 |
|
|
Richard Smith
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jan 16, 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 607
|
|
Review Date: Oct 26, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,638.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Sharp, I Like The Manual Focus System (find it very accurate). The look it gives.
|
|
Cons:
|
Slow USM focusing ? (See below).
|
|
|
You buy this lens for the look it gives and if you like that you will consider it an excellent purchase.
Slow Autofocus ??? Well yes but to put it into perspective:
When the lens goes from closest to infinity and back it is slow compared to other L lenses.
But once you are in the zone with your subject it feels as quick as any L lens I have used.
I can imagine it would feel like a dog on a 10D in low light where there is a tendancy to "hunt" but on a 1Dm2 I find it more than acceptable.
If you like the "look" it gives (shallow dof, colour and contrast) then you can learn to work with the focus system.
|
|
 Oct 26, 2004
|
|
bobbytan
Offline
Image Upload: On
Registered: Feb 2, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 18645
|
|
Review Date: Sep 23, 2004
|
Recommend? no |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 6
|
|
Pros:
|
Build quality. f1.2 aperture with nice bokeh.
|
|
Cons:
|
Too expensive, too fat/obese ... and waaaaay too heavy for 85mm
|
|
|
Okay, I've had this lens for only a day, so I am not in a position to comment on the optical quality, but I have no doubts that it is as good as the 85/1.8, and it has a useable f1.2 aperture. Is it better than the 85/1.2? Those who have the lens will probably say yes, but the reports I've read suggest otherwise.
But just based on the physical characteristics i.e. size and weight, it was a turn off for me. I can accept that a 70-200/2.8 must weigh quite a bit but I couldn't come to terms with an 85mm prime lens being so heavy, so, somewhat sadly, I parted company with the lens after owning it for just a day.
If tests and reviews have shown that it is optically DEFINITELY superior to the 85/1.8 I would probably have kept it ... but that is not the case. So the 85/1.2 goes and the 85/1.8 stays.
|
|
|
Sep 23, 2004
|
|
hoovie918
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jan 24, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 5
|
|
Review Date: Sep 1, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,250.00
| Rating: 8
|
|
Pros:
|
Unlike any other Canon lens I have used, well woth the investment !! For weddings this is going to be a staple in my gear.
|
|
Cons:
|
None.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sep 1, 2004
|
|
thebiker
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jun 3, 2003
Location: Malaysia
Posts: 293
|
|
Review Date: Aug 12, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $890.00
| Rating: 6
|
|
Pros:
|
Amazing bokeh - never seen anything like it before from any other lens. Its fast, its razor sharp and at f/1.2 it produces distinct images which sets it in a class of its own. Just got it only very recently but it seems to be quickly becoming my favourite piece of Canon glass. Simply unbeatable for indoor photography without flash. I like the indentation in the rear of the lens barrel - makes it really comfortable to hold and focus manually.
|
|
Cons:
|
Slowwwwwww autofocus and heavy as a canon-ball. The rear lens is flush with the rear plate and you need to be really careful when mounting it. The electronic contacts actually sits on the rear glass itself !!! The front extends outwards when focussing and you need to always remember to retract it completely by setting the focus to infinity when storing the lens.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aug 12, 2004
|
|
maxx9photo
Offline
Image Upload: On
Registered: May 19, 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 2888
|
|
Review Date: Jul 15, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,200.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Sharp, sharp and did I mention sharp?
|
|
Cons:
|
None
|
|
"A" must lens for portrait simple as that. 
|
|
|
Jul 15, 2004
|
|
Lars Johnsson
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jun 29, 2003
Location: Thailand
Posts: 33669
|
|
Review Date: Jul 15, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,450.00
| Rating: 8
|
|
Pros:
|
Very fast, Sharp, Great bokeh
|
|
Cons:
|
Heavy, A little bit slow AF (but not as slow as people say)
|
|
|
Very sharp and very good image quality. A great portrait lens with amazing bokeh.
