Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM Lens Review

J A C S wrote:

sceneIt wrote:

If it really is as you describe then how did Sony manage to get round bokeh balls in their 85 GM?

They did not.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jannikschaeffer/27607629728/

LOL nice photo choice

They must have faked the review I saw

expro wrote:

On this review I would definitely buy the 1.4 because it is at least as good as the 1.8 on everything plus has 1.4 which is stunning and of course IS.

no brainier to me.

the more interesting one is would I swap out my 1.2ii for the 1.4 and so far no....

The 1.2 focuses so slowly that it’s not appropriate for all uses

Nice review, thanks!

How do you find the AI-Servo accuracy?

I have seen a number of reports, including a thread on another well-known forum, with people, including some wedding photographers, who love lots about this lens but have been left disappointed with unreliable AI Servo performance.

One of the biggest benefits I have found since getting a 5D mark iv (I was previously using a 6D and 80D) is that all of a sudden the AF on my 85mm 1.8 has gone from being decidedly iffy to becoming extremely reliable. It has been like getting a new lens! And the IQ is really not too shabby at all.

Having said that, this new lens is certainly very interesting, and you present its advantages in a fair and balanced manner, though it would be a massive shame if the AF reports are true.

Thanks again.

Shane

J A C S wrote:

sceneIt wrote:

J A C S wrote:

sceneIt wrote:

If it really is as you describe then how did Sony manage to get round bokeh balls in their 85 GM?

They did not.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jannikschaeffer/27607629728/

LOL nice photo choice

They must have faked the review I saw

You choose not to believe your eyes? Here are a few more:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35095078@N02/42100326371/in/pool-sel85f14gm/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilovelilyd/26884368958/in/pool-sel85f14gm/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/itarugra/39794133315/in/pool-sel85f14gm/

No, I believe my eyes! I just thought the photo was funny because of the bondage. LOL

Not on a 1d it’s slower than all other Ls but still no problem at all for moving portraiture even use it for sports occasionally.

sceneIt wrote:

PhotoSimonUK wrote:

sceneIt wrote:

fotoriffic wrote:

sceneIt wrote:

PhotoSimonUK wrote:

For those of you who are interested in the new(ish) Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM lens . . . I've written a fairly detailed review, mainly comparing it to the much cheaper Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM.

https://simonbrettellphotography.co.uk/canon-ef-85mm-f-1-4l-is-usm-lens-review/

Great review! Canon won't be getting my money on this iteration. I have to agree with you in that it doesn't separate itself enough on sheer image quality from the f1.8, which I used to own and really liked. If I'm being honest, I don't know why they bothered making it. As you state 26 years and barely any optical improvement over the old design, they could have left well enough alone and few would have noticed or cared.

They made it because Tamron and Sigma were getting lots of praise for their new 85s. Competition is a wonderful thing. Now we'll have to see if that same competition will drive the price down.

I respect Canon's design choices. They kept the weight and size down and they introduced IS. But for me if it isn't optically better than what I already own I don't need it. Unfortunately the fringing, the bokeh, the overall contrast, it seems to be down slightly vs the Sigma 85 Art. I think they went practical when they should have gone balls out. That's why Sigma and Tamron got praised.

I think it's really interesting hearing people's thoughts on this lens. For me I was a little surprised / disappointed that it wasn't significantly sharper than the old Canon f/1.8. However; it's still a great lens which is more than sharp enough, the IS is invaluable for me with how I like to shoot.

I think if they had got a lot closer to the price of the Sigma 85mm Art people would be a lot less critical and more likely to plump for the native glass. Canon have probably done themselves a bit of a dis-service with the price point. Personally I've had a bit of a love / hate relationship with third party gear, especially lenses.

This does add something to the existing lineup . . . The f/1.2 is a unique bit of glass but is hampered with slow focusing. The f/1.8 is brilliant value for money and also offers incredible performance. Now the 1.4 gives a faster aperture than the f/1.8, faster focusing than the f/1.2, IS, weather sealing and a few other tweaks. It's a great all round portrait lens . . . but not a world beater in terms of sharpness and probably a little over priced!

I also find it interesting!

Consider this image..

