This lens is Eos valhalla. An f1.2 monster that has more glass in it than your average skyscraper. And now I have it.
I shoot loads of portraits and fashionshots and needed a good telelens. A 70-200 2.8 is great for events like fashionweek but personally I think it’s a bit like aiming a howitzer artillery gun at your model.
The Canon 85L is is still a big and heavy lens but still small enough to not intimidate your subject.
But the 1.2 lens opening is just pure pornography (google hits will like this). If the focus nails it you can make the most dreamy portraits you’ve ever seen. And if you stop it down to 1.4 it becomes the sharpest lens you’ve ever seen.
It’s definitely no easy lens to work with. especially on 1.2 which give you about 1 cm of sharpness(with a portrait)and sometilmes less. The big hunks of glass which move around in the lens gives every focus-system a hard time keeping it sharp time after time. My 5D is for instance less consistent with it than my 7D, which has a more advanced system.
It’s not all sunshine and happiness with this lens. It suffers from some extreme lens flare and purple fringe issues and that some timse can be a little annoying especially when you’re shooting available light or someone who is lit from behind.
The slow focus and those lens errors aside I must say I adore this lens. because If you can take an available light portrait with street light at 2 am at night with the iso still at 640 and it looks fantastic and it’s pinsharp, that makes you forget the fringing and the flare.
The only thing I miss is some weathersealing, that would’ve been nice.
A while back a wrote about my Canon 24-70 that it was my workhorse. Well now it will have to share that place with the 85. If I can use it, I will.
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Die gaan we toch eens moeten huren !
Gefeliciteerd hiermee, prachtig objectief. Toevallig heb ik deze week de Sigma 85 mm f1.4 aangeschaft, goedkoper maar kwalitatief komt ie in de buurt van jouw speeltje. Ben benieuwd naar je beelden die je hiermee gaat maken!