Canon RF 85mm f2 review - a solid performer and one of my new favorites
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- Опубликовано: 4 июн 2022
- Canon RF 85mm f2 review from the perspective of a portrait photographer who uses it daily. It delivers surprising performance from a lens in this price class and has some features you may not expect.
Gear shown in this video:
Canon RF 85mm f2:
adorama.rfvk.net/6bMrYG - OR - adorama.rfvk.net/6bMrYG
Canon branded lens hood: amzn.to/3GrtX66
Canon RF 85mm f1.2L:
adorama.rfvk.net/vn6RJj - OR - amzn.to/3z3miJo
'Coffee and Photography Talk' MUG! coffee-and-photography-talk.m...
The Basics of Photographic Exposure - A digital guide: www.haywardgaudephotography.c...
Covered in this video:
1:22 - Review criteria
1:36 - Contrasting with the L version of the lens
2:06 - Sample image from this lens printed
3:26 - Pro's of the lens #1
3:34 - Sample image shot with the lens
3:57 - Pro's of the lens #2
4:45 - Sample image
4:57 - Pro's of the lens #3
5:35 - Pro's of the lens #4
6:07 - Pro's of the lens #5
6:44 - Pro's of the lens #6
7:08 - Image quality comparison with EF 24-105L
7:36 - Pro's of the lens #7
8:23 - Con #1
8:57 - Con #2
9:31 - Con #3
10:27 - Conclusions
===============================
My gear:
Sekonic LiteMaster Pro L-478D-U Light Meter: amzn.to/3AqPSat
Flashpoint eVOLV 200 Flash with Barndoor Kit: adorama.rfvk.net/YgY7ER
R2 Trigger: adorama.rfvk.net/RyoKb7
My Go-To Godox flash modifier: amzn.to/32ahT9l
#Canon EOS-R: amzn.to/3e5D0w3
EF lens adaptor: amzn.to/3GSwNzZ
Here is the current version of the tripod I use:
amzn.to/3siINGI
And this is the newest version of the grip head I use:
amzn.to/3p7YXke
Manfrotto combi-stand: amzn.to/3FFT84x
_____________________
This is not a sponsored video. As always, all opinions are 100% mine :) 
Хобби
The more I use this lens, the more I like it! Its definitely not an 'L' lens, but man it does a good job.
What a great review and amazing presentation. I'm a photographer who also does not fit the mould of young RUclipsr showing off expensive camera stuff and found your practical approach to evaluating this lens very refreshing.
Thanks so much for watching!
I short listed 50 1.8 for prime. My wife who joined me for camera shopping ( she jumped in at the mention of shopping), was super impressed by this. Though it was 4 times costlier than my choice, the quality and macro capabilities sold me.
I do not regret picking this !
One of the few, maybe, three of the reviewers who made this lens become what it's. Good review and I love it. I have mine delivered on the way....
Informative and believable review, and straight to the useful content without the usual 5-minute pre-amble which is so popular on YT reviews - many thanks for your opinion and insight.
Thanks a bunch for watching!
Love your simple, practical and honest review, that help me more confident to acquire the 85F2 (that got many negative review by other reviewer)
Keep the good work sounding the truth about photography gear, sir.
I'm subscribed !
It's DEFINITELY not always about spending the most money - thanks so much for watching!
Honest and precise review for a specific type of photography. Well done.
Thanks so much for watching!
Great review. Lays out the case for being realistic and practical re: purchases. The weather sealing for me is the biggy. Thanks so much.😊
It's a big deal when you need it for sure. Thanks for watching!
I just order this lens, I have the EF mount 85mm non L lens and I’ve used the crap out of it over the years,and it’s made me lots of money over the years in the studio and shooting senior portraits, weddings. I’m in the process of upgrading all of my EF lens to EF lens. I picked up mine on facebook marketplace place for $400. What a bargain
Excellent overview of this lens. I recently was struggling with whether to get the RF 70-200 f/2.8 lens or the f4 version. I ended up getting the f4 for much less money. With the money I saved over the f/2.8 version I was able to purchase this 85 mm f/2 lens refurbished and still have money left over.
I am very happy with the capabilities of this lens I love it’s light weight and compact size. It does everything I need it to do. I use it for casual family and friends portraits, some macro work, and sometimes just as a walk around town lens. It’s very good bang for the buck.
