85mm f1.4 IS L

[ethanz]

I received a loan from CPS for this lens. I went to visit family for Christmas and had it on my camera the whole week, even though I had my other lenses with me. It is really a sweet lens. The AF is fast, but as I was taking pictures of fast moving children under the age of 5 most of the time, even with my camera it was difficult to nail focus on them at an f stop faster than 2. Oh, and cats, they are hard to focus on when they like to bolt away. Cats are like an addiction, they just have to be photographed. The lens is very sharp. Not sure about the benefit of IS, but maybe it really does help. I've noticed some green CA fringing.

It makes great portraits too. Although it is a tad long unless you have room to back up.

I'm a zoom guy, but these primes are pretty fun.

 

[Ozarker]

I received a loan from CPS for this lens. I went to visit family for Christmas and had it on my camera the whole week, even though I had my other lenses with me. It is really a sweet lens.

It's on my wish list for sure. I may sell my 35mm to get it. I like the 35mm, but would use the 85mm much more.

 

[ethanz]

It's on my wish list for sure. I may sell my 35mm to get it. I like the 35mm, but would use the 85mm much more.

I've borrowed the 35 as well, it is a nice lens. Keep both

 

[Viggo]

I’m selling mine, as you also noticed, the CA is pretty bad wide open and the AF is behind what I was expecting. And since buying the RF50 the only reason for keeping it is tight headshots, but expecting something fun in RF-mount for that.

MUCH better than the 1.2 and 1.8 though

 

[GMCPhotographics]

I’m selling mine, as you also noticed, the CA is pretty bad wide open and the AF is behind what I was expecting. And since buying the RF50 the only reason for keeping it is tight headshots, but expecting something fun in RF-mount for that.

MUCH better than the 1.2 and 1.8 though

Lol....there is no pleasing some people! :-D
The 85mm f1.4 LIS is great fro chasing kids around...but for all other portraiture (ie tight head shots) the 85mm f1.2 IIL is a tough act to beat. I agree that a good fast 50mm is way more versatile than a fast 85mm prime. Both of the 85mm shine were they are mated to a fast 35mm on a 2nd camera.
I've yet to play with a RF 28-70 f2....but that strikes me as a very large land expensive ens for only f2 (compared to f1.2.....three's a huge difference). My problem with the RF mount isn't the lenses...but the current camera, sure it's a trail blazer...but as a camera body, it falls well short of my photographic needs and enjoyment. It's got potential for some really useful features but it's handling is very 1st gen and very much an immature product. I dare say that the 5Dmk5 will have the EOS R's af system integrated into it's live view mode, so that'll level the playing field a bit. But the RF's mount's ability to mount EF lenses with a rear mount adaptor that takes a polariser / filter is very tempting....just for that one feature...the rest of the camera is a bit "mehhh" for me.

 

[Viggo]

«There’s no pleasing people”
I could say the same about your summary of the R you know. I’ve never used a more enjoyable camera, and FINALLY, no cutting off feet in portrait mode because the DSLR AF system was too narrow on the edges. I feel the same about the R af system vs DSLR as I do with any lens compared to a supertele; you don’t know what sharp is until to you try one. I have never gotten the sharpness and presicion that I’m getting with R.

The 85 is midrange lens, everybody knows that. I was just hoping for too much. The RF50 is perfect, and I’m confident Canon will follow up with at RF85 and RF100 also

 

[Larsskv]

Lol....there is no pleasing some people! :-D
The 85mm f1.4 LIS is great fro chasing kids around...but for all other portraiture (ie tight head shots) the 85mm f1.2 IIL is a tough act to beat. I agree that a good fast 50mm is way more versatile than a fast 85mm prime. Both of the 85mm shine were they are mated to a fast 35mm on a 2nd camera.
I've yet to play with a RF 28-70 f2....but that strikes me as a very large land expensive ens for only f2 (compared to f1.2.....three's a huge difference). My problem with the RF mount isn't the lenses...but the current camera, sure it's a trail blazer...but as a camera body, it falls well short of my photographic needs and enjoyment. It's got potential for some really useful features but it's handling is very 1st gen and very much an immature product. I dare say that the 5Dmk5 will have the EOS R's af system integrated into it's live view mode, so that'll level the playing field a bit. But the RF's mount's ability to mount EF lenses with a rear mount adaptor that takes a polariser / filter is very tempting....just for that one feature...the rest of the camera is a bit "mehhh" for me.

