jolyonralph said:
It cannot replace the 85 1.2 II because the 85 1.2 is a compromise design not focused on charts or sharpness readings, but designed to make natural light portraits look amazing. I'd love it to focus faster, but I can't possibly imagine the 1.4L replacing it for my use anyway.
Now, of course, I may be wrong and it may turn out to be an incredible lens. But I suspect it'll be OK.
At the risk of reopening a rather rancorous debate on another thread a few months ago, and while I agree that the 85L can of course produce amazing portraits (and reportedly was designed with that in mind before anything else), I don't think under most circumstances, in a blind test, most people would be able to tell it apart from this new lens when shot wide open.
I expect the new 85 will be a little sharper, especially off centre, and hope it'll have less chromatic aberration, which I found too strong in the 85LII. With IS and especially if it has real manual focus, it will be a much more obliging beast for most, although the 85L(II) will retain its cachet and bragging rights as the widest aperture 85mm lens.
jebrady03 said:
(I don't know why we call people like them "red heads", they're not)
The colour term 'orange' is a relative latecomer to the English language, named for the fruit, so things we'd use that word to describe now were often considered 'red', cf. robin red-breast (the British bird which originates the name is decidedly orange), red deer, etc.
Maiaibing said:
Perio said:
I believe there were some discrepant opinions regarding whether or not the number of aperture blades affects the "roundness" of out of focus spheres. The 85 1.4L has 9 blades vs. 8 blades in 85 1.2ii. Can this make a difference?
Yes - if you are a bokeh freak (I am). Rounded blades also help. ;D
I may be wrong, so please someone inform me: I thought wide open, all lenses had a circular aperture, the aperture blades only kick in when stopped down, in which case the more there are, the better, and rounded is better than straight. Odd versus even numbers of blades also affects 'sunstars' differently.