Its great that you got what works for YOU - thanks for watching!
I opted for this lens when I bought my EOS R instead of the typical kit zoom lens. It’s excellent for my portrait work in and out of the studio. I’ve come to terms years ago that Canon never bundles the non-L lenses with a hood. Nice review. Cheers
Thanks for watching!
You just made me more confident with buying this lens, I started buying my equipment for Portraits, family and baby photos and I a lot of other people just talk about the 1.2 and honestly with that L lens money I bought my 4 flashes and two lenses... thanks for the review
1.2 is a GREAT lens... but I've never needed it and I live on making portraits for print. Thanks for watching!
Nice video. I've been looking at this lens closely as I want something for close ups.
i recently bought one for portrait with using in my R6, good review!
Thanks for watching!
@@CoffeeandPhotographyTalk Dominican Republic Here! :)
Just splurged on a r6 body and this lens, excited to try it out
I really like it - thanks for watching!
Thank you for this review. I’ve shot with the EF version (1.8) for years, but moved to mirrorless and was looking at this lens or the 1.2 version. Think I’ll go with the 2.0 and save $2100! Thank you!
The 1.2 is AWESOME, but…😊. Thanks for watching!
I bought this lens about a year ago or so, and I really like it. I use it on the Canon EOS R and with auto eye focus it's pretty darn good. I don't have a complaint about missing focus. I shoot mostly graduating seniors and models and it's a great lens. I have the EF85mm 1.2L, lens too, but it lacks IS, and because it's a heavy lens at times shooting at f/2 or f/2.8, unless you have a high shutter speed or you're on a tripod you can get some less than sharp images. It would work ok with the R6 or R6II which have IBIS, but the R doesn't have IBIS. Outdoors I usually use a monopod with the EF 85mm 1.2, but with this 85MM F/2 IS lens I don't need to worry about a monopod.
That’s been pretty much my experience - thanks for watching!
Thank you man! Greetings from Brasil
Thanks for watching!
I picked one up from Canon refurbished for $299 and a JCC lens hood for $25. A great lens that is very budget-friendly.
Thats a great deal! Thanks for watching!
Wow!!! It’s currently $399 in the Canon refurbished store. I bought mine refurbished but the price was $489. Oh well, timing is everything. I’d say you got a stellar deal at $299! Holy cow I’d have bought two! 😅
Nice review... Can I ask if you experienced autofocus issues when transitioning INTO and OUT OF the close distance macro mode? Other reviewers mentioned that... Thanks!
Yeah, it’s a little wonky sometimes when doing that. Having said that my 100 2.8L has that same issue sometimes. It’s a big transition that throws the lenses for a loop I guess.
Bro, you speak truth to power! I also understand the "more expensive is better, and if you don't shoot the newest, most expensive gear you're not a pro" culture that permeates RUclips and where it comes from. I was shooting a Canon 5Ds with a combination of L glass and Sigma Art glass. I loved it, loved Canon (still do), but that camera had one flaw from my perspective and that was autofocus was temperamental, especially in low light. This led me down the rabbit hole of switching to mirrorless for the enhanced autofocus capabilities, especially eye af. Since I was migrating to mirrorless I decided to weigh all of my options and narrowed my choice down to Canon and Nikon. Sony is great as well, but the bodies just don't sit well in my hand and navigating the menu I found to be confusing. I landed on Nikon, oddly enough, because at the end of the day the glass is just much less expensive than the Canon glass (I'm primarily speaking of the premium RF L vs Nikon S Z mount glass). While I got some of the higher end glass, I also decided to go the less expensive route with their primes. To be honest, the higher end stuff is what you'd expect, but what blew me away is how good the inexpensive primes are. I got the 50, 85, and 35 f/1.8 primes and cannot believe how phenomenally well these lenses perform. They're sharp as a tack corner to corner wide open, fantastic color rendition, and wonderful contrast! The quality advancements that manufacturers have made in the "entry level" part of their line is terrific! However, one thing that really annoys me about Canon and Nikon is the lack of open sharing of technology with third party manufacturers like Tamron and Sigma. As always, thanks for sharing your expertise! Your videos are some of the best moments of my day! BTW, I see your subscriber count growing!
Really appreciate it - thanks for watching!
Shame there are no sigma art primes for canon r, those are about as good as it gets. Another brand with good small full frame 1.8 prime lenses is panasonic.
