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haringo
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Registered: Oct 7, 2009
Location: Hungary
Posts: 2
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Review Date: Oct 7, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Extremely Sharp, magical bokeh, colors are silky smooth, solid build, just everything
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Cons:
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price, weight, extending front element, AF is slow
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I have been using this lens for over two months. Probable this is the best lens I have owned. OK, the Canon 135mm 2L is equally good. There is nothing about the image quality I could complain about. I can take pictures of people in almost complete dark. The colors are crazy!!!!
Look at the bride on my opening page on my site: http://www.haringphotography.com/
Look at the image where the bride is sitting on a bench. I think it is the second picture on the flash site. You can see that every aspect of the image is crazy sharp. (Most of the time I don't need to use the sharpen tool!) Look at the bokeh and the colors! I hardly had to change the sky. It is nice and blue. As you see this lens is PERFECT.
The good thing that you can put it on a 1.6 frame body as well without any image quality loss.
It is slightly better than the previous version: Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L USM. The AF is faster but it is still slow compared to other prime lenses (Canon 85mm 1.8)
I know it is crazy expensive. Buy it cry for 5 minutes and don't tell your wife the price. She will love the pictures at the end!!! 
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 Oct 7, 2009
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nomadbelat
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Registered: Sep 28, 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 22
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Review Date: Sep 28, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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silent focus, great manual focus action, insane bokeh, fits well in hand, looks impressive, beautiful color rendition
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Cons:
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none
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I wanted to try this lens for a long time. When I got my 5D II, I knew I had to try it. It was weird when I first put it on. I hated the manual focus; it was so different. By the end of the first day of shooting with it, I wanted all of my lenses to employ the same kind of manual focus. I absolutely love it. It's so smooth and precise. Even in full daylight, you can shoot at 1.2 and get absolutely crisp images. I never stopped it down. I am saving a little each pay period to get this lens. I'm in love.
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Sep 28, 2009
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DamienG
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Registered: Aug 14, 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Aug 14, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Fantastic colour reproduction, very sharp when stopped down.
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Cons:
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Can only be stopped down to f16, manual focus feels loose and is difficult to use
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I've had wanted one of these for a very long time, and when I eventually went out and got one was blown away by how good they actually are. If I had to give up all my lenses and could only keep one it would be this one.
I use it a lot for indoor sport. It needs to be stopped down to at least f2.2 for consistant results, by f2.8 it's easily the best lens I own for sharpness and colour reproduction.
I was worried that the focusing would be too slow for sports duties, but I have found no problems when using it on either my 1dmk3 or 1dsmk3.
As a portrait lens (or shooting anything that's not moving) I don't believe Canon currently produce a better lens.
Wherever I go I now always have this on one of my bodies ready to go. It's very sharp from f1.2 right through to f16.
The only downside to this lens that I have noticed is it's focusing ring.... It's rubbish. It has a lot of play in it, and makes fine adjustments very difficult. Best leave this lens in auto focus.
As far as image quality goes, this lens blows away everything else I own, even my 200 f2L IS.
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Aug 14, 2009
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andywang
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Registered: Jul 8, 2009
Location: Malaysia
Posts: 0
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Review Date: Jul 8, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Superb Excellent photo quality & DOF, Perfect use for full frame camera, potraiture, candid shot.
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Cons:
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Slower then 85mm F1.8, Heavy but I know WHY.
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Love this lens very much, photo will from ordinary change to extraordinary thru this lens! Amazing lens!!!
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Jul 8, 2009
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emandavi
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Registered: Feb 15, 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 626
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Review Date: Jun 18, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,760.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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The bokeh is unbeatable. ...and the images are crisp and clean, even at 1.2 aperture.
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Cons:
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expensive, but I can understand why!
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I used this lens on my 1D camera, and it blew me away. Samples here, mostly taken at 1.4 and 1.2 aperture.
http://www.efelarca.smugmug.com/gallery/8579104_525QW#565480668_ncyxj.
I kept using it, even after the sun had set. I now realize how beatiful natural light photography can be when doing portraitures.
I only wish I'd bought this sooner. I recommend it be used on a professional camera like 1D() series. Their focus speed is amazing. Tried it on a Rebel XTi, and a lot of the shots were blurry.
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Jun 18, 2009
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sixgun
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Registered: Nov 21, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 95
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Review Date: Jun 8, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Speed, Sharpness, Color, Bokeh, Outrageous Creative potential!
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Cons:
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None, Really.
