Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM

IT WAS only a matter of time before Canon looked at filling the gap between its premium EF 85mm f/1.2 L II USM and its more affordable, but fairly old, EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. The arrival of the EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM couldn’t come soon enough for Canon users specialising in portraiture, documentary, wedding and reportage photography – however, to make it stand out from the sublime alternatives already out there it needed something truly special to make it more attractive.

The advantage it has over other similar lenses is its highly effective optical image stabilisation that allows users to capture sharp shots at as slow as 1/10sec with a solid handheld technique. It feels just right mounted to full-frame DSLRs and delivers sensational centre sharpness wide open, with a high hit rate of pin-sharp shots at f/1.4. The accurate autofocus, great handling and built-in optical image stabilisation are all great reasons to choose it, but ultimately it’s the fast fall- off in focus and the way it makes a subject pop from the background that make it so appealing. The EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM is without doubt one of the finest prime lenses Canon has made in recent years and provides exactly what many users have been asking for. If you’re a Canon full-frame DSLR user who’d like a fast, well-built, optically stabilised medium telephoto prime, you’ll fall in love with this lens – it really is astonishingly good.

‘It delivers sensational centre sharpness wide open with a high hit rate of pin-sharp shots at f/1.4’