And I didn't like the hood. It rotate on the lens. Same kind of hood as the 85/1,8 lens.
|
|
|
Jul 15, 2004
|
|
Arka
Offline
Image Upload: On
Registered: Jun 13, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 12939
|
|
Review Date: Jun 9, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,200.00
| Rating: 8
|
|
Pros:
|
Fast. Sturdy build, easy to handle. Hood attachment is fast and easy. Fast. Extremely sharp and unreal color rendition. Amazing out-of-focus background. Fast.
|
|
Cons:
|
Somewhat heavy. AF motor is slower than almost any other lens. WIerd power assisted focus mechanism only functions when the len is attached to a camera
|
|
|
I bought this lens for the speed and purported image quality. It delivers in both departments in spades. The lens has fantastic image quality at any aperture, including f/1.2. The pictures I get out of this lens have a quality that my 70-200 f/2.8 and f/4 zooms were simply unable to match, and the out of focus background is downright ethereal
Build is solid and immaculate as well. Wish it was weather sealed, but you can't have everything. The hood clips on very easily, far easier than on my L-zooms. The hood also rotates with the front MF ring, even though the lens element itself does not rotate. It's a 72mm filter thread.
So why not give it 5 stars? Well, I really wanted to, but for the sake of objectivity, the lens' limitations must be taken into account. First off, it's heavy. The weight is offest by the fact that the lens is not that large, so it is still easy to handle. But this is one of the heaviest non-telephoto primes out there.
The focusing is the real weakness of this lens IMO. The focus ring has a long travel, which allows for very precise focusing. When working with the DoF from an f/1.2 lens, this close control is very important at lower apertures. BUT, it also means that it takes more than two full turns of the focus ring to get from minimum focusing distance (about 3 feet) to infinity. The focus ring is pretty loose, so it spins easily, but it's still a long way between the two extremes.
The mechanism for full time manual focus is also unique in that it is not purely mechanical. Instead, it is a power assisted 'focus-by-wire' system that drives the USM motor as you focus. The system is very accurate, and is very easy to get used to, but one must always have the lens attached to the camera, and the camera powered on, in order to focus it. Because the front element extends, it is good to remember to return the lens to infinity and retract the front element before stowing the lens.
Finally, the greatest drawback to the whole deal; AF speed. The AF speed on the 85mm f/1.2 L is SLOW, due in large part to the long travel from increment to increment, and the enormous amount of glass the motors are called upon to move. The 85mm f/1.8 and the L-zooms blow this one away in terms of focus speed. This slowness is especially maddening on a 10D, where the focus tends to hunt, and the hunting can take upwards of 5 seconds to subside. 5 seconds is an eternity when trying to get the shot. The AF is a lot better when working off a 1-series body, but still slow in comparison to the optically challenged little brother, the 85mm f/1.8.
So, this is a lens primarily for DoF and low-light freaks. The lens can take pictures in almost any light, and once you learn to master control of DoF, it will deliver pictures that no other lens can. I love the lens, but recognize that it is not suited to everyone's style.
Arka C.
|
|
|
Jun 9, 2004
|
|
christo™
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Apr 20, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 1676
|
|
Review Date: May 25, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,500.00
| Rating: 8
|
|
Pros:
|
Good build, sharper than expected wide open, fun headshot lens on 1.6x
|
|
Cons:
|
As everyone reports: the AF is the black sheep of the EF mount L glass line -- YEESH
|
|
|
Everything about this lens is wonderful, except the AF. It is a VERY fun lens to use. I would rate this lens excellent, because used in situations within it's AF capabilities, it's absolutely first class. However, the AF is really, really, a dog compared to others in the Canon EF mount L glass family, and those can't be rated above excellent, so Great is all I can give this one. The fact that it doesn't have distance encoding is a bit of a drag for those caring about flash use with an E-TTL II camera (1D MkII).
I don't know which is more unbelievable about this lens: that an 85/1.2 can be so sharp wide open, or that the AF performance can be such a dog compared to the other Canon lenses in the price range, some of which are absolutely the best AF performers I've used. In any case, when things aren't moving fast, this lens is great on all cameras.
