85mm 1.4 L IS preview

Steve Balcombe wrote:

ikolbyi wrote:

If you are a hobbyist on a budget is the new Canon 85mm f/1.8 $400 price premium worth it over the Sigma 85,, f/1.8 Art lens?

This is the question I am trying to answer.

Presumably you mean f/1.4 in both cases. Canon has an 85/1.8 but it's not the lens being discussed in this thread.

Advantages of the Canon lens include:

IS (that alone will be worth the premium to many)

Lighter by 180 g

Somewhat smaller

77 mm filter size - as I already have 77 mm filters this will offset some of the cost in my case

Much less likely to have problems with future bodies.

May hold its value better i.e. less depreciation.

Advantages of the Sigma include:

Lower cost initially (but see above re depreciation and filters)

Maybe a slight edge in IQ, but I don't go as far as the prophets of doom in this thread. The new Canon looks pretty good to me.

Mount can be converted to Nikon when you jump ship...

f/1.8 was a typo on my part, I meant to write f/1.4 for both Canon and Sigma lens.

I did notice the Canon uses 77mm filters which is the same format (size) as my 24-70mm, and the Sigma uses a 86mm size. The cost difference is significant since I only use B+W Pro filters - narrowing down the potential savings from $400 to approximately $350.

The IS matters at slower shutter speeds, in this case less than 1/85 but I rarely shoot that slow and if I was going to shoot slower than 1/85 I would use a tripod. IS is a nice to have feature for me in this case but not a requirement. My walking around lens which doubles up as video 24-70mm I require IS for those reasons.

I only have 3 lenses: 24-70mm f/4L, 70-200mm f/4L, and Sigma 300mm prime and looking to replace the 70-200mm f/4L. For reasons why please review:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/60353445

Which has drawn me to this posting in exploring the lens, is it worth it?