Canon 85 1.2L II

So I'm trying to decide on what lens I would like to get for my 5D Mark II next. I am debating on getting an 85 1.2L II while it is still on sale. The only problem is for the amount of money that I would be spending on the 85 I could get several other lenses that would be almost as good from what I've been looking at. The other lenses I have been considering are the 50 1.4, 85 1.8, and the 100 2.8L Macro. I already own a 50 1.8 and a 24-70 which can do some macro work and I plan to start doing some more portrait work. Any recommendations would be helpful.

I shoot the 85L but today I would probably go for the Sigma - YMMV.

The 85L is a wonderful lens, but frankly you would be very hard pressed to see the difference between the 85L and the new Sigma 85 f/1.4 in most situations. Also the focus is quicker on the Sigma.

Thus, you can almost have your cake and eat it with the Sigma - and have money left for another great lens. Almost enough for the 35L (without the current rebate on the 85L).

Take a look at the flickr pools for the two lenses which IMO gives a good impression of how close the two are and how the results differ. You will see slight color differences and another bokeh character when stopped down.

Beware that some people complain about focus accuracy on the Sigma - but frankly I also get plenty OOF pictures when using the 85L wide open. There's so luttle head room that even the slightest movement can cause OOF pictures.

If you go for an 85mm lens I suggest a 35mm and 135mm to compliment it. 50mm and 100mm are too close to make a real difference in most situations.

Good luck with your choice!

mdziados said:

So I'm trying to decide on what lens I would like to get for my 5D Mark II next. I am debating on getting an 85 1.2L II while it is still on sale. The only problem is for the amount of money that I would be spending on the 85 I could get several other lenses that would be almost as good from what I've been looking at. The other lenses I have been considering are the 50 1.4, 85 1.8, and the 100 2.8L Macro. I already own a 50 1.8 and a 24-70 which can do some macro work and I plan to start doing some more portrait work. Any recommendations would be helpful.

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One more thing i forgot to ask about was the low light gain from a 1.8 to a 1.2. I took photos for a band with my 50 1.8 and it was just slightly to dark, I had to throw out about half of the shots because I pushed the ISO up a little to far to get usable shots. Would the 1.2 make that much of a difference to keep the ISO down?

mdziados said:

One more thing i forgot to ask about was the low light gain from a 1.8 to a 1.2. I took photos for a band with my 50 1.8 and it was just slightly to dark, I had to throw out about half of the shots because I pushed the ISO up a little to far to get usable shots. Would the 1.2 make that much of a difference to keep the ISO down?

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It could make the difference but I would have to see the pictures to know for sure. For concerts I would always bring a f/1.2 or f/1.4 prime myself - just in case.

For inspiration check out this photographer who has posted lots of excellent concert photos here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1005&message=22867890

Good luck!

The 1.8L f1.2 is just an awesome lens. Don't make it an economic decision. Your heart tells you that you want to shoot with this lens. Don't ignore it.

mdziados said:

So I'm trying to decide on what lens I would like to get for my 5D Mark II next. I am debating on getting an 85 1.2L II while it is still on sale. The only problem is for the amount of money that I would be spending on the 85 I could get several other lenses that would be almost as good from what I've been looking at. The other lenses I have been considering are the 50 1.4, 85 1.8, and the 100 2.8L Macro. I already own a 50 1.8 and a 24-70 which can do some macro work and I plan to start doing some more portrait work. Any recommendations would be helpful.

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The 85L II is IMO Canons Best of the Best of the Best (Sir) lens. (Men in Black quote) I can't compare is to all, but I have:
70-200 L 2.8 II, 24-70 L, 35 L, 28-300 L.

I have had:
50 1.8 and 1.4 (Canon), 100-400 L, 17-55 (Canon) among several others.

This lens by far is the sharpest, and gives the best quality of color and contrast. To answer your question, YES 1.2 gives a huge advantage for low light situations. I shoot a lot of available light and the 85 L II does awesome. Keeps the ISO high along with the shutter speed. I am surprised how much better the 85 does over the 35 for just one stop difference. As far a speed of AF, I have had no trouble with mine. It isn't as fast as some, but to call is slow is reaching IMO. Here are a few action shots to show you what I mean:

























I say get it if you can. You won't regret it, I certainly do not....

This is a very unique lens, the bokeh, AF precision and wide open sharpness is without doubt differentiating it from the competition. The 85mm Sigma is excellent but the 85L is awesome .

I think it really depends upon whether you want the very best at a high price or the second best at a much lower cost.

My approach for buying primes in addition to my zooms is that every one of them has to bring something really unique to the table, and the 85L certainly does that.

You buy a 5DII so you can use an 85LII I love it! So sharp, Flat contrast (adds DR)

2 shots with 85LII

mevbo said:

The 85L II is IMO Canons Best of the Best of the Best (Sir) lens. (Men in Black quote) I can't compare is to all, but I have:
70-200 L 2.8 II, 24-70 L, 35 L, 28-300 L.

I have had:
50 1.8 and 1.4 (Canon), 100-400 L, 17-55 (Canon) among several others.

