Every photographer has a go to lens – our favorite lens, the best! Until last year, my favorite lens was the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 prime lens way to big for many applications, but I often stuck with because of it’s rapid quick time-to-focus and incredibly beautiful bokeh. Last year, I began shooting weddings with greater frequency, and I figured I should fill in the gap in my kit bag. My smaller prime lenses were 50mm f/1.4 and 135mm f/2. So, right in the middle nestles the L series EF 85 mm f/1.2.
Almost immediate I fell in love, it produces razor sharp images with the most incredible bokeh and for my wedding work, it was second to none. If I were to criticize it would be for slower (time-to-focus) I than I am used to. There is a lot of glass to move in a relative short lens.
While it is incredibly fast at f/1.2, I feel that there should be a disclaimer when using this lens wide open primarily because it produces such a narrow depth-of-field it takes some practice to understand best how to use it! That is not an issue with the lens but-but more of a challenge for the photographer.
I have included a few samples shot over the last year and have included the settings for each image.
I now have a favorite new go-to-lens!