85mm prime recommendation

[Loswr]

I would recommend the 85L II. I have it (along with the 135L and 70-200 II), and it is truly an amazing lens, particularly for portraits. I share your apprehension about the autofocus of Sigma's 85/1.4 (and their lenses in general). I had the 85/1.8 sometime back. It's a nice lens, and an excellent value, but I agree with the posts above that it doesn't add much to your existing 70-200. The 85/1.8 also suffers from particularly noticeable axial CA (the 85L has some as well, but not so bad).

 

[surapon]

I have been looking at different 85mm primes to use for portrait photography and some event work. I have a 6D and my full kit is listed below.

I'm considering the Canon 85 1.2 II, Canon 85mm 1.8 and Sigma 85mm 1.4 EX DG HSM. I ruled out the Zeiss and Samyang 85's due to lack of AF. Obviously, there is a huge price difference here. I can afford the Canon 1.8 or Sigma now, but would have to save up a while for the Canon 1.2 II.

The Sigma looks to be optically as good as the Canon 85 1.2 II, at less than half the price. But, the AF accuracy issues reported by TDP are concerning. With a shallow DOF lens like this, poor AF accuracy means a poor keeper rate. I have the 70-200 2.8 II and 135L, so already have some top tier portrait lenses, but I really love shallow DOF photography and 85mm is often a better focal length than 135mm indoors when space is limited.

Any suggestions and hands on experience from CR members?

Yes, Dear bholliman.
I have both , 85 L MK II and 85 mm. 1.8 = Both of great Lenses at difference unique functions , Yes, I have 24-70 L , 135 F/ 2.0 L and 70-200 2.8 L MK I too, all of theses lenses for my Portrait/ Wedding Photographer/ Press Photography Job---But From time to time , I use Sigma 1.4 too, to get wide angle group photo in the dark area, such as in the Music/ Band action pictures.----Yes, I fell in love with Canon EF 85 mm. F/ 1.2 L MK II for open wide and super shallow of DOF. plus great Bokeh.
Nice to talk to you.
Surapon
PS. If I take the Big Group of People( 50 people or more) in the Good Light/ Out door Cloudy day or in the Shade, I Use Canon TS-E 24 mm. F/ 3.5 MK II, in shift position= take 3 photos, Left shift, normal at center, and Right Shift---And Use Photoshop program to combine the photos, Yes, I will get 3 times of MP in one Photo, and can print up to 42 X 60 Inches from my Large format HP.printer.---Yes, Canon 5D MK II set at F = 5.6
Please see the sample below.

 

[mackguyver]

Save up for the 85 f/1.2 II. You won't regret it. I hardly ever shoot portraits and gasped when I hit "Submit Order", but I LOVE the lens. My wife (who isn't into photography at all) loves the lens and literally won't let me shoot her with any other lens.

 

[surapon]

Save up for the 85 f/1.2 II. You won't regret it. I hardly ever shoot portraits and gasped when I hit "Submit Order", but I LOVE the lens. My wife (who isn't into photography at all) loves the lens and literally won't let me shoot her with any other lens.

Dear friend, Mr. Mackguyver.
You are the most lucky guy in this world :
1) Your wife understand , what do you need. ( No, Not My wife---I must buy my toy , before I tell her---Ha, Ha, Ha )
2) She love your Lens and she let you take the photos of Her. ( No, Not my wife, She never post for me, and she complain all the times that her picture not look good as Hollywood stars---Ha, Ha, Ha.
Have a great day, Sir.
Surapon

 

[kirillica]

Forget about Sigma, their 85 is a simply crap.
85 1.8 and 1.2 are very-very different lenses. bokeh from 1.2 is creamy, milky and simply nice. it is quite sharp starting from 1.2, but only in case you are not missed. AF of 1.2 is sometimes slow and (comparing other lenses I have) not getting the point during first round. CA of 1.2 are huge like dinosaur (and not only wide open; sometimes CA correction in Lightroom is not enough and you should use your skills of PS too).

So 1.8 is simply for shooting on 85mm, 1.2 - is something you will most probably love after getting used to it; using outdoors it creates very 3D-like photos, photos from 1.8 are flat comparing to that But, well, once again, there are people saying 1.2 is stupid and useless due to focus and CA issues.

Helios 40 (or 40-2)... It is nice, but no AF makes it good only for stills: setting it sharp where needed at 1.5 in dynamic scenes is a huge challenge.

 

[PavelR]

I replaced 85/1.8 with S 85/1.4 - better iq and AF accuracy on 1D4.
But now I have 85/1.2 too because Sigma does not work well mounted on 1ds3 with new firmware - the camera stopped responding several times...
Purple fringing around the contrasty & light parts [black foreground against white background is not problem] is pretty bad on both Canon 85 (wide open and near wide open). L is also pretty slow AF, but acceptable on 1 series body...