After buying a 10D, I found my 135/2L to be just too long for any portrait work, and for a lot of other stuff I used it on a FF camera. Yet the 50/1.4 was just a tad short for those v. shallow DOF head shots. The 85/1.2 fills that bill very nicely. I bought this lens about 5 months ago, and it has probably been my most used lens on the 10D since. I just happen to love the FOV in so many of my uses and that DOF is just plain fun!
With the 1D MkII, it becomes even more of a portrait lens for me, and with people posing, the AF performance just doesn't matter. With the improved AF of the MkII, the 85/1.2 seems to work quite well even in low light, though s-l-o-w in comparison.
The only serious drawback I find in my uses of this lens is use on the 10D for low light shots, such as weddings where flash is not allowed. It is an ideal focal length, and certainly aperture, for that type of work, but between the 10D AF performance, and this slug, I find the AF speed too slow in many circumstances to allow me to finish dialing in with the FT MF ring and it becomes a shot misser.
On the other hand, I notice this lens has a high frequency of getting mounted on both the 10D and 1D MkII, so I can't say it isn't an overall performer. Furthermore, were Canon to come out with an equivalent lens that had AF performance like the 135/2L, I would upgrade immediately and never look back, despite the high probability that the resale value on the current model will be about zilch if they bring out the same lens with an improved AF so that USM doesn't mean "Ultra Sluggish Mode" as it does on this lens.
If you have a 10D and are shooting portraits, you need this lens. If you have a 1.3x or FF camera, and don't have the 135/2L, buy it first -- the AF on that is full performance, it too shoots sharp wide open, and F2.0 at 135mm can let you play all the shallow DOF games you want.
Oh, yeah, as others have said, the bokeh is cool too, but I don't bother mentioning that in Canon L glass lens reviews much, because I have yet to run into anything but great bokeh with them.
|
|
|
May 25, 2004
|
|
gweetoh
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Oct 17, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 67
|
|
Review Date: May 20, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,200.00
| Rating: 8
|
|
Pros:
|
f/1.2! what else can i say?
|
|
Cons:
|
slow, slow AF, weight, price, hard to find...
|
|
|
going from my 17-40 f/4.0 to being able to shoot at f/1.2 has almost made me speechless. theres almost no situation i can't shoot with only available lighting...
|
|
|
May 20, 2004
|
|
Ray Soemarsono
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jul 27, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 3883
|
|
Review Date: Mar 29, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,500.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Out of this world BOKEH!
|
|
Cons:
|
Slow AF. Price.
|
|
|
The bokeh produced from this lens has to be seen to be believed. It's truly a specialty lens that is ideal for portraiture & still life due to the slower AF. Most of the times, I use manual focusing. The sharpness is excellent throughout. It is heavy as a brick and the back element is unprotected, so extra care is needed when mounting/dismounting.
|
|
|
Mar 29, 2004
|
|
Mr_Bucket
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Dec 20, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 270
|
|
Review Date: Jan 18, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,475.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Incredibly fast aperture, Solidly built, Incredible image quality
|
|
Cons:
|
Heavy, Focusing is too slow for some applications, Camera must be on to manually focus.
|
|
|
I bought this lens from B&H in December of 2003 and its been my most used lens ever since. The image quality and light sucking abilities of this lens are top notch. Some people complain about the focusing being incredibly slow on this lens, but I believe its fine for what this lens was intended for.
|
|
|
Jan 18, 2004
|
|
wkfwkf
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Jun 14, 2002
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 8
|
|
Review Date: Jan 3, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,400.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Excellent image quality: razorsharp, beautiful background-blur.
|
|
Cons:
|
Relatively slow autofocus. Akward Electronic Manual Focus. Expensive.
|
|
|
I bought this lens for available light shooting at indoor events (theatres, churches). It's amazing. Excellent image quality. Beautiful bokeh.