No EF mount camera will have the EOS R AF system integrated. The EOS R has significantly increased the communication between lens and camera body. I have seen it claimed to be communicating 40 times more data between lens and camera than the EF mount does ( but cannot remember where or who). Anyway, unless they make changes to the EF mount, it will never be able to compete with the RF mount in terms of data transfer or AF capabilities.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

No EF mount camera will have the EOS R AF system integrated. The EOS R has significantly increased the communication between lens and camera body. I have seen it claimed to be communicating 40 times more data between lens and camera than the EF mount does ( but cannot remember where or who). Anyway, unless they make changes to the EF mount, it will never be able to compete with the RF mount in terms of data transfer or AF capabilities.

How much of that is for the new ring coms and how much is actually for AF? Surely the AF is done from the sensor and then the data is turned to a motor command with a feed back loop...if Sony bodies can ustilise Canon AF / EF....it can't be that hard as a command interpreter. Sure the RF may have a faster baud rate / clock speed...but AF is AF...it's not THAT complex. The hard part is extracting the depth data from the sensor....which are pretty much the same in the 5D4 and Eos R

 

[Viggo]

AF is AF .. that’s like swearing in church when I’m around, lol

 

[Larsskv]

How much of that is for the new ring coms and how much is actually for AF? Surely the AF is done from the sensor and then the data is turned to a motor command with a feed back loop...if Sony bodies can ustilise Canon AF / EF....it can't be that hard as a command interpreter. Sure the RF may have a faster baud rate / clock speed...but AF is AF...it's not THAT complex. The hard part is extracting the depth data from the sensor....which are pretty much the same in the 5D4 and Eos R

I found the information about the RF system. The image attached is from a Canons own release, which they call “EOS R developers interview”

 

[Larsskv]

The full interview can be found here. It is worth a read for everyone interested in the EOS R and RF lenses:

https://d25tv1xepz39hi.cloudfront.net/2018-09-05/files/EOS_R_An_Interview_with_the_Developers_.pdf

 

[ethanz]

Interesting read, thanks Lars

 

[BeenThere]

Clearly R mount is the future for FF Canon cameras. But it will take some time to flesh out new bodies and lenses for the system. In two years there will be plenty of options and few will still be buying EF products.

 

[GMCPhotographics]

I'm guessing that all the future EF lens revisions will include the newer data...lets face it, ef on EOS R doesn't seem to be much different than RF on EOS R. According to this article...there should be a night / day AF experience between a EF on EOS R and an RF on Eos R...but there doesn't seem to be much in it at the moment with the current RF lenses I've tried.
Reading through this article...yes there's a fast data clock between the 2 mounts. There's also zoom data and precise AF motor data being transferred, although I'm pretty sure EF can do this too. All of the AF processing is done in camera body... so yes it's not too much of a stretch of imagination that a similar AF system to the EOS R can be included in future EF bodies under the live-view function. Once everyone had bought their Eos R bodies and Canon doesn't think that the feature inclusion would steal EOS R sales.

 

[YuengLinger]

Clearly R mount is the future for FF Canon cameras. But it will take some time to flesh out new bodies and lenses for the system. In two years there will be plenty of options and few will still be buying EF products.

Care to put a number to "few"?

 

[BeenThere]

Care to put a number to "few"?

Sure, I will make a projection. Nothing to back it up, so feel free to make your own projection. I would say that in terms of numbers of new FF units sold (Lenses and bodies), 25% will be EF and 75% will be RF. The ratio will still be falling at that point so that in 5 years it will 5%/95%.
Meet again in two years and we can review.

