Canon 85L 1.2 vs Sigma 85 1.4... Has anyone tried both?

[Cptn Rigo]

Hi Everybody!

I just sell my 24-70L and get a 35L, I love the new lens but I'm missing a fast prime between 35L and 135L...

Sigma 85 1.4 have stellar reviews, fast focus, excellent IQ... and the canon 85L... well, its the 85L , the only issues are price and focus speed (maybe weight, but I really don't mind that).

Has anyone tried both?

The canon focus is really that slow?

How those lenses focus in the dark?

I already have searched a lot of reviews, but I want some experiences from people of this forum

 

[Menace]

I've tried both; I found Sigma to be slightly faster focusing than Canon but the Sigma copy I tried was not as sharp wide open as the Canon (1.4 vs 1.2!)

Weight is not an issue for me either.

If you can afford it, get the Canon 85 1.2L - magical ;D

 

[wickidwombat]

what body are you going to use it on
this is the most critical fator asside from the fact the canon f1.2 is 2.5 times more expensive than the sigma 85

if you are using a 1Dmk4 or 1Dx or 1Dsmk3 and have piles of cash get the canon 85 f1.2L II from F1.2 to F2 its sharper than the sigma

if you are using 5D series or lower with AFMA capability get the sigma 85 f1.4 from f2 onward i feel its sharper than the canon L its AF is significantly faster on non 1D bodies it doesnt have focus by wire
and its 2.5 times cheaper

if you have a body without AFMA then you probably cant afford the canon 85 f1.2 so get the canon 85 f1.8

 

[Ben Taylor]

Have tried both, although not extensively with the Canon.

But to answer your questions:

1. Yes, it is THAT slow

2. That depends a lot on the body you are using. The Sigma locks focus well in low light with the 5D3.

I use the Sigma, it's pretty much the only Sigma lens I will trust. I dropped mine onto a cobblestone road while travelling through Europe last year and broke it (AF Motor died from the impact I believe). I missed having it so much that I bought another copy in Berlin a day later.

It's a damn fine lens, I use it very often. Does have some purple fringing wide open but only in certain high contrast lighting situations - this doesn't bother me very much.

 

[xopher]

It depends on what you're using it for and your style. As a street and portraiture photography, the 85L is fast enough for me. I tend to take my time to direct, compose, and making sure i nail the focus. Having a faster lens wouldn't help me in anyway and in this case, I'd lose magical 85L characteristics. I have also used the lens for events. As long as you're not zooming from end to end, you won't really notice it.

With the sigma, you may be faced with multiple exchanges to get yourself a perfect copy. Save yourself the trouble and get the 85L!

 

[Ben Taylor]

That's a valid point xopher. If fast autofocus isn't required for what you need to do, and if the price of the 85L isn't an issue then I would certainly grab the Canon.

As for the Sigma, I've had two copies and both have been spot on. I may be lucky but so far so good for me.

 

[wickidwombat]

That's a valid point xopher. If fast autofocus isn't required for what you need to do, and if the price of the 85L isn't an issue then I would certainly grab the Canon.

As for the Sigma, I've had two copies and both have been spot on. I may be lucky but so far so good for me.

ditto on the canon

also with sigma if it is oof just send it in for a recalibration its only a firmware thing not physical tampering and they come back good as gold

mine is spot on now even on bodies with no AFMA

 

[Cptn Rigo]

what body are you going to use it on
this is the most critical fator asside from the fact the canon f1.2 is 2.5 times more expensive than the sigma 85

if you are using a 1Dmk4 or 1Dx or 1Dsmk3 and have piles of cash get the canon 85 f1.2L II from F1.2 to F2 its sharper than the sigma

if you are using 5D series or lower with AFMA capability get the sigma 85 f1.4 from f2 onward i feel its sharper than the canon L its AF is significantly faster on non 1D bodies it doesnt have focus by wire
and its 2.5 times cheaper

if you have a body without AFMA then you probably cant afford the canon 85 f1.2 so get the canon 85 f1.8

I have a 5D mkIII and dont have piles of cash

 

[Enrico]

Rent both. Or:

- Go to a camera/lenst store with your 5D3.
- Ask to try both.

I was in this dilemma a year ago (on my 5D2).

I went to the store:
The sigma was way faster in focusing.
But something magical happens with the Canon at f1.2 which you just can't get with the sigma. Is it worth the higher cost? Only you can decide.

