RF 85mm f/1.2L USM... a refined gem from Canon (REVIEW)

Big, Bright & Bold.

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Yet again, Canon had redesigned an old favorite ... and boy, did they get it right.  The new RF version of the highly-regarded EF lens is a spectacular variant to the original.  Considered by Canon to be one of their [QUOTE] "highest performing optical lenses", it simply doesn't disappoint.  It looks good, it's slightly monstrous, it takes great looking photographs and it's priced accordingly.  It's faster and more reliable than its predecessor and AF speed has been improved from the EF models.  But it's the reduction and general elimination of Chromatic Aberration that sets this fast-aperture lens aside from the models before it.
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The magic of the original EF lenses was in the bokeh and rendering and this new lens produces very similar, if not identical results.  If you can ignore the hefty weight (which becomes more apparent when a dual-battery grip is involved), it's a pleasure to use and there's no longer the old risk of ruining a shot because your camera wasn't calibrated to match the lens... which was a problem with EF variants of this lens on older DSLR type cameras.
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I wanted to spend at least a few months with this lens before writing a brief review of the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens - just to see if there was anything needing to be addressed.  In the end, I have nothing to complain about.  It performs exactly as it is supposed to.
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KEY FEATURES:
* A very Wide Aperture f/1.2 Lens Aperture.
* Super-shallow Depth Of Field available at f/1.2
* Classic 85mm focal length.  A favorite for portrait photographers with Full Frame.
* USM ring-type motor that combines with Canon's new Eye-AF system.
* Designed by Canon especially for mirrorless R-System cameras.
* 85cm Minimum Focus Distance.
* Blue Spectrum Refractive Optics (BR).
* Ultra-Low Dispersion Glass (UD).
* Fluorine Coating.
* Air Sphere Coating (ASC) to reduce lens flare and control contrast.
* One of Canon's highest quality optical performance to date.
* Dust and Weather Sealing.
* 9-Bladed Circular Aperture to enhance defocus & bokeh appearance.
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EOS Ra + RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens - Lens Hood attached.

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Astrophotography:
Hands down, this is THE best lens for medium-wide lens Astrophotography if you want to take singular, short exposures.  It ought to perform even better with an EQ Mount that can track the sky with the movement of the Earth.  I chose to buy this lens instead of a telescope and I think the decision to do so is sound for the moment.  Whilst I haven't yet used the lens on a tracking mount, the exposures were limited to 5 or 6 seconds to avoid star trails.  The next best lens in the RF range for Astro would be the new RF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens... but note that the RF 50mmL does not feature the new BR optics that the RF 85mm possesses.
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Note that this lens performs very well on both the new Canon Full Frame EOS Ra mirrorless astrophotography camera and also on the other EOS R cameras.  Stars are bright yet sharp, even at f/1.2 ... and no outrageous color blooming and optical aberrations were present.  Shot side-by-side with the older EF 50mm f/1.2L lens, the images captured from the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens exhibited incredible control interesting color fringing - clearly due to the inclusion of the Blue Refractive Optics.  The results from the RF 85mmL lens were simply superb.  Using a sightly smaller aperture of f/1.4 produces sharper, tighter stars so that's what I ran with.
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Landscape Photography:
Whilst not exhibiting a wide FOV, the landscapes from this lens are detailed and visually striking,  I've often found anything approaching 150mm to be unsuitable for anything other than zooming in to a highlight in a scene... but 85mm is wide enough to produce an acceptable landscape and obviously multiple shots can be taken and stitched into a panorama with very little distortion to complicate the results. *See example below. 
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Portrait Photography:
This is a portrait lens and whilst wider than the 50mm lens alternatives, it can be used to stunning effect with human subjects.  The strong bokeh, lack of noticeable PF/CA and accurate AF makes this the best portrait lens for the R system at present.  On the recent model cameras with Canon's new eye-tracking, it's more than capable and works beautifully with moderately recent Speedlite lenses produced in the last 10 years or so.  Using a Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT (off the camera) with a Canon ST-E3-RT remote trigger with this lens via ETTL was no problem at all.  The lens was responsive and speedy with the remote trigger.
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Urban/Street Photography:
Because of the AF speed improvement and AF accuracy, this can now be used as a street or urban photography lens. It's good in crowds and in even moderately reasonable light its fast enough.   But it's also a rather massive lens in terms of diameter... and you'll always be spotted when carrying it.  To protect the lens, you'll probably leave the lens hood on and that doubles the length of the lens.
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IBIS with newer model cameras (eg EOS R5/R6):
The new IBIS offered in the latest R5 and R6 cameras work just with this lens and Canon claims a full 8-Stops of Stabilization with the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM.  I found the IBIS useful and effective with the RF 85mmL lens. 
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EOS Ra with the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens attached for Astrophotography.