 

[mackguyver]

Dear friend, Mr. Mackguyver.
You are the most lucky guy in this world :
1) Your wife understand , what do you need. ( No, Not My wife---I must buy my toy , before I tell her---Ha, Ha, Ha )
2) She love your Lens and she let you take the photos of Her. ( No, Not my wife, She never post for me, and she complain all the times that her picture not look good as Hollywood stars---Ha, Ha, Ha.
Have a great day, Sir.
Surapon

Dear Mr. Surapon,

You are funny and I usually tell my wife that my toys cost about half of what I actually paid for them. She usually is annoyed by them but always wants to make sure I bring along my "special portrait lens" when we go places where she wants her photo taken. She complains about most of her photos, too, but not nearly as much if I use the 85 f/1.2 II

 

[Eldar]

Just to add to the choir ...

With the lenses you have, there is no point looking at any other lens than the 1.2LII, unless you would consider a manual focus Zeiss. I love this lens, but it is also my biggest frustration. If you buy it, practice, practice and practice. If you just use it every now and then, you will have loads of sharp noses, or ears and eyes OOF etc. But if you use it regularly, and learn how it works, you will be handsomely rewarded.

I hope Canon will make a version III, primarily with improved AF speed, but also without the focus-by-wire - electronic manual focusing, which requires the camera to be powered on for manual focus to work. That feels a bit dinosaurian and irritates me every time.

 

[surapon]

Dear friend, Mr. Mackguyver.
You are the most lucky guy in this world :
1) Your wife understand , what do you need. ( No, Not My wife---I must buy my toy , before I tell her---Ha, Ha, Ha )
2) She love your Lens and she let you take the photos of Her. ( No, Not my wife, She never post for me, and she complain all the times that her picture not look good as Hollywood stars---Ha, Ha, Ha.
Have a great day, Sir.
Surapon

Dear Mr. Surapon,

You are funny and I usually tell my wife that my toys cost about half of what I actually paid for them. She usually is annoyed by them but always wants to make sure I bring along my "special portrait lens" when we go places where she wants her photo taken. She complains about most of her photos, too, but not nearly as much if I use the 85 f/1.2 II

Ha, Ha, Ha---Dear Mr. Mackguyver.
Sorry, I never do like that " I usually tell my wife that my toys cost about half of what I actually paid for them. "---------BUT, I JACK UP THE PRICE before I tell my wife, what I buy----" Honey, I just get the great deal to day, My Photographer friend just pass a way, and his wife call me , she want to sell almost brand new Canon EF 85 mm F/ 1.2 L Mk II that her husband pay for $ 4000 US Dollars, She want me to have just $ 2,200 US Dollars---What do you think ?"------Yes, because my wife do not know the real price of 85 MK II, She think that might be equal price to my old 200 L----Yes, She tell me That , I super smart and super lucky guy.

Ha, Ha, Ha.
\Nice to talk to you, Sir., Have a Great ay.
Surapon

 

[jdramirez]

Just to add to the choir ...

With the lenses you have, there is no point looking at any other lens than the 1.2LII, unless you would consider a manual focus Zeiss. I love this lens, but it is also my biggest frustration. If you buy it, practice, practice and practice. If you just use it every now and then, you will have loads of sharp noses, or ears and eyes OOF etc. But if you use it regularly, and learn how it works, you will be handsomely rewarded.

I hope Canon will make a version III, primarily with improved AF speed, but also without the focus-by-wire - electronic manual focusing, which requires the camera to be powered on for manual focus to work. That feels a bit dinosaurian and irritates me every time.

I'll usually put to focus point on the eye and then re compose... would you suggest an alternative technique?

 

[Eldar]

Just to add to the choir ...

With the lenses you have, there is no point looking at any other lens than the 1.2LII, unless you would consider a manual focus Zeiss. I love this lens, but it is also my biggest frustration. If you buy it, practice, practice and practice. If you just use it every now and then, you will have loads of sharp noses, or ears and eyes OOF etc. But if you use it regularly, and learn how it works, you will be handsomely rewarded.

I hope Canon will make a version III, primarily with improved AF speed, but also without the focus-by-wire - electronic manual focusing, which requires the camera to be powered on for manual focus to work. That feels a bit dinosaurian and irritates me every time.

I'll usually put to focus point on the eye and then re compose... would you suggest an alternative technique?

With the 1DX and 5DIII I use center focus point, with 8 supporting points and move the focus point to as close to where in the image I want focus to, to have as little post focus lock movement as possible. If you lock on the center focus point and a recompose requires too much movement, you may still get OOF results. Pi or Neuro posted an article which explains this well, but I don´t remember which thread. If any of you read this, please repost.

If I need to use AI servo, I always use the 1DX, for its superior tracking capability. And that is when practice is required.

But for me, it took some time before I really absorbed the way this lens works and could use it efficiently and effectively. I also find that, if I havn´t used it for a while, I need a bit of "get in the 1.2LII mood" time

 

[surapon]

Just to add to the choir ...

With the lenses you have, there is no point looking at any other lens than the 1.2LII, unless you would consider a manual focus Zeiss. I love this lens, but it is also my biggest frustration. If you buy it, practice, practice and practice. If you just use it every now and then, you will have loads of sharp noses, or ears and eyes OOF etc. But if you use it regularly, and learn how it works, you will be handsomely rewarded.