I decided to for the Canon, since I know myself and that I would always think of the Canon everytime I would mount the sigma...

Now that I have the 5D3 the Canon is significantly faster in focusing than on the 5D2.

The way I use my Canon (portraits and some street shots) the focusing is not a problem at all.

 

[Bosman]

I just got an 85LII, have the Version 1 a few years ago and im back in the saddle. It one of those lenses you ask yourself why havent i had this all along. I researched the 85's to death before walking into Norman Camera. I had them hold both the 85L and the Sigma 85. First let me address your question with this. You may have already decided you want the LII, am i right? Saying you don't have piles of cash after asking which one is best is asking for permission isn't it?
In my testing both i didn't find sharpness of the sigma as pleasing at f1.4 as Canons F1.2. At F1.2 folks, dead sharp and in focus where you put the focus point! The color on the Canon was better too. On the other hand the sigma was pretty fast comparatively. The chroma on text when exposed for black text on a white display was out of hand on the sigma, the canon does show some but you have to push it much more to get it. If I didn't see much difference the Sigma would have been the choice. While cash for me is tight, I still spent double for the Canon, especially since it is currently $200 off. I purchase with a mindset of best with no regrets i didn't get best for something lesser. Granted this is way more important if it is a main lens. I shot the heck out of it this past saturday on my 5dm3 and loved it. Even shooting a wedding and in servo mode it even did quite well. I was slightly panicked I would be shooting with this as my main since it was slow but didn't find it gave me any issues all day. I will say however at Iso 10,000 and F1.4 1/60th sec with poor lighting the accuracy took a dive. I was shooting some still subjects at the table and had difficulty at times. I think when i was closer however the accuracy increased a lot. I think that is more a 5dm3 focus system thing. I wonder about how the 6D would handle it with -3 exposure focussing.
All that said if you need an 85 and can stop it down a bit with the right price the Sigma is pretty good. I scoped out hundreds of gallery images on photography on the net and found that lens did quite well.

 

[Bosman]

Rent both. Or:

- Go to a camera/lenst store with your 5D3.
- Ask to try both.

I was in this dilemma a year ago (on my 5D2).

I went to the store:
The sigma was way faster in focusing.
But something magical happens with the Canon at f1.2 which you just can't get with the sigma. Is it worth the higher cost? Only you can decide.

I decided to for the Canon, since I know myself and that I would always think of the Canon everytime I would mount the sigma...

Now that I have the 5D3 the Canon is significantly faster in focusing than on the 5D2.

The way I use my Canon (portraits and some street shots) the focusing is not a problem at all.

you need to update your signature
Canon 5D2, Canon 5DM3, 85/1.2L II , 35/1.4L, 24-105/4L IS, S100

 

[Cptn Rigo]

if you are using a 1Dmk4 or 1Dx or 1Dsmk3 and have piles of cash get the canon 85 f1.2L II from F1.2 to F2 its sharper than the sigma

if you are using 5D series or lower with AFMA capability get the sigma 85 f1.4 from f2 onward i feel its sharper than the canon L its AF is significantly faster on non 1D bodies it doesnt have focus by wire
and its 2.5 times cheaper

Why on a 1D camera one lens is sharper and on a 5D is the opposite?

 

[Cptn Rigo]

First let me address your question with this. You may have already decided you want the LII, am i right? Saying you don't have piles of cash after asking which one is best is asking for permission isn't it?

LOL ;D

"Bosman told me to buy it" :

Maybe my doubt is the focus speed, and that the 135L is kind of similar

 

[Bosman]

85L users have a trick for focus speed and you should test it in the store. If you pre-focus meaning shoot something in a similar area to your subjects focus is plenty fast for pretty much anything including sports. It's the infinity to near focus thats slow. Also if you focus on something 10 ft away then go to something 15 ft away its still pretty fast. Is it whip fast? No. This lens needs a finer focus thread due to its dof capability. Again, I just shot a wedding with around 2000 images with the 85LII on the 5dm3 and focus or focus speed never became an issue. I used the 85LI back in like 2007/8 and i shot dancing with flash and didn't have issues. Expect to shoot a lot when shooting F2 and larger without flash so i do as a habit. I don't care if i throw away redundant images I just want at least a couple to be perfect. I mainly do it because people look around and blink and make funny faces. I did try some natural light dancing and well at 10,000 iso F1.4 1/60 - 1/100 it was dodgy but the few that work look really cool.