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Bokeh
Everyone buys an f/1.2L lens for the bokeh.  In the case of lenses wider than 120mm, some cat-eye bokeh can be expected in areas of the frame where the light source is "incidental" and from the edges of the frame ... specifically from the curved rim of the lens hood or lens body.  This is exactly the same with the revered EF 85mmL variant of this lens.  The RF 85mmL lens produces nice, smooth bokeh which is very smooth when no highlights are dominant and it produces large light-discs where highlights are prominent.  The rather bold colors in the example below are the result of the EOS Ra's IR-Cut modified sensor you you can see how bold and soft the defocused background are.  The red flower cluster is longer than a human head is tall.  If the background were further away, the bokeh would render even smoother with even less detail visible.  The lens character is appealing and the colors rendered with the R6 were perfectly accurate.  A Circular Polarizer was necessary for shooting wide open with this lens in sunlight, hence the saturation of the colors may be bolder (see below).
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EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - Bokeh Example - (red flower cluster is over 1.5  feet tall in frame)

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NOTES / OBSERVATIONS :
* It's a very heavy lens for its size - at 1195 grams (1.2 kg) - or 2.63 lbs.
* Lens Hood is included in the box with the lens.
* This is a wide bodied lens. Not easy to grip when changing lenses.
* Takes larger, more expensive 82mm filters.
* Did not produce any hard vignettes. Even with double-stacked filters.
* Was possible to use 77mm filters with an 82-77mm step ring with no issues.
* All shots taken with "Lens Corrections" turned on.
* Superb optical quality.
* Superb AF accuracy.
* Improved AF speed over the older EF versions.
* Blue Refractive Optics (BR) produce spectacular results.
* No noticeable Chromatic Aberrations in images (LOCA was all but absent).
* Expensive but worth the costs involved.
* Very sharp details with landscapes using smaller apertures.
* No AF issues. None whatsoever.
* Looks nice on the EOS R cameras.
* Handles easier with an optional Battery Grip Extender.
* Appears to be solidly built. 
* Lens hood is no longer flocked on the inside like before (which is good).
* The Polycarbonate Body did not cause condensation to form on the surface like the older metal-body versions did when shooting outside at night.
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DISLIKES:
* The lens makes a 'hollow plastic' sound when tapped with a fingernail.
* The new texture on the polycarbonate body shell will capture marks from fingers when handled... but it appears to be 'sanding" the skin off the tips of the fingers on a near-microscopic level.  A gentle wipe with a non-paper cloth(preferably microfiber) removes any marks immediately.  It's easy to maintain and the marks are not permanent.
* These are not flaws.
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SAMPLES BELOW:
* The samples below were shot in JPEG. 
* Camera Default user setting was "Fine Detail".
* No sharpening or noise reduction added.

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I have no issues with image quality, build or performance.  Even the high cost is reflected in the technology and advanced optical features/coatings.  Hence a perfect 5-Stars from me.
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EOS R6 + RF 85mmL - Testing the Eye-Tracking feature on the Canon R6.

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - Bokeh & AF test.

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - Ducks on water at a calm ocean port.
EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - three-image panorama of the Carina Nebula.

