The Canon EF85mm f/1.2L II USM is the upgraded version of the EF85mm f/1.2L USM and is widely deemed the ‘gold standard’ for professional portrait work. Fashion photographer and 2017 MPA awards winner (in the fashion category), Leonard Chua, decided to put it to the test and shared with us the results and his verdict on this highly acclaimed ‘bokeh’ lens .
Test shot 1
The Canon EF85mm f/1.2L II USM is a winner for dreamy and out of this world effects for portrait shots. The subject in this shot looked seamlessly immersed in a sea of red light. My advice is to switch the camera to manual focus mode. However if you are someone who prefers to use auto focus, setting the aperture to f/1.4 helps the lens to better focus.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | EF85mm f/1.2L II USM | f/1.4 | ISO500 | 1/30s
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | EF85mm f/1.2L II USM | f/1.8 | ISO125 | 1/125s
Test Shot 2
The EF85mm f/1.2L II USM is a Electronic Manual Focus lens, hence it is suggested to have the camera body set to manual focus. This lens can’t keep up with a subject quickly moving in and out of the plane of sharp focus. However the slow focus speed is generally not an issue in portrait photography.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | EF85mm f/1.2L II USM | f/1.4 | ISO50 | 1/1500s
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | EF85mm f/1.2L II USM | f/2.0 | ISO50 | 1/50s
Test Shot 3
The benefit of this lens having an extremely wide aperture means being able to shoot at a lower ISO and having less noise in the photo.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | EF85mm f/1.2L II USM | f/1.4 | ISO50 | 1/1500s
Final Verdict
The EF85mm f/1.2L II USM is one of the best lenses for wedding, fashion, and portrait photography. This is the lens for photographers who are seeking the bokeh effect in the photos whether in natural or low-light shooting situations.
View more of Leonard Chua’s award-winning works at
https://www.facebook.com/PixStoryPhotography/.
#Canon EF85mm f/1.2L II USM #Canon EOS 5D Mark IV