 

[wickidwombat]

if you are using a 1Dmk4 or 1Dx or 1Dsmk3 and have piles of cash get the canon 85 f1.2L II from F1.2 to F2 its sharper than the sigma

if you are using 5D series or lower with AFMA capability get the sigma 85 f1.4 from f2 onward i feel its sharper than the canon L its AF is significantly faster on non 1D bodies it doesnt have focus by wire
and its 2.5 times cheaper

Why on a 1D camera one lens is sharper and on a 5D is the opposite?

I was only refering to the AF not sharpness the 1D bodies use a higher voltage which drives the AF faster on the 85L so on a 5D the 85L is quite a bit slower whereas the sigma is still very fast at focusing

 

[gmrza]

85L users have a trick for focus speed and you should test it in the store. If you pre-focus meaning shoot something in a similar area to your subjects focus is plenty fast for pretty much anything including sports. It's the infinity to near focus thats slow. Also if you focus on something 10 ft away then go to something 15 ft away its still pretty fast. Is it whip fast? No. This lens needs a finer focus thread due to its dof capability. Again, I just shot a wedding with around 2000 images with the 85LII on the 5dm3 and focus or focus speed never became an issue. I used the 85LI back in like 2007/8 and i shot dancing with flash and didn't have issues. Expect to shoot a lot when shooting F2 and larger without flash so i do as a habit. I don't care if i throw away redundant images I just want at least a couple to be perfect. I mainly do it because people look around and blink and make funny faces. I did try some natural light dancing and well at 10,000 iso F1.4 1/60 - 1/100 it was dodgy but the few that work look really cool.

What I have found is that, subjectively, the 85 f/1.2L II seems to focus faster on a 5DIII than on a 5DII.

While this lens does have the downside of slower focusing, there seems to be very little debate about the quality of its out of focus blur. Where this lens also stands out is in the smoothness of foreground blur - lots of lenses only achieve a smooth background blur while their foreground blur is not nearly as smooth. (Admittedly in a lot of situations, foreground blur is less of an issue than background blue.)

 

[turtle]

AF speed is not an issue for the portraits I do with my 85 1.2L II. For quick work, where the lens is switching from close to distant focus, this lens would not be recommended... but unless shooting sport, how often do you do this? Or animals perhaps, kids playing...

 

[bchernicoff]

I've owned the 85 L II and sold it for the Sigma. My advice is to buy the Sigma. I'm not sure there is any real difference in image quality. Focusing on the Sigma is so much faster. Also, with a filter on the Sigma, it's more sealed than the Canon if you are worried about dust.

So, for less than half the cost you get faster AF, better build quality, tie image quality, but lose half a stop.

 

[Bosman]

Have the local camera store you go to hold both lenses for your reviewing, the experience you have will tell you what you need to do.

 

[K-amps]

I've owned the 85 L II and sold it for the Sigma. My advice is to buy the Sigma. I'm not sure there is any real difference in image quality. Focusing on the Sigma is so much faster. Also, with a filter on the Sigma, it's more sealed than the Canon if you are worried about dust.

So, for less than half the cost you get faster AF, better build quality, tie image quality, but lose half a stop.

With high ISO performance available ( with e.g. 5dii, 5diii, 1Dsiii, 1Dx) , the effect of large aperture lenses (i.e. half to 1 stop difference of light allowance) has diminished or even been eradicated to a large extent.

That leaves Quantity and Quality of OOF Blur as still one of the major advantages large aperture Primes provide (apart from sharpness etc).

While I have not worked with the Siggy 1.4, I have compared images of it on TDP: and the difference is pretty clear between the 2. If you go here http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-85mm-f-1.4-EX-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx about 1/3 of the way down you see a Picture of a Girl taken at different apertures with the 85L and the Siggy 1.4 against a forest/ green background next to a Black cast iron Fence.

I find the Bokeh of the 85L to be better.... but your mileage may vary since Boken is subjective... however

Even the Quantity of OOF blur is more with the 85L at the same aperture. e.g. Compare the tree trunk blur behind the girl with both lenses at f1.4, the 85L melts it so much more... in fact the 85L at F2 has as much subjective blur as the Siggy does at F1.4... this is where the 85 L shines. I don't know of many lenses that can melt away the background like the 85L.... but you Pay for it