 

[Larsskv]

I'm guessing that all the future EF lens revisions will include the newer data...lets face it, ef on EOS R doesn't seem to be much different than RF on EOS R. According to this article...there should be a night / day AF experience between a EF on EOS R and an RF on Eos R...but there doesn't seem to be much in it at the moment with the current RF lenses I've tried.
Reading through this article...yes there's a fast data clock between the 2 mounts. There's also zoom data and precise AF motor data being transferred, although I'm pretty sure EF can do this too. All of the AF processing is done in camera body... so yes it's not too much of a stretch of imagination that a similar AF system to the EOS R can be included in future EF bodies under the live-view function. Once everyone had bought their Eos R bodies and Canon doesn't think that the feature inclusion would steal EOS R sales.

In demanding AF situations (kids moving around erratically in low light) the RF50L performs way! better AF wise than any of the EF lenses I’ve tried on the R. The RF35 f1.8 isn’t as good as the RF50L, but still quite a bit better than any EF lens.

 

[YuengLinger]

Sure, I will make a projection. Nothing to back it up, so feel free to make your own projection. I would say that in terms of numbers of new FF units sold (Lenses and bodies), 25% will be EF and 75% will be RF. The ratio will still be falling at that point so that in 5 years it will 5%/95%.
Meet again in two years and we can review.

I've come to believe that many of us who hang out in CR forums are gearheads. So, I have no idea how many photographers think like we do. For me, the idea of buying a new EF lens is not as attractive as it was before RF was released. For example, for lower-light events, I'd like a wide angle lens faster than my 16-35mm f/4L IS. The current options aren't all that exciting, but even if they were, I'd hold off and wait for an RF version, even though I don't own an RF body yet. I can do fine with my 24-70mm 2.8 in most situations, and use flash pretty often when I need to go wider with the 16-35mm f/4.

I don't own an RF, but I'm going to someday, so I don't think even a great version II of the ef 50mm f/1.2L would tempt me much. But I'd plan to buy the RF version pretty quick when a 5DIV type of RF body comes out.

And so on. Any lens buying right now is complicated by what might be available in RF soon. But I doubt many other photographers think like this. Probably more of them just get the lens they need or want when they need it.

So, if all photographers were like CR members, I'd agree with your numbers. Seeing as how CR regulars are (relatively) obsessed with tech and specs, I don't think we represent the market. Therefore, I would flip your numbers over two years, or maybe say at most 35% buying RF versus 65% still buying EF.

At some point, though, maybe three or four years from now, RF ownership and interest will hit a critical mass, and then we'll see EF fading away as the legacy technology it has become.

We don't seem too far apart here.

 

[BeenThere]

I've come to believe that many of us who hang out in CR forums are gearheads. So, I have no idea how many photographers think like we do. For me, the idea of buying a new EF lens is not as attractive as it was before RF was released. For example, for lower-light events, I'd like a wide angle lens faster than my 16-35mm f/4L IS. The current options aren't all that exciting, but even if they were, I'd hold off and wait for an RF version, even though I don't own an RF body yet. I can do fine with my 24-70mm 2.8 in most situations, and use flash pretty often when I need to go wider with the 16-35mm f/4.

I don't own an RF, but I'm going to someday, so I don't think even a great version II of the ef 50mm f/1.2L would tempt me much. But I'd plan to buy the RF version pretty quick when a 5DIV type of RF body comes out.

And so on. Any lens buying right now is complicated by what might be available in RF soon. But I doubt many other photographers think like this. Probably more of them just get the lens they need or want when they need it.

So, if all photographers were like CR members, I'd agree with your numbers. Seeing as how CR regulars are (relatively) obsessed with tech and specs, I don't think we represent the market. Therefore, I would flip your numbers over two years, or maybe say at most 35% buying RF versus 65% still buying EF.

At some point, though, maybe three or four years from now, RF ownership and interest will hit a critical mass, and then we'll see EF fading away as the legacy technology it has become.

We don't seem too far apart here.

It’s much less clear how fast third party lens manufactures will bring on RF mount lenses. I have a feeling they are going to wait awhile.