Canon RF 85mm 1.2L USM MTF - showing an instant classic?

We decided to dig a bit into the Canon RF 85mm 1.2L USM. Surprisingly most of the commentary we've seen on this lens has been a little negative.  Too big, too heavy and too expensive.  But let's be fair, Canon was out to best a legendary lens, the Canon EF 85mm 1.2L USM II which is basically the portrait shooters go to lens.  Because of DSLR focusing, on DSLR's the technique and mastery of this lens takes experience, but the results spoke for themselves.

The bottom axis is the distance from the center, so 20mm and above are at the extreme corners.  0mm is at the center of the lens.

As you can see the new RF 85mm is better at the center, and far better at the corners than the 85mm 1.2L.  The closer to 1.0 the better.

One area of possible weakness is possibly the bokeh, where the closer the dashed lines are to the solid lines the softer the bokeh effect.  This may be why Canon decided to come out with the DS version, to enhance the bokeh on what appears to be an extremely high resolving lens.

Comparing the lens against the Canon RF 50mm 1.2L USM, we can see that the 85mm 1.2L USM should be sharper from the center to the corners.

So if you have the 50mm, or thought the 50mm 1.2L as an impressive lens, then the 85mm 1.2L is pretty much a given to be an even better lens.

Preorder the Canon RF 85mm 1.2L USM now from our preferred partner, B&H Photo Video.

Product Highlights

• RF-Mount Lens/Full-Frame Format
• Aperture Range: f/1.2 to f/16
• Blue Spectrum Refractive Optics Element
• One UD Element, One Aspherical Element
• Air Sphere Coating
• Ring-Type Ultrasonic Motor AF System
• Customizable Control Ring

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MTF Chart credit to The-Digital-Picture