and out like you would with the kit lens that came with your Canon camera. If you want your subject to appear larger or smaller in the frame then you will have to physically move farther or closer to compensate.
This might sound like a limitation but in other ways, it’s an advantage. It forces you to think more creatively, compose your shots better and generally prime lenses are built better, give you sharper images and have faster apertures than zoom lenses.
Primes lenses are perfect for all forms of portrait, product, street and wedding photography. Depending on the focal length that you decide to use can open up whole new realms of creative possibilities for your work!
But if you are reading this article then you probably already know that you want to pick up a prime lens to expand your camera kit. So without any more hesitation let’s get into the list of which prime lenses I think you should use on your Canon camera.
35mm Prime Lenses For Canon Cameras
BEST 35MM PRIME FOR APS-C CANON CAMERAS
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As far as focal lengths go, anything at 35mm and under is generally considered as a wide field of view. For me, the 35mm focal length is the perfect middle ground of wide enough to be used to shoot landscapes and set up establishing shots but still not super wide where it feels strange to use it for portrait shots. It’s more of a happy middle ground between the two, and that’s why it’s such a versatile focal length!
The Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 is a fantastic prime lens for photographers who shoot on APS-C camera sensors like the Canon 250D and Canon 4000D. There are two main things to note about this lens, first, it will not work on full-frame sensor cameras (you need an EF mount, not an EF-S mount for those), and secondly, it also doubles up as a macro lens!
Using this lens will give you sharp images without much image distortion or fringing in the high contrast areas. The lens also has a built-in macro light in front of the lens element, allowing you to light up any macro shots you might want to shoot.
It’s small construction and lightweight materials mean there really is no reason not to bring this lens with you on any shoot. It’s versatility for landscapes, portraits and macro photography gives you almost no excuse to not have it in your camera bag!
It used to be that Sigma lenses were seen as ‘second-best’ when it came to lens choice for Canon cameras. Which was understandable because at that time there were very few lens manufacturers who could replicate the sharpness and quality of Canon lenses. Nowadays though Sigma lenses have really become a force to be reckoned with!
Owning my fair share of Sigma glass means I can heartily recommend the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 to anyone who is looking for a cheaper alternative to Canon’s L Series equivalent. From my own experience having shot with both this lens and the Canon L Series 35mm f/1.4, the Sigma 35mm focuses just as fast and as accurately as the Canon does. The images are just as sharp and the bokeh is almost identical. So what’s the catch? How can the Sigma 35mm be cheaper?
Ultimately it comes down to how it’s built (and brand name too, I guess). The price difference between the two stems from the fact that the Sigma 35mm is not weather sealed like the Canon 35mm is. This may not seem like a big deal but for some, more adventurous, photographers and videographers who spend more time shooting outside this could be a deal-breaker on picking up the cheaper lens, especially if you find yourself in rainy or dusty situations more often.
The choice between these two lenses will mostly boil down to your budget and the conditions you expect to be shooting in most frequently.
50mm Prime Lenses for canon cameras
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The 50mm focal length is usually the focal length most photographers and videographers gravitate towards when choosing their first prime lens. And for good reason too! This focal length is the closest to the field of view to what the human eye sees. It’s simple to visualise what you’re going to get before you even begin composing your shot.
Shooting on a 50mm prime is perfect for portraits, products and can even be used to give landscapes a more ‘intimate’ feel to them. Using focal lengths in this range is perfect for isolating a subject from a background, and when you combine it with the benefits of shooting with a prime lens, it’s easy to see why this is the go-to focal length for portrait shoots.
Kicking things off for the Canon 50mm primes is the Canon 50mm f/1.8, also known as the ‘nifty fifty’. This is possibly one of the cheapest non-vintage lenses you will find on the market. This lens is incredibly small, light and overall is a good lens. As an introduction to prime lenses, you can’t really go wrong with this one. Especially if you are a complete novice to shooting on primes!
That said though, you do get what you pay for. While the lens is not a bad lens by any stretch of the imagination, it does lack sharpness and clarity that you would find in more expensive prime lenses. I see the Canon 50mm f/1.8 as more of a beginner’s first introduction to prime lenses. It’s great to learn with but probably should stay on the shelf at home if you’re going to a professional level shoot.
To make up for that shortfall though there is the Canon 50mm f/1.4 which is a perfect next step towards professional level glass. It is a much more sturdy construction than the cheaper 50mm f/1.8 and the images with this lens are markedly sharper. The 50mm f/1.4 was actually the first prime lens I bought and it served me well for around 4 years before I upgraded. It still lives on my shelf and sometimes I bring it with me to use on a second camera body as a backup camera for photography or to get safety shots as a second or third angle when I film weddings and documentaries.
