Front-heavy design
The relatively large
front elements move
forwards and backwards
during focusing, making
autofocus relatively slowSharpness
There’s the usual drop-off in
sharpness when shooting at the
very widest aperture, but overall
sharpness is very good
Colour fringing
Both lateral and axial colour
fringing at wide apertures are
more noticeable than from any of
the other lenses on test
Distortion
Unusually for an 85mm short
telephoto lens, there’s a little
barrel distortion, but it’s not
really enough to cause any
serious concernPRICE:1,849/ $1,999
Canon
EF 85mm
f/1.2L USM II
A legendin its own lifetime,
Canon’sclassic 85mm lens
is a toughact to followDesignedasthedefinitive lens for portrait and fashion
photography,the original version of this lens was updated in
2006.TheMarkII retains the oversized front elements of the
original,seekingto enhance the quality of bokeh, while also
reducingspherical aberration and increasing sharpness toward
theedgesoftheframe.
TheMarkII retains the ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system
oftheoriginal,unusually with an electronically coupled manual
focusring,butthe CPU is upgraded to boost autofocus speed.
Evenso,autofocus is still pretty sluggish, despite being nearly
twiceasfastasin the original lens. Updated Super Spectra
coatingshavealso been added to reduce ghosting and flare.
Despitebeingwidely regarded as a big and heavy lens when
launched,thisisnow the smallest lens in the group, with a
comparativelymodest 72mm filter thread. It’s no lightweight
though,atjustover 1kg.
Theavailabilityof such a tight depth of field enables very
defocusedandblurry backgrounds, which helps with the
qualityofbokeh.However, axial chromatic aberration can be
quitenoticeablewith this lens when shooting wide open, giving
noticeablefringing around the edges of objects in front of and
behindthepointof focus. Stopping down a little helps, but then
youmissoutonthe f/1.2 aperture, which is the main selling
pointofthelens.
Anotherissuewith stopping down is that the diaphragm is
basedoneightrather than nine blades. As such, it’s not as well-
roundedastheother lenses on test. The result is that defocused
lightsandbrightspots take on a noticeable octagonal shape
whennarrowingthe aperture.ds1500 2038 1933 2135 2011 1714 1446
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