Canon® Canon 85mm F/1.4L IS

The Canon 85mm f/1.4L IS is a fast short-telephoto prime that’s optimized for full-frame Canon DSLRs. Key features include:

• Excellent for portraiture

• Shallow depth of field and great low-light performance

• Four-stop image stabilization

• Fast, accurate, and quiet autofocus

Fast Short-Telephoto Prime. The Canon 85mm f/1.4L IS is a great choice for portraiture. Its fast f/1.4 maximum aperture gives you stellar low-light performance and excellent depth-of-field control, and its rounded nine-blade diaphragm produces pleasing bokeh when you’re using selective-focus techniques.

Full-Frame Coverage. This short-telephoto prime is designed for Canon’s full line of EF-mount DSLRs, so it offers 35mm full-frame coverage. You can also use it on APS-C cameras, on which it’ll provide a 136mm equivalent focal length.

Image Stabilization. The built-in optical image stabilization provides up to four stops of correction, enabling you to shoot hand-held without having to worry about the effects of camera shake.

Ring-Type Autofocus System. The ring-type USM motor provides fast, silent autofocus performance with full-time manual-focus override. The internal-focusing design ensures that this lens’s physical size doesn’t change while focusing.

L-Series Quality. As an L-series lens, the 85mm f/1.4L IS features premium optical design and build quality. It features one glass-molded aspherical element to combat distortion and aberrations. Canon applies an Air Sphere Coating to all of the lens elements to reduce flare, minimize ghosting, and maintain optimal image quality, even in bright light. The weather-sealed barrel provides protection from moisture and dust, letting you use this lens in less-than-ideal conditions.

This lens is going to thrill some people and disappoint others. The bottom line is it’s a good 85mm lens with amazing image stabilization, which puts it in a class of one. It is much sharper at f/1…

This lens is going to thrill some people and disappoint others. The bottom line is it’s a good 85mm lens with amazing image stabilization, which puts it in a class of one. It is much sharper at f/1.4 than the Canon 85mm f/1.2 is at f/1.4. But if you’re looking for amazing resolution at f/1.4, this may not be your choice. The Sigma 85mm f/1.4 Art or Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 Milvus will out resolve the Canon. The Canon is still very good, much sharper than the 85mm f/1.2 L lens, for example.

However, the IS system, nearly-as-good resolution, and (for a Canon L) reasonable price make this lens a winner. The stabilization is superb and with the wide aperture basically let you get sharp images hand held in nearly dark conditions. If you can focus on it, you probably can capture a good image of it. Of course, it also lets you stop down to smaller apertures or lower ISOs than would otherwise be possible. The Canon 85mm f1.4 L IS is not a small lens, but it’s one of the smaller and lighter 85mm wide-aperture lenses; easy to carry around and you can shoot with it for hours. It’s a superb all-purpose 85mm lens, and if that’s what you’re looking for you won’t go wrong with choosing this one.