I find the Electronic Manual Focussing akward to use but that may just be me. Wide open the lens requires extremely careful focussing: depth of field is paperthin at f1.2 and shorter distances. Autofocus is relatively slow but that hasn't bodered me much. Just don't bring it to shoot a basketbal game.
|
|
|
Jan 3, 2004
|
|
fotografz
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Mar 11, 2003
Location: United States
Posts: 218
|
|
Review Date: Dec 23, 2003
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Astounding control of DOF. Bokeh that sets a standard that spoils you against other fast lenses. Incredible resolution from a lens like this, second only to the legendary Zeiss 85/1.2 IMO.
|
|
Cons:
|
Big, heavy and slower focusing than lenses like the Nikon 84/1.4 and perhaps even the Zeiss/Contax 85/1.4N. But that's the penalty for the extra stop, and should come as no surprise given the size of the glass the motor has to move.
|
|
|
I could easily shoot 90% of a wedding with a 35/1.4L and this 85/1.2L.
As a outdoor portrait lens, it is second to none IMO.
Full frame digital, the 85/1.2 and the 35/1.4L are the reasons I switched from Nikon to Canon as my wedding equipment.
|
|
|
Dec 23, 2003
|
|
WilbertC
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Mar 7, 2003
Location: China
Posts: 19
|
|
Review Date: Oct 19, 2003
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,250.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Nicest bokeh I've ever seen. Sharpness from wide open thru all apertures.
|
|
Cons:
|
Heavy & expensive. AF a bit slow but acceptable.
|
|
|
This is my 1st fastest lens I've ever owned in my 30 years of photographic experience. I'm speechless. During the past 2 weeks since I bought it, I shoot nothing but wide opened in availabe light or indoor portraits w/o flash which I've never attempted before. I'm simply fascinated by the OOF blurry background, it's a sort of dreamy like fantasy which I can't describe what I've experienced. If you can afford it, grab it.
|
|
|
Oct 19, 2003
|
|
rebel300
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Dec 30, 2001
Location: United States
Posts: 13834
|
|
Review Date: Oct 6, 2003
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $1,170.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
detail/color/background blur perfect
|
|
Cons:
|
very heavy and slow focusing
you have to manually retract the lens at times...pain in the neck but worth the trouble as I wouldn't want to store it with the lens not retracted...seems like it would foul up the USM motor
|
|
|
This and the 300/2.8is are the two top lenses in my bag bar none.
Incredible detail with great focusing patience on the part of the shooter.
A heavy but unassuming lens...this is among Canons very best lenses.
Maybe the most used lens in my bag.
The Reb
|
|
|
Oct 6, 2003
|
|
Jack Flesher
Offline
Image Upload: Off
Registered: Oct 23, 2002
Location: United States
Posts: 3489
|
|
Review Date: Jun 13, 2003
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $850.00
| Rating: 10
|
|
Pros:
|
Optical performance, fast aperture, and a unique "look" that only f1.2 can deliver
|
|
Cons:
|
Price, relatively slow focus going near/far, weight
|
|
|
The more I use this lens, the more I like it. I upgraded from the 85/1.8 because I wanted the "look" I got from very shallow DOF. But I ended up being amazed at the optical quality of this lens. It is nothing short of stunning at f5.6, very sharp at f2, and yet you get almost etherial effects at f1.2. All in all, a great piece of glass IF you are willing to put up with its shortcomings. Vignetting is heavy at f1.2, notable at f1.4 and nearly gone by f2, which IMO is nothing short of spectacular for this speed lens. I find my copy to slightly back-focus on my 1Ds body -- I'd say about 1 CM at normal portrait distance -- and this can be problematic when focusing on eyes at f1.4... My fix is to focus on the eye-brow instead. (And yes, focus is that critical at close distance with the wider stops on this lens!)
|
|
|
Jun 13, 2003
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reviews
|
Views
|
Date of last review
|
|
130
|
269444
|
Aug 23, 2017
|
|
|
Recommended By
|
Average Price
|
|
95% of reviewers
|
$1,379.02
|
|
|
Build Quality Rating
|
Price Rating
|
Overall Rating
|
|
9.70
|
8.50
|
9.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
