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Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM - too niche

Started Jan 21, 2016 | User reviews thread
Fog Maker Senior Member • Posts: 2,733
Re: 135L is the alternative to go for
2

maiaibing wrote:

OMFGITSNIKO wrote:

The Ferrari of lenses, dubbed by a review I read online that turned out to be true (unfortunately).

(...)

I personally feel like i'm better served with the 135/2 for portrait work and a 35 or 50mm prime for general photography.

Spot on.

The 135L and 85 L II are very close when it comes to output. Both suffer when used wide open, but still create spectacular pictures. The key difference is that its a lot easier to get good results with the 135L than the 85L when you shoot them wide open.

Because the 135L is far cheaper, so I always recommend it over the 85L unless people are sure they really need the f/1.2. If you need f/1.2 (I did for some time) its the lens to go. Also, 135mm may be too long if you shoot a crop-camera and do not have shorter primes.

When Canon promoted the 85L II as a sports lens hopes were very high. However, it proved to be a marketing gimmick. If it could focus fast enough for action shots I would have it now.

So Canon: let the 85L III be more LandCruiser and less Ferrari.

Meanwhile I continue to hope a Sigma 85 ART will emerge.

Recommending the 135 over the 85mm is like recommending a 85mm to someone

looking for something wide.

The only thing the lenses have in common is that both get used for portrait (the latter especially among budget conscious amateurs).

I would always recommend the 70-200 2.8 II (or other version) over the 135mm 2.0

 Fog Maker's gear list:Fog Maker's gear list
Canon EOS 5D Mark III Canon EF 85mm F1.2L II USM Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Canon EF 100mm F2.8L Macro IS USM
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