Brent's World Forums

Yesterday morning I pulled the trigger and ordered Canon's 85mm f1.4L IS lens.

I have had a really good experience with Canon's f1.8 offering, and want just a little more dof without spending my life savings on the f1.2. (The reviews of slow AF do not sound like it would be good for my current style of photography.).

I tried the Samyang 85mm f1.4 AF, and while I did get some good pictures, I felt it only performed about 75% of the time, and had some really pronounced chromatic aberration to boot. You can read the blog I did comparing the Samyang 85mm f1.4 AF to Canon's 85mm EF f1.8 here.

http://www.catracing.org/hendrb/the-bat ... yang-f1-4/

It should be arriving in about 2 weeks, and I can not wait to get out and shoot with it!

I can not believe I did not do a follow up to this post.

So After shooting with the f1.4L.IS for a year and a half what do I think? How does it compare to the f1.8, or the Samyang 85mm f1.4?

Hands down it is a MUCH better lens than the Samyang! The chromatic adoration issues are nonexistent , the color rendering is superb, and the bokeh is out of this world wide open. The Auto focusing is fast and accurate.

Here are some of the great pictures I have taken with the lens.
Would I recommend it over the 85mm f1.8? Not if you are a budget photographer, while the lens is outstanding, so is the EF 85mm f1.8, so unless you really need an f1.4 aperture or IS lens the 1.8 will do you well. Would I recommend it over the Samyang 1.8 F1.4 AF? Definitely! Even though the is over twice as expensive, either save up your money to buy the Canon, or just go with the EF85mm f1.8. Sorry Samyang (Like your 14mm, but can not get behind your 85mm!).