Better Available Light Digital Photography : How to Make the Most of Your Night and Low-light Shots

Fast lenses 119

For a more traditional portrait,
Joe photographed his wife, Mary,
in the bay window of their kitchen,
using a Canon EOS 30D. The
built-in fl ash was popped up, but
softened with LumiQuest’s Soft
Screen. Exposure was 1/60 of a
second at f/3.5 and was ove-
rexposed by^1 / 3 stop to open the
shadows. © 2006 Joe Farace.

To ensure corner-to-corner sharpness and contrast throughout

the focus range, and especially at wide apertures, the EF 85 mm

f/1.2 L II USM incorporates a fl oating-group construction

along with a large aspheric-lens element that has variable

curvature. It’s coated too. An uncoated lens refl ects as much

as 8 percent of the incidental light, reducing brightness, but

the lens coating prevents refl ection to suppress fl are and

ghosting. The 85 mm f/1.2 L II uses optimized lens-element

shapes, and has a large circular aperture diaphragm to soften

distracting backgrounds. In keeping with Canon’s kyosei

philosophy (living in harmony), the EF 85 mm f/1.2 L II USM

features only lead-free glass.

After the price, the next thing you’ll notice about the 85 mm

f/1.2 L II is its size and weight; it’s big and it’s heavy. At 36.2

ounces, it weighs twice as much as the 15-ounce EF 85 mm f/1.8

USM. It can be a handful even when mounted on a compara-

tively lightweight digital SLR such as Canon’s EOS 30D, but

attaching the battery grip (BGM-E2) helps balance camera and

lens better. The next thing you notice with this lens is the brilliant

image in the viewfi nder. That image is wonderfully bright on a

camera such as the EOS-1D Mark II, and on the 30D’s dimmer

screen, you couldn’t ask for a better view.