I'm really interested in getting the 85mm 1.2 V. II The pics I've seen displayed are simply incredible! I currently use an 85 1.8 for occasional sports shoots - however not very frequently. If I decide to purchase the 1.2, the 1.8 will have to go to help offset the cost.
My question is, with the improved auto focus of the V.2 85 1.2, how is it & would it suffice for an occasional sports lens?
Randy:
I purchased the 85-1.8 new about 18 months ago and probally used it twice; I purchased the 85L new in October and I shoot with it every day and it is fantastic.
Selling the 85-1.8 crossed my mind, but, it's worth more in inventory and peace-of-mind than the $$$.
The instant you sell it, you will need it.
You really need both.
You can only use it for sports where the subject distance does not change rapidly, or if you are hot-poop at manual focus. I have used to photograph half-pipe and flatland bmx and it was fine - forget it for 'action' sport though.
I just got the v2 and it is usable for something like grade school basketball and as others mentioned sports portraits. I have seen some great shots of dance and gymnastics from this lens so it can be used in some cases.
The track shots work with the 1.2L because the focus-distance is changing slowly and consistently. Sports where you are changing focus distance often or trying to follow a fast subject (i.e. basketball) the 1.2L would be much less than ideal.
DON'T GET RID OF THE 1.8 if you plan on shooting indoor sports, don't do it you will regret it!!!!! The 85 1.2 is a great portrait lens but it's not fast at all for AF. The 50 1.2 on the other hand is much better and I have used that lens for GS Bball last year and will use it again this month for the boys in a tight gym. My most used lens for Volleyball and Basketball this year has been the 85 1.8. Maybe some day I'll try the 85 1.2 but I wouldn't shoot a whole game with it let alone a half. Keep the 1.8, two lenses with two different uses.
I took mine out to see if was suitable for volleyball(the single most demanding sport for a camera and photographer IMO) and it failed badly.
Bottom line....the 85L is useless for acquiring fast focus in a fast moving sports environment, it is just too slow. If the subject is moving erratically at all...forget it.
I was really hoping this would not be the case....but it is.
You can use it with lots of light (outdoors) with a small aperture and long DOF (like the horse racing shots above), but inside in low light wide open for active sports, not so good. But I love my 85 f/1.2!
I will concede that it is not the ideal sports lens, but when you are shooting inside with lighting just a little better than a dungeon and flash is not allowed, it can get shots that no other lens will. Here is one from a recent gymnastics event. It was on AI Servo with a 1DMKIIn. I use it mainly on a 5D for portraits but the lens on a 1D just focuses faster, or maybe it doesn't waste any movement hunting. It's really not that bad if you just have to have the higher shutter speeds in low light.
Ron, that one also scores high on the scale of "any sport shot axial". Not hard in terms of AF speed. Heck, I guess you could even do that one in MF mode. How long does the guy stand in that position I did these shots myself with a selftimer when I was an athlete Have EOSfun.
I'm really interested in getting the 85mm 1.2 V. II The pics I've seen displayed are simply incredible! I currently use an 85 1.8 for occasional sports shoots - however not very frequently. If I decide to purchase the 1.2, the 1.8 will have to go to help offset the cost.
My question is, with the improved auto focus of the V.2 85 1.2, how is it & would it suffice for an occasional sports lens?
Thanks for any assistance!
Randy
It comes in handy in the fast paced world of snail racing, especially with the new genetically modified snails that are 1.8x faster than the common garden snails
eosfun wrote:
Ron, that one also scores high on the scale of "any sport shot axial". Not hard in terms of AF speed. Heck, I guess you could even do that one in MF mode. How long does the guy stand in that position I did these shots myself with a selftimer when I was an athlete Have EOSfun.
At that distance, it couldn't have been shot in MF, I tried but the DOF was just too small. My example was not really mean to tout it focusing ability as it is relatively slow, but its low light, high shutter speed capability. He was moving quite fast and I will admit about half of the shots were out of focus, but I was able to get 1/500 of a sec shutter speed at ISO 1600 and f1.2. The lens does have it's usage in sports, just in special situations.
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I'll hold on to the 1.8 for now - just in case!
I did these shots myself with a selftimer when I was an athlete