Canon EF 85 mm f/1 : favourite lens for headshot portraits.

December 30, 2019

Canon EF 85 mm f/1 : favourite lens for headshot portraits.

I can’t put this lense down. It is everything i hoped it would be and more. Just feels great, looks great, works great, is great. If you know what your doing, this lense could help you create some beautiful images.

Replacement for beyond repair mk 1 version, and amazon were best priced. This lens gets business – the dof separation of subject from background you can achieve is amazing. Not sure mk ii is better than mk 1, maybe slighter quicker focus – but am glad to have an 85mm 1.

I have been using canon lenses since the mid-1970s and have always been impressed by the way that they make me look good. When i tried this lens, i was initially frustrated by its lack of ease of use. It is slow to focus and rather bulky. However, the results are phenomenal. Now that i am familiar with the lens (it is rarely off my 5 and 6ds), it is the best lens i have ever had the pleasure to work with. I would recommend it without reservation and hesitation. It is a beautiful piece of precision engineering and it can deliver an immensely wide variety of styles of photography in the broadest range of light conditions.

Superb for portraiturehonestly, they don’t come much, nay, i should say any,better than this one.

I have had this lens for over a year now. You might say) which performed very well but on a full frame 5d mk ii this baby truly shines. The images are sharp the colour rendition is amazing. The focal lenght is just perfect. I have few canon l lenses: 17-40mm f4, 100mm f2. They all have their strengths but this is my favourite. Not quite my work horse (that would be my 17-40) but it never fail to wow me everytime i give it a bit of air-time. It is hard to learn initially.

I did a lot of research and asked plenty of questions before i bought this lens. Having used this lens approx a dozen times i am amazed at the quality and resolution. It is the best portrait lens i have used.

I had read lots on this lens before i hired it and then bought a copy. It is everything everyone says yes, it is quite heavy – but is short, and as a result feels better on my 5d 3 than, say, a 24-70l. It focuses slowly in comparison to other l lenses but, unless you are using it for sport, should be ok. 2 is shallow but very useable on this lens. The lens is very user friendly and a dream to have on the camera. 85mm focal length is not everyones cup of tea but i find it an interesting length that causes me to think a bit more. Sharpness is simply stunning. Colour and contrast are both amazing. The only downside to images is ca which this lens suffers from.

Awesome piece of canon l glass. Nothing really to add to the previous contributors, except to stress that manual focus depends upon connection to the camera body. It simply does nothing, without current to drive the usaf. Wonderful lens; you’ll wonder how you managed without it, and this fabulous and iconic portrait lens, defines how a truly good close up, with the benefit of a wafer thin dof, can and should appear.

Sell a kidney, you won’t regret it
Wonderful
Stunning Glass

Canon EF 85 mm f/1.2L II USM Lens

Make sure this fits
by entering your model number.
The L-series is Canon’s flagship professional lens range representing one of the best in precision-designed EF optics
A virtually circular aperture diaphragm gives out of focus regions a softer, more uniform feel. Sharp foreground objects stand out against a smooth blurred background
Spectra coatings ensure accurate colour balance and enhance contrast and also reduce flare and ghosting
A large maximum aperture of f/1.2 allows the use of fast shutter speeds when shooting in low light
A ring-type ultrasonic motor drives autofocus extremely quickly and in near silence

First of all, this lens is relatively huge. With that size, goes a considerable mass. In isolation, one wonders how it could be useful, with such a large mass/weight. However, in use on my eos 5d/bg-e4 grip, it feels remarkably ‘balanced’. I wouldn’t like a day’s shooting with this lens without the bg-e4 though. As to the images it produces, it’s hard to explain when you first see the first ‘roll’ from using this lens. Initially, you almost feel slightly underwhelmed, thinking ‘is that it?’, especially when the lens is bulky, heavy and extremely slow to focus (compared to other eos lenses). But after further use, ‘the penny drops’; you have to learn to use this lens properly. This lens literally defines the meaning of ‘sharp’, which takes some getting used to. I think we get used to looking at images that sometimes lack clarity and ‘bite’.

This is a wonderful portrait lens. It has a super sharp shallow depth of field, great low light performance and lovely smooth bokeh. You can pick out the model’s lips and her ears will be simply part of the creamy, dreamy, background. It is not without its limitations. You need to keep your distance. It does not close focus, i’m guessing one meter is as close as you’ll get, and focusing can be very slow. The results are however flattering to the subject and the photographer. My review above was actually based on using a friend’s lens. I subsequently bought one from amazon and when i opened it discovered it had no lens hood. Sadly, due to travel, i opened it after the 30 days but i’m sure amazon will, as usual, be happy to take it back.

This has to be one of the ultimate bits of glass on the planet. Ultra precise, gorgeous falloff ratios, a range of dof that is just about second to none.

What a fantastic lens, it produces some beautiful images. The colour reproduction is amazing as well as it being razor sharp. It does take some getting used to, especially as the focus is slower than a lot of lenses but if you patient the results are worth it. I did some comparisons in the studio versus other lenses and the iq was the best on this lens followed closely by the 70-200 ii is. If you can afford this lens get it.

The 85l is one of those lenses that everybody wants to own, it looks incredible just sitting in your camera bag…. But at around £1500 it’s a pricy paperweight if you don’t have a reason to own it. The 85l creates stunning shots when used correctly and you get used to its down sides (very heavy, not very fast focusing, hates backlight situations) and razor thin dof when shooting wide open. When shooting with this lens i will always try and be tethered when possible to confirm focus, and it is mostly used for portrait work. When you work around the down sides and create the image with this lens your rewarded with a very sharp image with a distinctive look. Its my favourite lens for headshot portraits.

