Not good

thunder storm wrote:

There are some aspects of the RF 85mm f/2.0 IS stm to criticize but sharpness isn't one of them. It's a pretty sharp lens.

I just finished copying a large 2' x 3' painting for a prestigious catalog for an art show. I have shot dozens of paintings for this same artist before, using other Canon cameras of mine with different lenses. This time, I shot it with my R5 and the RF 85mm f/2.0.

In short, I was extremely impressed. The images were "crackingly" sharp right out to the very edges and far corners, with excellent contrast, color, negligible vignetting and almost zero distortion at all. In addition, the autofocus, while this was not a great test, was lightning quick and perfectly accurate, although when I shot it, in the end I used manual focus as I almost always do for copy work, even though it was absolutely identical to the autofocus setting.

These results were at least as good, if not better, as those from my previous dedicated Canon macro lenses, and of course, the R5 tilt/rotation indicator and top notch file quality are excellent in and of themselves for this kind of work.

I've also used the 85mm f/2.0 for wide open portraits and the results there are also excellent, although not in the same league with the 4.5 times more expensive f/1.2 version. For portraits, the f/2.0 focusing is what Rolls Royce marketing has always said about its cars' horsepower - adequate - and the constant refrains about its STM failings are way over-emphasized. The only time I've found it truly annoying is when it may be set at one extreme of the focus range and then is asked to focus at the opposite or near opposite end of that range. In that case, it usually does rack in and out, making too much noise doing it. If you understand this, simply manually focus somewhere remotely around the desired focus point and then the autofocus gets you there quickly and without any fuss. That's not ideal, but it is eminently useable if you make the minimum effort, and you will have a splendid portrait lens at a very - for a Canon RF - inexpensive cost, with a very good near macro lens thrown in for good measure.