EOS R6 + RF 85mmL - View from a lunch table #1

EOS R6 + RF 85mmL - View from a lunch table #2  (full sized image from camera).

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - three-image panorama of the Galactic Core
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Regards,
Marco Nero.

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - Milky Way poised above the tree I was under

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - AF accuracy test in low light

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - Bokeh Test

EOS R6 + RF 85mmL - Fish for lunch?

EOS R6 + RF 85mmL - This buffoon again.

EOS R6 + RF 85mmL
EOS R6 + RF 85mmL - Tracking test (with the wrong exposure)

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL - Not much editing beyond a color/contrast tweak.

EOS R6 + RF 85mmL

EOS Ra + RF 85mmL

Thanks, great summary!  I feel the same love for this gem on my R5 and my Ra! Its really a gamechanger!

I've got mine recently for my R5. I sold my aging 1D X and EF 85mm f/1.2L II to get a sizable discount on it.

I've used it a bit an my impressions match your review

• I feel like I can finally use 1.2! With the old setup it was way too hit and miss
• quality of the lens (construction) is great
• quality of the images is superb
• I do feel it very large and heavy on the R5. A bit better now that I got the grip
• Price, size and weight are pretty much the only advantages left to the older EF equivalent in my mind

The price is over the top and whatever happens I'll hang on to the EF version if only because you can use it with the drop in filter system. In fact since I got the R5 i've only ever considered adding RF lenses while keeping the EF versions for the great advantage of the drop in variable ND filter etc especially for video.

That blue smudge is not CA, it's actually a Violet-Blue LED from a USB charging port on the ground that is glowing behind the cat.

Phenomenal review and samples - much appreciated

marshwader wrote:

The price is over the top and whatever happens I'll hang on to the EF version if only because you can use it with the drop in filter system. In fact since I got the R5 i've only ever considered adding RF lenses while keeping the EF versions for the great advantage of the drop in variable ND filter etc especially for video.

I agree the price is high.  But it's only a little more than the EF version when it was at maximum retail.  I traded my EF lens in to cover some of the cost of the RF version.  It was a hard decision to make because I had a very decent copy of the EF lens.

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Preparing my old EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens for sale...

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Whilst I had what was considered a "truly excellent" copy of the EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens, it still didn't come close to the reliability and optical quality of the newer RF model.  I won't use drop-in filters unless the lens itself demands them... because they compromise the environmental seals and allow dust incursion into the sensor bay.  I also note that the Drop-in filter has some of the structural integrity compromised with the "hollow side" design which in turn is more likely to be stressed with heavier lenses and may flex if the entire assembly is dropped by accident.  As you would know, the glass optic at the back of the older EF model is virtually flush with the rear of the lens.  The drop-in filter system was designed for the much larger White-lenses that had no means of attaching a supersized filter to the front threads of the lens.  And using a drop in filter system on an f/1.2 lens is only useful in bright daylight...  so removing it and not having something to plug the hole with becomes a serious problem if you haven't shelled out a small fortune for the hard-to-find blank or clear drop-in replacement.  Knowing that other people were likely upgrading, I elected to sell my EF 85mmL lens, knowing there was a fairly slim window for me to upgrade to the RF version. Since I was also abandoning the Full Frame DSLR system for Full Frame Mirrorless system, there was no point in me retaining the EF lens when the RF lens was essentially replacing it.
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The rear element of the EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens is flush with the rear mounting ring.

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I thought about keeping the EF lens.  It's produced a LOT of wonderful images for me over the years.  When sold it, there was not so much as a microscopic scratch on any of the shiny plastic surfaces.  The lens had never once been without a protective filter and it was always handled with a considerable amount of car.  So I ended up selling what was a mechanically and cosmetically pristine lens to make room for the RF lens equivalent. 
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Some of my shots from the EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens ...

