What's the best way to cheat on my wife?

Then there is the wonderful 135L f2. This shot is at 189mm with a 1.4X TC II at f3.5, 1/250s at ISO 1600.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
135L?
I nearly bought one - and I was thinking about the 200L (f/2.8....not f/2 ) - about 3 years ago, but at the time I had just got the 100 macro, so.....
But now, for this thread, the FL really would be too long.

advaitin wrote in post #14628596
Oh, you are right. The focus is actually on the forehead, eyebrows and tip of the nose (you can see tiny fine hairs in the fullsize image) and that was at f3.2.
Even if off, I liked that serious expression on Grandgirl2. Here's the more difficult GG1 And GG2 with crop to show the eyelashes.

These are lovely shots of your granddaughters! And you know, I think the wider aperture with curved blades makes such a difference to the "feel" of shallow depth of field shots....
More research on the 85 Sigma.
Look at these:
With a 7D, like mine - #4422~
And look at this for quality bokeh! #4426
Looking more and more likely....

If I did not already have an 85mm f1.8 (I think the oldest EF lens in my cabinet in terms of my owning it), an 85 L II and a 90 TSE, I would want to try out both the Sigma and Zeiss 85mm lenses. There is a limit to the size of the cabinet, if not the money it would tie up just to test them out.

That Canon 85 L II was superb at photography of fireworks, by the way:
http://www.flickr.com …n/sets/72157627​015911695/

advaitin wrote in post #14633389
If I did not already have an 85mm f1.8 (I think the oldest EF lens in my cabinet in terms of my owning it), an 85 L II and a 90 TSE, I would want to try out both the Sigma and Zeiss 85mm lenses. There is a limit to the size of the cabinet, if not the money it would tie up just to test them out.

That Canon 85 L II was superb at photography of fireworks, by the way:
http://www.flickr.com …n/sets/72157627​015911695/

There are some nice shots in there!
Thanks for sharing....
....and yes, having bought, micro-adjusted, become used to, and grown to love my Sigma 30 f/1.4, and now, thoroughly enjoying the 17-50 OS f/2.8, I do hope that Sigma are beginning to sort out their product quality issues.

And here, I can try out as many lenses as I like in the shop....so I might put the Sigma 85, Canon 1.8 and 1.2II L up against each other in the next two or three months to see if I can see which offers exactly what I need, for a price I can squeeze through my account without worrying.

Thanks again for all the useful input.

Simon

I have a task every October that allows me to play with video. Each year, it seems that improvements are made with new versions of Canon's less expensive lines. I ordered the 4Ti and STM 40mm lens to see if continuous focus while videoing will improve my results. That's my new purchase project for the rest of the year.
But I look in the cabinet and I know some old friends are going to have to go.

advaitin wrote in post #14633610
I have a task every October that allows me to play with video. Each year, it seems that improvements are made with new versions of Canon's less expensive lines. I ordered the 4Ti and STM 40mm lens to see if continuous focus while videoing will improve my results. That's my new purchase project for the rest of the year.
But I look in the cabinet and I know some old friends are going to have to go.

Know what you mean....when I said "goodbye" to my 30D and 50f/1.4 it made me feel sadly nostalgic.

And yes....improvements seem to be coming in leaps and bounds.

I'm also watching the mirrorless market quite closely since playing with a Sony Alpha77 a while back.

Not sure if Canon will release what we would want first time round, but hopefully they're about to, at the very least, release something to get into the market.

Cheers for now,

Simon

Oh, and I just realised over 1000 views in this thread, but only 50 votes.....I guess that goes to show that most people are still on the prowl for dirt. So the thread title attracted all the wrong types.
Hahahahahahahaha!!!