Canon 35mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.2

Hello People,

I'm about to buy a new lens and I'm deciding between the 35mm f/1.4 or the 85mm f/1.2. I want to see you opinions on these two lenses. Thanks!!!

Hard to say without knowing what do you want to do with it and what lenses you already have.

Those are very different lenses, I'd say it depends on what you shoot.

I think they're really nice lenses that are extremely fast, sharp, and capture beautiful colors.

I think one is 35mm and one is 85mm.

Seriously though, one is normal-wide and one is short-telephoto. And they're arguably the best lenses of their lengths available in any autofocus system. So, do you want a normal-wide lens, or a short-tele lens?

2 killing lenses. But IMO the 85L is the sexiest.

I have both and prefer the 85L by far : f1.2, sharp as hell, bokeh. This lens is just incredible.

But am I objective ? Look @ my avatar...

OK... thanks for the comments. I'm going to be doing a lot of food photography and some fashion. I already have the Canon 24-105mm f/4 with my 5DMKII.

If you have the room to work I would go with the 85mm. You will have less perspective distortion than if you were shooting up close with the 35mm. I really like my 35 1.4 but I don't use it for close shots. I previously tried out the 85L and while it produces great images, the AF is a little slow. With food though I don't think that will be much of an issue.

What about 50mm?

LongDraw wrote in post #13204933
What about 50mm?

That's a good one too... its $50 more and it goes to f/1.2

MFD is long on the 85. Too long for food IMHO.

For food the 85/1.2 isn't really that great of a choice. It's expensive and has a long MFD. For the same money consider the Sigma 85/1.4 and the Canon TS-E 90 or 100 macro.

The 35/1.4 is very good, with only a few 35mm SLR lenses available with better performance. The only less expensive option that's sharper is the Samyang 35, but it's MF.

Sigma 30 and the Canon 85.

100mm macro L will do food and portraits, very nice lens and cheaper

I just bought the 85 1.2L II and I wasn't quite sure I would be happy with my choice. After using it for a few days, I can say it is my favorite lens. I sold my 100L IS Macro to purchase the 85L. I also own the 35 1.4L.

But for food, I would definitely get the 100L IS Macro.

35mm was my first Lens i own.. and till this day, I'm still using this lens ohhhh yeaaa!!