I've owned every legacy Canon EOS 85mm lens and this is the best value yet,. It's crazy sharp wide open and offers a pleasing (if not a little busy) bokeh but only a few pixel peepers will be put off by the resulting ƒ2.0 shooting. The close focusing abilities of this little wonder are unlike any 85 that came before — it's half macro (1:2) — which is amazing for an 85 ƒ2.0 optic.
We have two of these and I combo mine at weddings with the RF 85L ƒ1.2 (non DS) which is a more magical lens (ƒ1.2 versus ƒ2.0 with unreal wide open sharpness) but this little 85 gives up very little to the giant and is a far better lens to live with for travel and life-journaling. 85's never allow for intimate full face portraits, but this one does! Flower and food shots have a great pop.
Such a great value lens (I paid 550USD for a new copy) isn't going to be perfect, and the potential deal-breaker might be the auto focus mechanism. The STM motor seems a little noisy and unsure in marginal conditions. If other lenses in your bag have silent USM focus, this one will stand out as it's a little noisy. Not loud enough to be heard over street noise, but you'll know it's there if you're shooting in an art gallery. And while the big RF 85L ƒ1.2 and legacy EF 85L ƒ1.4, EF 85 ƒ1.8 USM can focus quickly in with almost no light, this new 85 macro might hunt in marginal conditions. Nothing like Canon's old EF 85L ƒ1.2's (boy they were bad) but If you're a wedding shooter, your low light dance party hit ratio will fall a little. To me it's not a deal-breaker, but be forewarned.
So far all of the Canon's RF series 'budget' lenses I've shot with have really been impressive and this 85 is at the top of the list. Highly recommended!
-- hide signature --
Wedding Photographer in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado
Every great photograph was taken with a camera worse than yours