Canon EF 85mm F/1.4 USM L IS

Specifications01

MountCANON EF

Focal length85mm

Max aperturef/1.4

TypeCinema · Portrait · Telephoto · Prime

Weight950 g

Filter size77 mm

Physical length105.4 mm

Min focus distance0.85 m

Max magnification0.1205

Aperture blades9

Optical elements14

Groups10

Lens hoodbarrel-shaped (bayonet mount, supplied)

Sensor coverage43.3 mm

Additional Info02

SpecialL IS USM

Category["Canon EF"]

Review AuthorKlaus

Other Featuresimage stabilizer weather sealing

Review VerdictWe weren't overly thrilled by the characteristics of the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 USM L II. While being a bokeh monster, it has issues e.g. in terms of sharpness and AF speed. The Canon EF 85mm f/1.4 USM L IS does fix these shortcomings. It is quite sharp at f/1.4 and reaches great results at medium aperture settings. That's on a 50mp sensor = at 21mp the quality is generally superb. Lateral CAs and distortions are low. The amount of vignetting sticks to the common characteristics in the class - reads: it's visible at f/1.4 but not extreme. The quality of the bokeh is generally excellent except for highlight discs that deteriorate a little too "early" in the image field in our book. Bokeh fringing is a common issue in this lens class and the Canon lens can't hide from this either. Mechanically, the lens shows no real weakness. It is built to professional standards including weather sealing. Some may raise an eyebrow due to the use of (high-quality) plastics on the lens barrel but it's a non-issue really. It also helps in keeping the lens weight at a sane level. For whatever reason, Canon decided to "shrink" the lens hood. While most users tend to use lenses without a lens hood anyway, those who do will be probably annoyed by this decision. Technically the hood could surely be twice as deep. The (optical) behavior in backlit situations - to be precise, stray light from outside the image field - is better than average though. The image stabilizer didn't really work too well for us (although there was clearly IS action visible in the viewfinder). Given the positive feedback from users, we tend to believe that this was an issue in our specific sample though. The AF is both very fast and silent. Given the sum of its qualities, it is a no-brainer to give the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4 USM L IS our "highly recommended" badge. It is facing tough competition from the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 ART lens but the Canon lens has the benefit of providing more consistent focusing results.

Review Published2018-04-14T02:50:00+00:00

Optical Construction14 elements in 10 groups including 1x GMo aspherical element