This lens by far is the sharpest, and gives the best quality of color and contrast. To answer your question, YES 1.2 gives a huge advantage for low light situations. I shoot a lot of available light and the 85 L II does awesome. Keeps the ISO high along with the shutter speed. I am surprised how much better the 85 does over the 35 for just one stop difference.

Click to expand...

f1.2 is theoretically only approx half an f stop faster than f1.4 (assuming you are referring to the 35/1.4L?).

Nothing really wrong with those images but they surely don't show off the advantage of the 85L. If you want (need) to shoot at 1.2 or 1.4, then get it. If you want better AF performance and just as impressive sharpness stopped down, the 85 1.8 is the better choice.

jackpro said:

You buy a 5DII so you can use an 85LII I love it! So sharp, Flat contrast (adds DR)

2 shots with 85LII

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I am an owner of 85L II and also have shot with the Sigma 85 F1.4 on both my 1DS2 and D3 many times, here is my take on those:

Both are great, the F1.2 max. aperture is obviously the unique feature of the Canon, if you need/want that aperture, there is no other alternatives, it offer great bokeh, sharp wide open performance, great contrast, top notch build quality, however, it focus very slow, it's by far the slowest AF focusing speed lens I have, it's big and heavy, well, some people call that a "con" but for me that's a "pro", I love large and heavy lens, it balance very well on the 1DS series body and gives me a very steady shots.

The Sigma is really almost as good except it doesn't do F1.2, great center sharpness wide open, focus much faster, some people complain focus consistency with the lens, but the 3 I tried (on my D3 and 1DS2) didn't have any focus issue, and also per the owners of those lens, they all work fine on their D700, D3X, 1DS3, 1D4, it's a much smaller lens, so it may balance better on the smaller camera bodies, I put that on my 5D2 once and it feels about right for that size body.

It really depends on your own shooting style and requirement, it's very hard for us to tell you it's worthy or not to spend twice as much for a L instead of the Sigma, for me it's worth it since I love the F1.2 and it's solid build quality, I use F1.2 quite often, and my 1DS3 friend however though the Sigma is good enough for him as he prefer the F1.4-1.8 DOF anyway, so he doesn't really care for F1.2..... so it's all personal preference.

Another question you should ask yourself is how are you going to use this new lens, mostly wide open or stop down? the reason I am saying that is I ONLY use them at large aperture, not necessary always wide open but always at relatively large aperture, say from F1.2 to F2.0. And for stop down landscape application for that focal length, I don't even touch those 85L or Sigma 85, both lens have a pretty bad edge/corner performance no matter how you stop it down, even the cheap 85 F1.8 beats it in that area, of course that's depends on what you are comparing it to, and in my own case, I am a TSE and Zeiss prime lens landscape shooter, so for that focal range I use the Zeiss 100 and sometimes even the 70-200 F2.8 IS MK2 for landscape work instead, so don't buy those large aperture lenses for landscape just because they are expensive and have red ring.

meland said:

mevbo said:

The 85L II is IMO Canons Best of the Best of the Best (Sir) lens. (Men in Black quote) I can't compare is to all, but I have:
70-200 L 2.8 II, 24-70 L, 35 L, 28-300 L.

I have had:
50 1.8 and 1.4 (Canon), 100-400 L, 17-55 (Canon) among several others.

This lens by far is the sharpest, and gives the best quality of color and contrast. To answer your question, YES 1.2 gives a huge advantage for low light situations. I shoot a lot of available light and the 85 L II does awesome. Keeps the ISO high along with the shutter speed. I am surprised how much better the 85 does over the 35 for just one stop difference.

Click to expand...

f1.2 is theoretically only approx half an f stop faster than f1.4 (assuming you are referring to the 35/1.4L?).

Click to expand...

I stand corrected, thank you. That is even more surprising how much better it does.

Love mine - it's one of the ultimate Canon lenses.

Lifetime keeper.

5D2 samples below - worth every penny, to me at least.

















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The 85 f1.8 has CA issues which are an unwanted benefit

It really does better portrait shots that all those lenses - and I've had or have them all (except the 100mm). I don't regret it at all. I traded away my 85mm f1.8 because it wasn't getting any use.
Here are samples - all with the 85 F1.2
http://www.pbase.com/ericsorensen/norton2010
One of my favorites:
Canon EOS 5D ,Canon EF 85mm F1.2 L USM (II)
1/5000s f/1.2 at 85.0mm iso100



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Bossier City, Louisiana
http://www.pbase.com/ericsorensen/photography
Shreveport Photographic Society: http://www.spsclub.org/

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Bossier City, Louisiana
http://www.pbase.com/ericsorensen/photography
Shreveport Photographic Society: http://www.spsclub.org/

Wow! Outstanding pic! Wow...

Gorgeous!

I'd say, with the money you'd have to drop on the 85L, get this combination instead:

Sigma 85mm f/1.4
Sigma 50mm f/1.4

Both lenses are on par with the Canon L-lenses in terms of bokeh and image quality, and both will focus considerably faster.

TIS

Probably does f1.4 better, too.
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Bossier City, Louisiana
http://www.pbase.com/ericsorensen/photography
Shreveport Photographic Society: http://www.spsclub.org/