Right at the top of the 50mm prime lens food chain is the absolutely incredible Canon L Series 50mm f/1.2. It may sound obvious but as one of Canon’s flagship series of photography lenses, the Canon 50mm f/1.2 is sharp from edge to edge, is ultra-fast at focusing, has beautiful bokeh and is all around a simply fantastic lens to use. Being at the top of the food chain comes with a catch though. Yes, you guessed it, the price. But as with all pro-level lenses, you get what you pay for.
85mm prime lenses for canon cameras
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At 85mm focal lengths, things become quite interesting. It’s technically a telephoto type lens but it’s also not quite telephoto enough to shoot subjects that are really far away. It’s sort of a pseudo telephoto focal length. It has all of the characteristics of higher focal lengths like the great subject isolation, nice bokeh and perceived lens compression while still being wide enough to make it so you’re not right on top of whatever you’re shooting.
This makes 85mm prime lenses a go-to lens for portrait and wedding photographers. Everything shot on an 85mm lens tends to look beautiful, soft and as if it has a little bit of ‘magic’ to it. It’s hard to explain in words but if you Google 85mm portrait, landscape, travel, or any other kind of photography then you’ll understand what I mean. There’s just something about the 85mm prime that gives it an edge over other focal lengths.
Which is why it’s very easy to recommend the Canon 85mm f/1.8 to anyone wanting to pick up a lens in this focal length. Like the middle of the road Canon 50mm f/1.4, this 85mm has the same level of construction and weighs almost the same too. It has good sharpness from edge to edge and has very reliable autofocus. Overall, it’s the perfect entry-level prime lens for shooting portraits.
For a lens with better optics and faster performance, you might want to check out the Samyang 85mm f/1.4. It’s slightly heavier and larger than Canon’s 85mm f/1.8 but what it adds in weight and size it makes up for with super crisp images. The quality of the glass used in this lens would make you think it was a long lost twin of the top tier L Series 85mm. Most people wouldn’t be able to spot the difference between the two unless they started really delving deep into looking at the image. It’s a very strong contender as a middle of the road 85mm prime lens for Canon cameras!
Of course though, right at the top of the list is Canon’s very own Canon L Series 85mm f/1.4. Definitely the priciest option when it comes to choosing an 85mm lens but it is worth every penny. Lightning fast autofocus, absolutely beautiful bokeh and edge to edge sharpness are of course standard with all L Series lenses, however, using a lens like this to shoot with really does showcase how well these lenses perform. If you are seriously thinking about becoming a professional portrait or wedding photographer then you will probably want to pick up this lens as soon as possible!
135mm prime lenses for Canon cameras
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If you liked everything you’ve heard and seen about 85mm lenses then you will be in for an absolute treat when it comes to 135mm primes. Lenses at this focal length are really effective at creating incredibly gorgeous beauty shots of landscapes, products and wildlife (though you might want higher focal lengths if your subject is really far away).
The lens compression at a 135mm is so beautifully smooth and silk-like that shots taken at this focal length tend to give your images a feeling of high quality and class. Of course, it entirely depends on your lighting and how you shoot but this prime lens can really elevate your work if used correctly.
And there’s no faster way to learn how to use them correctly than by picking up the Samyang 135mm f/2.0. As far as telephoto lenses go, it’s lightweight, sturdy and very very affordable. There is one catch to this specific lens though… it doesn’t have autofocus. Samyang instead has opted to ditch the motors inside the lens and make it entirely manual focus. For photographers, this probably isn’t the best news, but for those who shoot video it isn’t a deal breaker as you’ll be more used to manual focus anyway! At this price point though I still believe that this lens is an absolute steal, autofocus or not!
If the idea of having to manually focus all of your shots just isn’t working for you then don’t worry, as Sigma has come to the rescue! The Sigma 135mm f/1.8 is pretty pricey, but you are getting very reliable and fast autofocus from this lens, as well as getting to enjoy the sharpness and quality of Sigma's high quality glass.
And right at the top level, rivalling the Sigma 135mm is the Canon L Series 135mm f/2.0. Honestly, there is very little that separates these two lenses apart from each other. The Canon 135mm f/2.0 is every bit as fast, reliable and high quality as the Sigma. Leaving the main deciding factors between the two as your own personal preference, your budget and whether or not you need the dust and splash proof sealing that the Sigma 135mm prime provides.