AFMA'ed the 24-70 mk.ii ... not sure I am loving this copy.

[wickidwombat]

Thanks for link, very helpful.

I just returned it over lunch... a bit relieved. I will wait a bit till I bite again on it. For now the 17-40 works for WA, albeit F8ish and the 70-200 mk.ii is a God send... I will play with those... but I am missing a Big aperture prime. 50mm perhaps. I want something sharp and dreamy... would Ziggy f1.4 fit the bill?

honestly if you dont have the shorty forty then try that, its sharper across the frame than the 24-70 mk1 wide open, bokeh is very very similar to that from the 70-200 mk2 I have the siggy 50mm (the new one) its also good
probably not as good as the siggy 85 though (but better than the canon 50s) i'm waiting for the siggy 35 to come out and see how that goes, i'm hoping its up the standard of the 85. but for the money if you want sharp and nice bokeh at f2.8 the 40mm pancake is pretty hard to beat at the moment

[cliffwang]

honestly if you dont have the shorty forty then try that, its sharper across the frame than the 24-70 mk1 wide open, bokeh is very very similar to that from the 70-200 mk2 I have the siggy 50mm (the new one) its also good
probably not as good as the siggy 85 though (but better than the canon 50s) i'm waiting for the siggy 35 to come out and see how that goes, i'm hoping its up the standard of the 85. but for the money if you want sharp and nice bokeh at f2.8 the 40mm pancake is pretty hard to beat at the moment

I am also looking forward the Sigma 35mm.  If the IQ good and price, it will be my another collection from Sigma.

[Dylan777]

Thanks for link, very helpful.

I just returned it over lunch... a bit relieved. I will wait a bit till I bite again on it. For now the 17-40 works for WA, albeit F8ish and the 70-200 mk.ii is a God send... I will play with those... but I am missing a Big aperture prime. 50mm perhaps. I want something sharp and dreamy... would Ziggy f1.4 fit the bill?

K-AMP, I did more test shots(indoor & outdoor at 24mm), my lens seems to be ok. All shots @ 24mm have little vignetting, other then that, the lens looks very sharp. I will compare my current lens to new lens that Crutchfield going to send me. I'll keep the better copy at the end.

I might pull a trigger on 50L this coming x-mas through Crutchfield, since I have little more than 10,000 reward points with them($500ish cash value). Hoping Canon will have SUPER rebate on all lenses through holidays.

[K-amps]

Good Luck Dylan!

It feels better when you can test 2 or 3 lens and keep one like I did with my 70-200 f2.8 mk.ii. Just feels good! 

[Bosman]

Thanks for link, very helpful.

I just returned it over lunch... a bit relieved. I will wait a bit till I bite again on it. For now the 17-40 works for WA, albeit F8ish and the 70-200 mk.ii is a God send... I will play with those... but I am missing a Big aperture prime. 50mm perhaps. I want something sharp and dreamy... would Ziggy f1.4 fit the bill?

K-Amps
I just got an 85LII, i paid 1G more than the sigma 85 because the results in my test shots were showing the Sigma going crazy on Purple Fringing around black text. I do know from my previous 85LI that chroma, purple are the nature of the beast so i realize when shooting chrome i don't want to shoot to the right as much as i might. I also might not use it when i have heavily backlit subjects or with brightly lit trees in the background but i have yet to put that to the test as i just got it. I just know the 70-200LII will handle those situations with ease. Basically I will prob shoot a little diff when using the 85 to bring out the dreamy goods! I wish we could shoot 1/16,000 sec. Also when shooting a static person at F1.4 the face had some in some out of focus yet @ F1.2 the canon 85 rendered the whole face sharply. This was a 3/4 length shot as you think about distance from subject. Also when around the store i shot various subjects and repeating patterns and the 1.2 was consistently focused on the same spot @ F1.2. This may be that the siggy was out of calibration but it was close if it was. I preferred the color balance of the 1.2 over the 1.4 Sig. I cannot comment on the sigma 50, i have no experience with that one.