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It would be easy enough for me to attempt to justify a purchase by claiming the new item is "so much better than the old item" - but just look at all the glowing reviews from professional photographers.  There's nothing remotely negative about the new RF lens beyond weight and price and all the glowing praises are from well established reviewers.  Even the labs that test and compare lenses were able to demonstrate scientifically that the new RF 85mmL was optically superior to the old version.
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An excellent example of how the new optical performance (via coatings and the new BR optics) can be seen here.  The shot from the RF 85mm was downsized slightly to match the scale of the 50mm EF lens.   Notice all the chromatic issues with-the image on the left.  Stars were rendered with massive purple halos that should not exist.  Now take a look at the shot in the right... That cluster of stars towards the lower left corner is the Southern Pleiades and they should be a sky-blue color.  Only the RF lens was able to render them properly and without all that absurd amount of purple fringing.

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The original EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens was an improvement on the even earlier version of this lens.  The Mk II had an upgraded CPU, was 1.8x faster and received optical coatings missing on the Mk1. It was faster and more precise with its older focus-by-wire system... but it was still unreliable.  Something that really bothered me with the EF version is that you had to calibrate your camera using the MFA (micro-focus adjustment setting) whenever using one of the f/1.2 lenses....  and the really annoying thing is that you could accurate calibrate the lens for the camera but then it would mysteriously skip focus again.  Worse still, if you swapped lenses and then returned to the EF 85mmL lens, you often randomly lost your calibrations and the lens would back-focus SEVERELY.  More tan a few members here have complained about this. The reason for this lack of reliability is that every camera and lens had tolerance differences of a fraction of a millimeter when assembled.  Hence the MFA option being essential.  But if you're leaving DSLR cameras behind, the EF 85mm f/1.2L II lens becomes redundant.  Your focus will be more reliable on a mirrorless body but you will still suffer the results from fairly noticeable Chromatic Aberrations - including visible LOCA and strong PF.  The RF version handles these issues easily and offers much faster and perfectly reliable Auto Focus accuracy... something that the EF lens could never hope to match.
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You can certainly save money by not buying the new lens and sticking to the earlier version.  But the image quality, future compatibility and AF speed will be lacking.
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EOS Ra with the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM lens

The EF 85mm F/1.2 II is available barely used for about £850, which is £1000 less than the new retail price, the RF is only really available new and at £2150. So its effectively £1300 more.

The point about focus calibration with EF lenses is irrelevant when they are used on an R series body as they benefit from exactly the same focussing system the RF lenses get.

Given that the the primary use case for this lens is wide open for portraiture, for which critical sharpness and edge to edge performance are not a factor, the value proposition to me for this lens seems negligible. For the same price as the RF85 f/1.2 you could pick up a whole suite of L and Art lenses.

Perhaps if the lens is paying for itself at weddings and business portrait sessions, the premium might be worthwhile, but otherwise I just don't see it.

WEX in the UK currently sells the RF version for £2799 but you get £200 Canon cashback. Gulp! I'm on VAT, which would obviouysly bring the price down further, but still: Gulp!

I bought the drop in filter adaptor with variable ND + clear filter even before I got the R5. It's a great system. Almost as good as switchable filters on a video cam, once you get used to the fact that the filter is a bit too "easy" to rotate. There aren't any problems with the adaptor fit on any of the L  lenses i have. This is constructed for all of them, not just the big whites and it's environmentally sealed with rubber gaskets, although I also got the simple no filter  EF-RF adaptor free from Canon, if the going gets rough.

Horses for courses! I love this filter sytem, but if I wasn't also into video I might think differently. I was just totally fed up with pfaffing around with screw on variable NDs on the front end of lenses. I'll get the odd RF lens but on the whole I don't see much reason to replace any of the EF L lenses I have.

It's that drop in filter system that makes me think there's a long life in the EF lens line.  When I add up the amount I have spent on NDs and CPLs that drop in systems isn't quite so steep and it will get a lot cheaper once the 3rd parties start making them.   One would still need UVs as lens protectors and for weather sealing but they're a lot cheaper than CPLs.

I haven't tried, one but I imagine that the drop in VND would work a lot better with ultrawides than one at the front of the lens.