Huy Cat Photography Blog

A while back, I borrowed the Canon 85mm L f/1.2 lens from my friend. I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger and bought one. I’m been so excited with it, it has rarely come off the camera. Here’s a few more with the kids.

ok, technically, this next one is with the 16-35mm.

Ok, I try not to do a lot of gear talk on my blog, but after my friend Bob allowed me to try out his new 85mm f/1.2 II lens, I had to post some results.

Here’s two pictures shot at f/1.2

Outside, it was too bright to shoot wide open, I shot this one at f/1.4.

And here’s one stopped down a bit at f/2.

One last shot at f/1.2.

So, what’s my opinion on it? First, it’s a solid lens. Many will say it’s heavy, but I think it perfectly balanced my camera (with the grip). I only tried this lens out pretty much wide open, so I didn’t stop it down but I suspect it only gets better stopped down. Being such a fast lens, I was always impressed that I didn’t have to reach for the flash in doors.

However, it does take a lot of shots to make sure you got it right when shooting at such a thin DOF at f/1.2. The focusing is slow which makes it not a great lens for sports. But, I never thought I would use this sports. And finally, there’s purple fringing shooting it wide open.

For some of my technical buddies that frequent my blog, I thought you would be very interested in a tour of Canon’s factory where they make the awesome lenses I use to photograph everything. It’s a virtual tour, but quite informative. In fact, it kind of reminds me of the Materials class I had in college. Have a look here.

And more generically (not just Canon), here’s another video on how lenses are made:

[youtube X7_wL0ZZi6k]