I hope Canon will make a version III, primarily with improved AF speed, but also without the focus-by-wire - electronic manual focusing, which requires the camera to be powered on for manual focus to work. That feels a bit dinosaurian and irritates me every time.

I'll usually put to focus point on the eye and then re compose... would you suggest an alternative technique?

Dear Sir.
For my 5D MK II with EF 85 mm F/ 1.2 L MK II--- I have no problem about auto focus in my Portrait Photography---Yes, I know the weak point of AF speed of this Beautiful Monster Lens, But , I set up the One spot AF at the center of the viewfinder, and Lock/ One point AF at the Eyes of the Model, Push half Shutter and move the Camera until I like the composition, and just fully press the shutter= I get the best focus of my beautiful model in every times.
Nice to talk to you, Sir.
Surapon

PS, The 3 Rd. Photo of the model = 400% Crop from the original photo , to show the good AF of one spot focus at the eye of the model.

 

[ablearcher]

IMO, the choice of 85 depends on the use. I have no experience with Sigma, but 85L and 85/1.8 are two different tools for two different jobs due to different AF speed. Yes, there is also IQ difference but if your AF is not fast enough for the job then IQ is not going to help much. I have 85/1.8 and i love it on FF. It was a good lens on a crop body, but it shines on FF. I love it for AF speed, small size and low cost, so I carry it quite often - trips, casual shoots, outdoor kids shoots, etc, etc. Yes, there is FL overlap with 70-200 but due to weight and size difference, the 70-200 is hardly a casual lens which you would just throw into your bag next time you go for a walk in the park with kids or go on a beach vacation. I would also think twice before I take 85L to all those places. Might be missing shots due to slow AF and might also have concerns regarding safety of the lens - the replacement cost is substantial. So yeah, I would start thinking about this purchase from the usage angle first. Just my 2c

 

[GuyF]

Forget about Sigma, their 85 is a simply crap.

And what makes you say that? Do unqualified remarks like this help anyone?

I could've bought the Canon f1.2 but got the Sigma instead. Superb lens, great results (I've posted many portrait shots taken wide open on this site). Yes, focus at f1.4 is critical but do you really think every shot ever taken with the Canon is a keeper?

Perhaps I got lucky with my copy of the lens but it's naive to think Sigma can't make quality lenses. If they were that bad, would they stay in business?

 

[Jeffrey]

For me, if I am not shooting moving subjects, I strongly prefer the Zeiss lens. When the subjects are moving I switch over to the 70-200mm II for the autofocus. The best of both worlds!

 

[ddl]

I have the Sigma 85 f/1.4 and have used it to take go karting pictures so the focus is ok for that. My keeper rate for that event was lower than I would have liked but I screwed up by using expanded focus points rather than a single point on a moving target with lots of contrasting crap in the background. Overall I'm quite pleased by it.

I had the Canon 85/1.8 - lower cost, faster focusing, smaller size but the purple/green fringing drove me to trade it in against the S85.

Evey lens is a compromise between price, build and performance - you have to determine which compromise is best for the way you're going to use the lens.

 

[AdamJ]

If you want to buy soon, my vote goes to the f/1.2, for the following reasons:

The f/1.8 isn't great wide open; it's appreciably better stopped down to f/2.8. So, apart from the lens's compactness, it's of marginal use to you with your zoom that's already sharp at f/2.8.

Most things said about the Sigma are complimentary. The trouble is, it's only a matter of time before they re-release the 85mm f/1.4 as an Art lens, with its better quality assurance, sleek design, perhaps an even better optical formula, plus fine-tunability via the dock. The only question is, when?

For now, that leaves the very desirable f/1.2.

If you're not in a hurry, you could wait to see how Sigma's 85mm Art lens turns out but with no hint of a release on the horizon, how long you'd have to wait is anyone's guess.

 

[Pinchers of Peril]

Like some others have already said, looking at your current set up I think you'll probably only be satisfied with the 1.2. If you got the Sigma or the 1.8 I'm sure you'd be able to take some great pictures but you'd always have that thought in the back of your mind that the 1.2 might be just a little better. I love that lens and glad that I spent the money to get it. I don't think you'll be disappointed at all. Plus if get the Sigma or the 1.8 then the new lens will feel left out because it doesn't have a red ring like your other lenses... and that would just be mean.

 

[kirillica]

Forget about Sigma, their 85 is a simply crap.

And what makes you say that? Do unqualified remarks like this help anyone?

I could've bought the Canon f1.2 but got the Sigma instead. Superb lens, great results (I've posted many portrait shots taken wide open on this site). Yes, focus at f1.4 is critical but do you really think every shot ever taken with the Canon is a keeper?

Perhaps I got lucky with my copy of the lens but it's naive to think Sigma can't make quality lenses. If they were that bad, would they stay in business?

Sigma 85 comparing Canon 85 1.2 is crap. period.
talking about business: price for Sigma makes it alive; most people can't afford Canon's primes.

 

[Pi]

Personally I don't have the patience to work with ultra shallow DOF, I need a high percentage of keepers and with a flowing shooting style that rarely delivers the magic with static situations, f/1.4 or f/1.2 on an 85 just won't cut it.

You can have as large DOF at f/1.2 as you want, for example, 1m.