DPReview.com is closing April 10th - Find out more

70-200 2.8 IS II vs. 85 1.2 II for Portraits?

Started Jun 29, 2013 | Discussions thread
Press Correspondent
Press Correspondent Veteran Member • Posts: 3,362
Re: 70-200 2.8 IS II vs. 85 1.2 II for Portraits?
1

DOF (the amount of blur) is the same: 2.8*85/200=1.19 with the same subject framing (different dustance).

Bokeh (the quality of blur) is better on the prime.

85/1.2 focuses very slow. I have decided against investing in it, but waiting for the upgrade instead. If you are in a rush, get 85/1.8 until the new 85/1.2 is released.

Also note that f/1.2 is not for regular portraits, but for taking photos of person's eye with the rest of the face blurred. F/1.2  doesn't blur the backgroung, it completely destroys it beyond recognition and as such makes the image look flat, since there is no depth in the background anymore.

It will be impossible to capture moving subjects (kids) with 85/1.2 due to the slow focus and shallow DOF. The static subject must be on the ocusing point (forget focus and recompose at f/1.2). It is OK with 5D3 and such, but does not work so well for the bodies with 9 or 19 focusing points.

It is a great kens, but very specialized. If you are in doubt, it would probabaly not be a wise investment yet.

 Press Correspondent's gear list:Press Correspondent's gear list
SeaLife DC2000 Panasonic LX100 II Canon EOS 5D Mark III Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM Canon EF 70-200mm F4L USM +12 more
Post (hide subjects) Posted by
(unknown member)
(unknown member)
(unknown member)
fad
Keyboard shortcuts:
FForum PPrevious NNext WNext unread UUpvote SSubscribe RReply QQuote BBookmark MMy threads
Color scheme? Blue / Yellow