I actually spoke to Sigma reps at imaging USA and they are kind of frustrated about the whole thing too. Although they know nothing about what’s coming because it’s totally Canon’s decision
@@CoffeeandPhotographyTalk I'm so impressed that you followed up on this after 7 months! Thank you! I think Canon has gotten so much blowback on this decision I think it's only a matter of time before they reverse course. I'm just glad that Nikon is going in a different direction and opening the mount up to third party manufacturers. BTW, I love the new video about Imaging! I'd love to meet you if you got to Louisville next year!
Hope to see you there!
Watched some reviews about this lens and I realized that is a no brainer!
Specially because you might not get that much of an exaggerated buttery bokeh, even though you get an amazing one but, the MACRO capability compared with the L version, there’s not even comparison.
A 2 in 1, 600$ vs a 2.700$ with no MACRO at all.
Seems like a pretty clear decision!
I have 24-70 f2.8, do you think 85 f2 will be a nice portrays lens for me?
Thanks for the video, i'm also a portrait photographer and most of the time using a EOS R, i have the EF 85mm F/1.8 with the adapter and that gives me great shots, you have the EF version too, in your experience, is the RF version better ?
NOTICEABLY! I was very surprised. It's a bit better made lens the way it feels in the hand , its bigger for sure,(but there is plastic) and the color, contrast, sharpness are noticeably improved. Thanks for watching!
@@CoffeeandPhotographyTalk Okay thanks, maybe it's time for me to upgrade to the RF version...
Hi... nice video indeed, very informative. I heard that this lens has issue with slow autofocus. Did you encounter this issue when using this lens? If yes, how to deal with that?
Hmm... so, I would say it's 'slow' compared to the new RF 'L' lenses (to be expected), but it's definitely faster than the EF lens it replaces, so to me it's about what my expectations were. No non-L glass will focus as fast as the L lens, so it depends on your definition of slow I guess. Thanks for watching!
Good job! Thank you Angel from The Bay
Thanks for watching!
I miss some photos you took with this lens in your video. I was searching for a 85mm prime lens for my Canon R6 and ended up getting an EF 85mm f/1.4 which has IS, weather sealing and lens hood unlike RF 85mm f/2. I bought it for 1350 euros, less than double compared to RF 85 f/1.2. from my point of view it's much better option than RF 85 f/2.
EF lenses are a bargain right now and that sounds like a good deal. Thanks for watching!
Would you recommend it for a Crop sensor? It would make it a 136mm Maybe too long for portraits? Which lens would be best. I have the 50mm 1.8.
Its all about whether the net focal length works for you... for a crop sensor as you say it would be 136... the 135mm L lens is a great portrait lens but it is tight if you are shooting fairly close to subject. 50 would be roughly equivalent to this lens on a full sized sensor... you really have to decide if you LIKE the focal length for your work. Thanks for watching!
well done!!
Thanks for watching!
My favourite lens for portrait and landscape.
I am a very inexperienced snapper and had a few bob to spare and too much time on my hands decided to get into photography a little more seriously. I got an R6 and spent a small fortune on lenses, however, one of the first I bought was a 60 quid (75USD) ef 80-200 on e-bay, which I put to one side and never really used after watching various channels talking about you having to spend on the lens....which I did (no fool like an old fool lol) After taking 140-150 shots with various lenses on one shoot I loaded them onto Lightroom and there were about 8 which I liked for sharpness and colour looking at the metadata 6 of them were with that cheap lens...ah well!
Cheaper lenses typically show weaknesses under extreme lighting conditions. If your image is well lit/exposed, the weaknesses will definitely be less apparent. Thanks for watching!
@@CoffeeandPhotographyTalk I live on the Greek Island of Corfu where the light is fantastic so that corelates I must test it under different conditions.
Oh heck, I think its time for a roadtrip to YOUR location! LOL
I've been preaching about his lens in groups and I get so much crap for it. I love this lens. It's so sharp. I use it for product and portraits. The bad: focus is very slow. Not very accurate but other than that.....
I'm right with you... I often say photographers don't know how spoiled we are today.. :). Thanks for watching!
Canon has it in stock right now on refurb for 299. Just picked it up
Sweet!
Would it be worth getting when you have a 14-35 f4 L lense? My partner wants to shoot some family portraits. Thanks
For me I would have to get something longer than 35mm. That’s just too wide for portraits for me.
