Just got a brand new 85mm 1.2 II and i'm a bit concerned about the softness and CA at 1.2. I mean, the lens isn't soft, but it seems softer than my 135mm f/2 L @ f/2.
I've attached 100% crop samples. Maybe I should send it back?
lots of canon lenses get that green/purple longitidunal CA on OOF areas, especially some of the fast ones wide open. You'll notice that it will be one color for areas in front of the DOF and another color for parts behind the DOF, it shows up on objects a certain distance in front or behind your subect (that are OOF) because it is not focusing the compelte spectrum at the same in-out distance.
the 135L is totally amazing, fantastic contrast, astounding color, extremely sharp, very low levels of 'standard' lateral CA, BUT sometimes fairly bad green/purple longitudinal CA and when it is bright it can pick up a fair amount of PF on highlights.
the 300 f/4 non-IS has quite a bit of it (green/purple longitudinal).
it does vary by lens as the 70-200 2.8 IS definitely has a lot more of this type than the 70-200 2.8 non-IS which has almost none.
the thing that is so amazing about the 300 2.8 IS is that is almost 100% totally lacks any form of color abberation, even wide open, virtually no lateral CA either first or second order, essentially no longitudinal CA and crazy-resistant to PF even under the most savage of conditions, perhaps a few lenses can end up matching the color/contrast even sharpness, amybe a handful can even beat it a trace, but I have yet to see any that are also as free of any sort of defects such as those.
Looks like you're doing the standard "close focus wide open test".
Try bringing the lens into the "real world" I mean no disrespect by that. The 85L is a really picky little beast, you need to practice with it and learn it's uses. It's actually pretty sharp wide open all things considered, though the CA is a bit heavy and you'll perhaps need a contrast/saturation boost, it's still a very sharp lens IMHO.
Learn what it excels at. Close-focus text tests...aren't really it's strengths. Once I got more than a few true keepers, I realized my previous "hesitation" about the lens was actually...uh..."user error".
I see nothing unusual about the samples you have provided. I was a bit suspicious about mine when I got it. It takes a while to get used to this lens. No I wont be without it, I just try to avoid high contrast situations @1.2.
There are a lot of actions for PS that will fix CA. A few are also free for download. Look at any website that has free actions/plugins for PS. And Photoshop camera raw has corrections for the CA & fringing
Lars Johnsson wrote:
There are a lot of actions for PS that will fix CA. A few are also free for download. Look at any website that has free actions/plugins for PS. And Photoshop camera raw has corrections for the CA & fringing
Lars, I have not tried any that are particularly satisfactory, especially when dealing with longitudinal CA. I thought maybe you had some magic trick up your sleeve....
All 85 1.2 L's have CA wide open. It improves greatly when stopped down.
Here's one from a pub I drink in. The conditions were perfect for CA to rear it's head mind, but it's very obvious around the highlight areas of the spectacle frames.
The 85L can have some massive fringing depending on the conditions. It isn't discussed too, much since the merits seem to far outweigh it. Funny when you think about it. The 85L can have wicked fringing wide open, slow AF, a protruding rear element and bizarre MF ring. Yet, it is still the last lens I'd give up for any reason.
OH and f/1.2 can ruin a plane of focus if the gravitation pull of the moon suddenly changes.
