Is the 85mm compromise wirth it?

jwilliams wrote:

panther fan wrote:

I think it is pretty clear that Canon is positioning the 85mm F2 against the competing 85mm F1.8 options while wanting to provide additional versatility by making it a stabilized macro. It seems they have made some smaller sacrifices to get there

-1/3rd of a stop less light

No big deal to me. f2 is fine if very usable wide open.

-slightly higher weight

If one wants macro that goes with the territory. I'd rather have a regular 85 that is smaller.

And one big one:

-External "whole unit" focus, which is likely not fast and expectedly not silent

This is first I've read of that. Why oh why? My ancient 85 1.8 USM has internal focus. This is 2020. My excitement is fading.

It's the macro focus part. 85mm f1.8 is only about 1:10 magnification so it has room to focus internally. 1:2 requires a lot of movement. Macro lenses are either very long or they have to extend a lot to focus close.

Is that a welcome tradeoff or do you wish Canon had stuck to the classic formula?

I'd take something similar to my 85 1.8 USM in a RF mount with IS added. No macro please. Internal focus.

I can't see that happening given that they just launched this lens.  No way they make 2 lenses that are near identical other than the focusing distance.

I bought a 100 2.8L IS Macro specifically to use on the R so I'd have a moderate tele lens with IS. I hate that the IS runs all the time and is somewhat noisy. I thought the 85 2 IS was the answer to my needs. We'll see, but looking doubtful.

Well it looks like IBIS is going to be a standard in newer R bodies, so maybe down the line when we all upgrade it won't be an issue.  Run a Samyang 85mm f1.4 with IBIS.