I enjoyed the video and the info in it. I was using a Canon 85mm f/1.8 EF lens for headshots, but thought I’d try to improve my lens. So, I rented the Canon RF 85mm f/2.0 to test it for headshots, and I also rented the Tamron 85mm f/1.8 G2 (EF) for the same reason. I found the Tamron was at least equal to the Canon and slightly superior in color depth and brightness at the same ISO and aperture. Additionally, the Tamron is weather-sealed and also has 5 stops of stabilization. I didn’t buy either lens. But now that my old Canon 85mm EF developed auto-focus motor problems, I’m being forced into buying a new lens (even though I’m getting the old on repaired). The question for me is… which one? The Canon RF is new tech while the Tamron isn’t. Plus, since the Tamron is discontinued, used is the only option. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Or, shall I say, indecision, indecision, indecision.😁
I've heard good things about that Tamron. I saw it at their booth at our national convention in January and it looked pretty sweet!
@@CoffeeandPhotographyTalk I've previously shot real estate and interiors for decades and have found that Tamron lenses are significantly superior to Canon and Sigma for chromatic aberration, clarity, and vignetting. I've used them on both a Canon APS-C body and my Canon R body using the Canon RF-EF adapter. However, as much as I'd like to get the Tamron 85mm f/1.8, because it's been discontinued and hard to find in excellent USED condition, I may buy the Canon RF. We'll see...
It appears to me that third-party lens manufacturers position their products above canons minimum but a little below their maximum if that makes sense? It’s kind of a good strategy businesswise.
it's great but.. it is better when it is 1.8 or like the bokeh of viltrox creamy..
Interested in your thoughts of how the nifty fifty RF compares to this?
I currently have the EF 50mm 1.4... I have NOT used the RF 1.8, but my experience with the EF 1.8 was that it was just a bit to cheaply made for my taste. It appears the RF 1.8 may be a slight upgrade, but I've not tried it. Thanks for watching!
The RF 50mm is the Thrifty 50, the EF 50mm is the Nifty 50. I have the Thrifty 50 and also had the Nifty 50, the RF Thrifty 50 is a better lens in my opinion. 😎
I just bout this lens, when I was mounting the UV filter I've noticed that there's a tiny dust inside it. do you think it will effect the pictures? thank you
Hard to say, but if it’s a new lens, they should be willing to fix that under warranty.
Hello Master:
Please help and give me some advice,
The camera I am currently using is Canon EOS R10,
The kit lens used with it is (RF-S18-150mm f/3.5-6.3 IS STM)
My main subject matter is toy photography.
The secondary shooting content is street photography or portrait photos.
Now I want to buy new lenses, after watching your video,
Want to compare between Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM and RF85mm F2 Macro IS STM
After making a choice, I would like to ask you to give me some advice on which lens is more suitable for me? Thank you.
Those two types of photography really need more than one lens. For toy photography the 85 is a good choice. 85 works for portrait photography depending on how close you want to frame your subject. For full length, you may like the 50 better. Thanks for watching!
@@CoffeeandPhotographyTalk
Thanks for your reply🙏🙏🙏
I just purchased one recently on sale for $450 at Best Buy 😊
Why are you comparing f4 zoom to f2 prime?
Nice cripple hammer reference! 😉
Thanks :). I love Camera Conspiracies.. Thanks for watching!
Don't we all@@CoffeeandPhotographyTalk
How is this lens vs the Sigma Art 85mm 1.4?
I’ve never used that lens
How much is that lens? I don't think you mentioned it...
LOL
Thank you for validating my thoughts about overpriced 2000 + dollar lenses. The differences I’ve seen between ones under 1000 compared to ones that cost thousands. And honestly I just don’t see the difference ever being worth thousands more.
True up to a point.... for high end commercial and very large portrait commissions, sure... but not for what a large majority use them for. Thanks for watching!
A lot of RUclips gear reviews are like Top Gear episode with that wow factor of gear one would love to have, however can never afford it !
Also why pay thousands for f1.2 lens and mostly shoot at f2.8 - f4,....!
That's why lens like this should be more popular as a work horse for original people and Pros, not gear if we were too F1 manufacturer !
Thanks for watching!
Why.. to flex😆😆😆
Lens is bad for video. too noisy.
Waste lens
I was waiting for this review, thank you so much. You are a great youtuber. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you and thanks for watching!