Yes i’ve titled my review as jesus. That is the first word you’ll say on taking the lens cap off. This lens weighs almost one kilo and is huge. On taking the lens cap off it just ooozes quality as the mega sized front element stares back at you. This lens isolates your subject like nothing else can. I have the 135 f2l and thought it was mind blowingly sharp but this is just insanely sharp. You focus on the eye and literally the eye lashes are blurred so its a very unforgiving lens. 2 and produces the most insane bokeh ever. The lens body itself is huge.

The technical information and specifcations on amazon are good but for full details go to the canon uk site; i know it is written by canon employees but, having checked it for all my previous equipment, i have not found anything with which to disagree. For anyone, like me, who has used canon lenses for many years and has a bag full of ‘l’ lenses, this should have come as no surprise but it did. Canon lenses come in groups, ef-s, the ef ‘l’ and prime with a huge range of focal lengths to suit every assignment. The ef-s is a fantastic range of lenses, sensible prices for such quality, e. The 17-85mm was one of my first digital lenses and it is excellent; the ‘l’ lenses are simply stunning but that red ring or the grey bodies come at a price too, one worth spending though. Prime lenses are the pinnacle and have to be seen to be believed, lenses for the real enthusiast, serious phototgraphers. I have used this on a 50d and a full frame 5d mk ii. As a previous reviewer wrote, it is great on the 50d but really at home on the 5d, one of the professional range for which they were obviously made. The 24-105mm f/4l is usm is one which tends to be on the camera most of the time for the flexibility it offers but this 85mm is stunning when the middle focal length is what is needed. All camera enthusiasts know the feeling of window-shopping and the ‘l’ series has that effect. It has a pcoket emptier and don’t even consider the little plastic card or.

Well i have been lusting after this lens and its predecessor for years, and i recently took the plunge and bought it through wex to make use of their financing. Having read a lot of reviews, tips and advice from the net, my expectation was that i would initially have a relatively low hit rate, until i got to grips with the lenses idiosyncrasies. So i was very pleasantly surprised to find the majority of my photos were spot on, right from the start even at 1. I suspect that most of the issues people have with this lens are due to using the standard focus then compose technique. 2 f the dof is just so narrow, that the small movement of recomposing the frame is enough to put your image out of focus. Similarly, just taking too long to squeeze the button will also increase the chances that either you or your subject has moved that tiny little bit putting them out of the focusing plane. What works for me is to avoid faffing about. Simply use the central af point and take the picture immediately you get focus confirmation.

Truly outstanding and worth every single penny.

This lens has the ability to let you forget about whatever lens you have owned before. It is created for portrait shots, but that does not mean you cannot get creative with it. The one major setback is the electronic focusing system. However, it is a great lens and you have to own it to appreciate its value.

I do not think i could really add much more than what has been said already. It’s heavy,it’s slow to focus,looks great on a 5dmkii,the dof is insane,it’s expensive but look at it as an investment,will need some micro focusing to get it in tune,when you get it right the quality of the colours and amazing. Not to be bought on a whim its an investment both of time and money.

It is a real great lens i can find nothing i don’t like about it.

Ridiculous how good this lens is – image quality, saturation, contrast. I don’t really have words to describe it but for portraits it seems to capture a subject’s special essence, and frames them in a magic moment in space and time. I’ve lusted after this lens for many, many years and after finally pulling the trigger – i’m not disappointed. I’ve got a number of other l lenses (including 10 years with the 50mm f/1. 2) – and although the 85mm is for a particular purpose, it just blew everything else out of the water.

This lens is wonderful, really well built and surely the best for portraiture. Delivers really sharp images, it’s definitely my favorite lens.

I’m lucky to own a collection of l series canon lenses but this beauty might just become my favourite. Amazing bokeh, razor depth of field at f1. 2 but the image quality is just magical, even in the hands of mere mortals like me. If you’re tempted, stop wasting time and buy this stunning piece of glass. I don’t usually use filters but for this one.

Had it a couple of months now, it really is an amazing lens. The depth of field is razor thin. Backgrounds completely blown out, if im going to give a little criticism i have to say its a nightmare to focus, not just because focus is razor thin, but its quite slow to focus. . But the images are well worth it. Build quality 5/5image quality 5/5ease of use 3/5taking it out of your bag and putting it onto the camera with other photographers present 5/5.

My favourite lens, yes it is expensive/large/heavy but the images can be so unique. A niche lens with extremely narrow depth of field and amazing bokeh, only real limitation for me is the 0. 95m minimum focus distance which is almost worst-in-class.

This is a stunning piece of glass. It takes a good deal of getting used to. Lots of experimenting, and patience. Looking at the reviews elsewhere on the web -probably by people who know more about it than i do – none appear to refer to the sheer pleasure of owning this lens. It’s a beautiful piece of work. Its ideal for professional photographers for portraits and weddings.

Opened the sealed box – lens in hand – panic – manual focus does not worklater after phone call to canon – agree to try it on camera body first and then decide if it needs to go back for repair. Back home – connected to my eos 40d and – voila. It appears that the manual focus actually uses the usm rather than a mechanical connection so the lens needs to be powered. Finally found an obscure reference in the instructions confirming this. I really feel that as this lens is different to the usual canon lenses, then canon should emphasise this in their documentation and inform their telephone support staff – ah well. As to the lens performance – this one certainly sets the standard. Colour (chromatic) abberation is non existant, barrel and pincushion distortion undetectable, viginetting is nearly zero and the resolution probably exceeds the sensor resolution (10. 1 mpix) on the eos40d (aps c sensor). Great for portraits but even better for isolating flowers from their background foliage.