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This lens is a bit pricey, and for all practical purposes at 1.2 - 2.8 this is a manual focus lens - but what you get is nothing short of a work of art in glass if you know how to control it. I prefer manual focus to control DOF anyway - but some will not. I was absolutely blown away the very first time I used this lens. It has been on my 1D Mark III since the day I got it and never been off since. All of my portrait work is now done using this lens and the ability to soft focus in low light is better than anything I have every experienced. The only other lens I have seen that comes close in IQ is the 300L IS Prime (at $4400) - it really is THAT good.
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Jun 8, 2009
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blktaln
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Registered: Nov 1, 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 64
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Review Date: May 14, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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build quality, sharp, creamy bokeh, shows nice saturated colors and contrast...
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Cons:
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draws battery, slow focus...
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just received this lens... it's magical. it captures nice colors and contrast, creates nice bokeh, to me... it's worth every penny!
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May 14, 2009
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alyssajul
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Registered: May 12, 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 2
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Review Date: May 12, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,650.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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pops the foreground like no lens i've ever seen. beautiful backgrounds, great in low light.
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Cons:
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steep learning curve, heavy, a little slow, costs a small fortune
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I never leave for a session or wedding without this lens. In spite of its cost I would still buy this lens if its price doubled tomorrow. It really is that amazing. It takes practice, don't get me wrong. The depth of field gets real shallow, real fast as you approach f/1.2, but once you've mastered it, you'll wonder how you ever shot a portrait session without this baby. Just buy it.
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May 12, 2009
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x0SiN0x
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Registered: Jan 10, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 56
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Review Date: Mar 29, 2009
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Recommend? |
Price paid: $1,870.00
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Pros:
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Impressively sharp wide open when focus is dead on
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Cons:
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inconstant focus on two cameras, focus ring is a little awkward
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I originally rated this lens very highly, but after getting very inconstant focus I brought the lens in for testing. I had issues with this lens front and back focusing no matter what was done. I bought this lens to use at almost wide most of the time, so when focus was off at all it was not good. Im going to give this lens another try after some time, im hoping my copy had an issue. Originally thought my camera, but tried in a 20D and rebel with similar results.
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Mar 29, 2009
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kevindar
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Registered: May 6, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 353
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Review Date: Mar 6, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,600.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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excellent sharpness, great microcontrast, colors, very accurate focusing
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Cons:
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purple fringing, a little slow, price.
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I bought this used on FM, while the Live.com rebates were going on for a final cost of 1400. I already owned 85 1.8, and was not planning to hold on to the 1.2 for long.
The lens quickly became my favorite. for available light portraits, it truly a remarkable lens. I also shot with the 135L, and much prefer the focal length and larger aperture of this lens. PF is a problem but correctable in acr. sharpness is truly remarkable.
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Mar 6, 2009
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x0SiN0x
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Registered: Jan 10, 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 56
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Review Date: Mar 5, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,870.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Sharp, bokeh is silky smooth, solid build
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Cons:
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Slow AF, Heavy, Price, not impressed with the hood
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Mar 5, 2009
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kobold2
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Registered: Mar 16, 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 21
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Review Date: Feb 3, 2009
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Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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sharp, DOF, colours, contrast, bokeh, overall IQ, build, hood
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Cons:
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price, weight, extending front element
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Most exciting lens I own at the moment (still love my lensbaby tho). It is not just a portrait lens, but to shoot in any - especially low light situation: concerts, plays, functions, street photography. AF is not fast, but it is usable and with a good eye, manual focusing is still a viable option even at f/1.2. With AF servo in motor drive mode I can get a lot of keepers as well, when shooting gigs. Sharper than real life :-) Sharper wide open than my 70-200 @f/5.6-8.0 (at 400%) I think. That is after the micro AF adjustment of -11 on my 50D (the 70-200 was spot on already). I can't tell about the corner sharpness as I shoot w/ a crop camera but I will get a FF partially b/c to be able to see what it can do there. Closed down it is sharp as well until diffraction kicks in at f/8.0 or so on the 50D, but still sharp until f/11 and even further. I don't see much point shooting with a more narrow aperture anyway most of the time. The colours & contrast are better than on the 16-35mm MkI the 50mm f/1.4 or the 70-200mm f/4, which are pretty great already. The build quality is unsurpassed, but I find it hard to handle w/o a portrait grip; with a bg-e2n all is good. Still wish it would be lighter sometimes... B/C of the extending front element I keep the hood on it at all times, so not really a problem. Sometimes it is hird to change from AF to MF w/o looking... Overall a cool lens which I would buy again espeically for the price I got this copy (sheer luck when the aussie dollar collapsed). Go get one!
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Feb 3, 2009
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