Taken with Sigma 85mm art

Could the bokeh balls be round like on the Sony 85 GM? Yes, they could.

Unfortunately Canon must not be interested in round bokeh balls either because their new 85 exhibits similar bokeh performance to the Sigma. They had a chance to be better and they missed it. Somehow Sony got the memo???

The Sigma also has purple fringing... so does the Canon.

Even their new 35L with the special "blue lens" has fringing, and I own that.

If Canon somehow can't engineer a lens to be optically better than its 26 year old predecessor I'm just not interested in it.

Oh well! More money in my pocket I guess....

I like the cat's eye bokeh just the way it is.  I think it's great!  Rounded bokeh would be worse for me, not better.  The subject is what matters most.  The bokeh is secondary anyway.

PS UK

Great job!

I enjoyed looking at your images.

I have owned the 85 1.8.  its a very nice lens.

the 85LII is a fair bit sharper than than 85.18 at 1.8, and stays so till about f 2.8.  From all I have read teh f1.4L is even sharper. So I am surprised you did not find much a difference.  I also find the L (the 1.2 version at least) to have a nicer and more saturated color than 1.8.  I would have expected for that to be true about the 1.4L IS also.

Nice practical review.

Glad I ordered my F/1.4L just before reading your review, or I might have dithered, and lost the purchase of a well priced ex-demo version of the EF 84 F/1.4L IS USM.

I've tried it on my 5D Mk II and on my 1D Mk III, but so far I'm only really happy with it on my 7D Mk II - where focusing does seem very reliable.  Tomorrow I will run more trials on my 5D MkII body.   I also have the 85 F/1.8 (my first purchase of an EF prime back in 1995...) and the 85 F/1.2L Mk II, which has been very sharp indeed when focused via Live View.

1Dx4me wrote:

PaddyC wrote:

Huge thanks from me for this. A great review (and great sample photos BTW) that is of help because this was a lens I had my eye on. Having read your review I'll just keep my 1.8.

i have the f1.8 and like it but the purple fringing is unacceptable sometimes--which makes it a loser for me! the new f1.4 has made a good improvement with purple fringing and addition of IS. i won't upgrade my f1.8 because i don't use this FL that much to warrant the upgrade but i think it is worth it for someone who does weddings or use this lens in studios--such as OP.

Do you use Canon DPP to process? It's really good at removing purple fringing.

this is somewhat surprising review. I’ve owned all three Canon lenses 85mm 1.8, 85ii and finally 85IS. The 1.8 lens is very different from the other two in how it renders portraits and handles light, not to mention colors and contrast. Try pushing colors with 85mm 1.8 and they start to fall apart. 85ii and 85IS are close, very similar rendering but the new one has noticeably stronger contrast and color saturation but also sharper at f1.4 when compared side by side. Not sure if I would rely on that software for sharpness determination.  Fringing on 85mm 1.8 is bad and not always easy to remove, flaring and loss of contrast is any issue. But it is definately a bargain for what it offers for the price and one of the reason Canon system is such a great value. (85mm, 35IS, 50STM, 40mm, etc.)

PhotoSimonUK wrote:

sceneIt wrote:

PhotoSimonUK wrote:

For those of you who are interested in the new(ish) Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM lens . . . I've written a fairly detailed review, mainly comparing it to the much cheaper Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM.

https://simonbrettellphotography.co.uk/canon-ef-85mm-f-1-4l-is-usm-lens-review/

I don't know what you use to publish your blog, but if it's wordpress there are cool scripts like this one: https://wordpress.org/plugins/image-comparison-slider/ that you can use to compare images instead of an animated gif. If you don't use wordpress writing a script should be easy enough to switch between two images.

Yeah, it's Wordpress based. Thanks for the tip on the comparison tool, it's something I'd not even thought about.

I'm using this one which seems to be updated more regulary compared to the one posted above

https://wordpress.org/plugins/twenty20/

Great review too, before switching to Sony I was thinking of getting this lens. If I end up getting the FF Mirrorless from Canon once released I'll probably go for this lens too.

Hmmm, I get no content, only the header. Maybe the crappy browser my company makes me use IE11. I'll try later.

The old 85mm 1.4 focus is junk thats why.