[Bosman]

This thread has helped relieve a little lust for the V2 of the 24-70. So happy to enjoy my 24LII as it is. I sold my 24-70 VI last week among other equipment to get the 85LII. This year I have not shot with the 24-70 outside of sports and occasionally in a wedding. I plan to use the 24LII on my 1dm3 for finishline, i typically shoot 35mm for that anyway so 31mm on the 1dm3 will be close to that. I have been noticing how many times i zoom with my legs now. When shooting portraits while standing on a chair i shot the 50L on the 5dm3 and i had to move the chair i stood on to get level with the diff size groups several times. That's where i thought the 24-70 makes more sense and would cut out the calisthenics. I generally like to shoot full length and 3/4 of each formal. I personally prefer close up shots over the full length but this keeps me out of trouble with the clients.

[K-amps]

Hi Bosman, I tried the 85L2 as well. Wonderful lens... but i don't make money off photography... I realized it was one splurge I did not need. :-) I might go for the 85 f1.8 for 1/5th of the price with 80% of the goodness... or something wider? If the 50L was sharper that would have been a no brainer... so between the Sig 50 1.4 and Canon 50 1.4 any thoughts?

[Bosman]

I dont have experience with the sigma 50 but its probably better than the canon 50 1.4.

[drjlo]

so between the Sig 50 1.4 and Canon 50 1.4 any thoughts?

I had both Sig 50 and Canon 50 1.4 at one point, and honestly, after you get over Sig's newer appearance and bigger size, I did not see a reason to own the Sig 50 over Canon 50 image quality wise.  I ended up with 50L, but that's for f/1.2 to f/2.8 use, beyond which Canon 50 f/1.4 is at least as sharp, although without the bokeh magic.

You can find comparisons on the web, and here's one of Canon and Sig 50 1.4.

http://www.pbase.com/peter_dumont/sigma_50mm_f1_4

[wickidwombat]

Hi Bosman, I tried the 85L2 as well. Wonderful lens... but i don't make money off photography... I realized it was one splurge I did not need. :-) I might go for the 85 f1.8 for 1/5th of the price with 80% of the goodness... or something wider? If the 50L was sharper that would have been a no brainer... so between the Sig 50 1.4 and Canon 50 1.4 any thoughts?

i have both the canon 1.4 and the sig 1.4

wide open the siggy is better than the canon stopped down they are similar
the canon is smaller and lighter but the siggy has superior build quality (this is the new sig not the crappy old one)
the siggy 50 f1.4 is not as good as the 85 but it is good and better than canon's 50s IMO
the siggy 50 has better bokeh due to the 9 circular blades vs 8 straight ones

[K-amps]

Hi Bosman, I tried the 85L2 as well. Wonderful lens... but i don't make money off photography... I realized it was one splurge I did not need. :-) I might go for the 85 f1.8 for 1/5th of the price with 80% of the goodness... or something wider? If the 50L was sharper that would have been a no brainer... so between the Sig 50 1.4 and Canon 50 1.4 any thoughts?

i have both the canon 1.4 and the sig 1.4

wide open the siggy is better than the canon stopped down they are similar
the canon is smaller and lighter but the siggy has superior build quality (this is the new sig not the crappy old one)
the siggy 50 f1.4 is not as good as the 85 but it is good and better than canon's 50s IMO
the siggy 50 has better bokeh due to the 9 circular blades vs 8 straight ones

Thanks Wombat!

[gilmorephoto]

[F]or the money if you want sharp and nice bokeh at f2.8 the 40mm pancake is pretty hard to beat at the moment

+1.  It's surprisingly good.

[hammy]

Bosman- i just bought the 85 1.2 L2 as well and i cant seem to get sharpness at 1.2. I can only get it sharp at 2.0. on my 1Dx.

[rpt]

Bosman- i just bought the 85 1.2 L2 as well and i cant seem to get sharpness at 1.2. I can only get it sharp at 2.0. on my 1Dx.

Did you AFMA it yet? Set it on a stand and take a picture of some still object... Sorry, since you did not give any details of what you shot this is what I could think of.