Another cheap(ish) RF prime review/demonstration

Alastair Norcross wrote:

I hope my post about the RF 50 F1.8 was helpful to at least some people who may have been wondering whether it was worth buying. When I'm considering whether to buy a lens, I certainly appreciate seeing the kind of pictures that people ordinarily take with it, rather than shots of test charts, or even the kinds of pictures reviewers take when they are specifically trying out the lens (though some of these can be helpful too). With the recent(ish) price drops on both the RP and the R, a fair number of people may be buying into, or considering buying into, the R system, but not prepared to spend $2000 or more per lens, which is what most of the RF L lenses will set you back. Over many years of owning EF mount Canon cameras, I've owned a wide range of EF lenses, mostly Canon, including some really nice L lenses and some pretty cheap lenses. One of my favorites for many years was the EF 85 F1.8. It was nice and sharp, fairly small and light, and fast focusing. When I jumped at the chance to buy a refurbished R from Canon for only a bit over $1100, with the RF 24-105L thrown in for an additional $650, I thought long and hard about whether to sell my trusty old 85 to help finance the purchase of the new RF 85 F2 IS, which had recently been announced (July 2020--I bought my R in December 2020). In the end, a few factors persuaded me to make the move: the RF version is only 75gm heavier and about 3/4inch longer, both of which are more than offset by having to use the EF version on the adapter; the RF version has very effective IS; the RF version focuses a lot closer than the EF version (and than any other 85mm AF full frame lens). The only drawback that I could see was that the RF version's STM AF was reputed to be a bit slower than the USM AF on the EF version. Because I didn't anticipate using the RF 85 for sports very much (if at all), that didn't bother me. One other possible advantage of the RF version was that it was unlikely to suffer anything like as much from purple fringing wide open, which was the main optical fault of the EF version (at least in my experience). Although it's possible to correct (most of) the fringing of the EF version in post, it doesn't always disappear completely.

At $599, weighing 500gm, and 91mm long, the RF 85 F2 IS is the biggest, heaviest, and most expensive of the affordable non-L fast RF primes. It's still pretty small, light, and cheap, though, considering what you get. When I went back and checked my Lightroom catalog by lens, I discovered that, since December 2020 I've used the 85 about half as much as the 50, and about two thirds as much as the 35 and the 24-105 (I got the 16 F2.8 much more recently, so I'm not comparing that usage yet). For me at least, it's mostly a people (and pets) lens, though it's also very useful for closeups of flowers and other still life. This post, and the next two (so I don't put too many images in any one post), are just supposed to give you an idea of the kind of results you can get in ordinary usage. Almost all my people shots are taken at ordinary social gatherings, and almost never involve subjects posing specifically for the camera (although sometimes it might look like it), nor special lighting setups. Although I own three pretty competent flashes, I dislike flash photography, and rarely use them. I'll arrange these shots in ascending order of ISO used, so you can see first of all how the lens copes in really good light, and then see how the images from it hold up to the demands of processing high ISO shots. They were all processed with either Lightroom or DXO Photolab 5, except for the two OOC JPEGs that I shot at a track meet.

First, some shots at base ISO (or near enough as makes no difference):

I love the look of B&W shots from this lens

I think this was the first shot I ever took with this lens. And then I took another shot.

I like the colors and bokeh drawing on these...

Not trying to knock the Siggy 56, but these are superior. There's something to be said about FF and image quality.

Glad to see a "cheap" lens, can. Honestly so can the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, but, having IS and a newer optical formula that solves the shortcomings of the EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, double boon.

Looks like Lightroom finally has a good color match too. I noted they fixed it for my former G5X II and recently went back and reprocessed a couple RAWs with excellent results. These look good as well. Congrats to yourself, the lens, and Adobe, in that order. You nailed the purpose of the lens from the samples.