85L or 50ART/135L

This year I've purchased a Sigma 50 Art and a Canon 135L. Basically thinking it would be an indoor/outdoor prime combination for portrait style pictures of family. Was debating between that or the 85L. Now I'm thinking of selling both of them and trying the 85L.
Love the 50 ART, ridiculously sharp just a little short outside and inside I find myself using the 24-70L with a flash.
Canon 135L is great too but just a little long (although doable) for outdoor pictures.
I was using the 70-200 to takes portrait style pictures the other day and they all seemed to be around 85mm so that got me thinking of getting the 85L, even though I have zero complaints about the 50art or 135L besides the focal length.

Purchased both brand new so might take a little hit but should come close to funding the 85L..... Or I could wait for the 85ART.....

Heya,

I did a similar thing. I ended up vastly preferring 35mm over 50mm for portrait inside and general shooting. And I much prefer 85mm over 135mm indoor and outdoor, because I like not having to be far away from the subjects for a full body shot, and still retain the telephoto look.

One thing to note, the 85L is kind of slow to focus and can be a bit inaccurate if shooting wide open (it is fairly camera AF system dependent). Optically isn't not perfect either, the CA is known. Granted, that's assuming you shoot it wide open. Stopped down to F2 it would be an optical beast of course, but still on the slower side of AF. If you're getting it to shoot wide open, I'd just rent it first to see if you really want F1.2 and find it actually usable for your purposes.

Personally, I would try a Sigma 85 F1.4 or Canon EF 85 F1.8 first, to see if they satisfy your needs.

The 85 F1.8 & 100 F2 are great lenses. Not terribly different from the 85L. Depends how often you think you'll use it.

I use 85mm more than anything I think, for portrait. Easily my favorite focal length on full frame.

Very best,

Love the 135L but it's more limiting because of it's narrower field of view plus its slower speed and greater difficulty holding steady. If I had to pick just one lens it would be either a Canon 50L or 85L depending on what your primary subject matter is. If it's intimate shots of people, I'd get the 85L. If it's more groups and landscapes, I'd get the 50. Of course you can always crop 50 to 85, but you can't do the converse.

I like the sharpness of the Art 50mm, but I'd gladly trade for the lushness of the Canon 50L or 85L.

p.s., one thing you'd have to contend with if you got the 85L that is almost nonexistent in your current lenses is a bit of CA in some shots wide open.

Personally I'd want the 50A and 135L, but it sounds like the 85L makes more sense for you, so I voted that way.

Always pick the FL you prefer. So go with the 85. That's why I never understand the questions which lens to pick a wide or a telephoto. Just pick the one you NEED or which FL you need more...

try them all, curiosity will get to you eventually.

You'll have to do some discovery on how you shoot, I'de be comfortable shooting any of the lenses, however, with 50/85, I would be constantly drawn to a longer solution as well.

delta0014 wrote in post #17586406
Or I could wait for the 85ART...

This is the correct answer.

Is it even coming?

I have had 50A and 135L combo since the Art was introduced and loving them. I also have the 85 1.8 and they are perfect for my needs in between. 85L is a great but i couldn't justify the slow AF for that kind of cost... i'd suggest you rent the 85L first to try it out before selling the other two lenses.

Yea, I don't think I can sell them. Think I'll just wait for 6 months and see if the 85 ART comes out.

delta0014 wrote in post #17588555
Yea, I don't think I can sell them. Think I'll just wait for 6 months and see if the 85 ART comes out.

Heya,

The 85A is going to be a beast of a lens. If it's affordable, it will crush souls.

But really, I hope Sigma takes a little break and looks at maybe making a 100 F2 ART with a pinch of OS.

Very best,

smythie wrote in post #17588085
Is it even coming?

I'm as confident saying "yes" as I can be for any unreleased product. They want to expand their Modern (if I remember the name correctly - A|S|C) lenses to cover their full lineup. They started with the 50A and moved down, and now they'll be moving up. Art is what makes sense for 85/1.4 and hopefully a 135/2.

Grab a used 85 1.8 and then see what works best. I have all 3 lengths and use them for different things. I do not recommend the sigma 85 1.4...it was a bust for me.

I love the 35 is 2 for video and indoor low light.
I love the 85l for portrait...wow. Not as good in low light...I bet the 85 1.8 is better. Tough time focussing with my 6d and such shallow dof
I love the 135 2 for indoor sports, low light and portraits outside

Pretty sure the 85mm has been redone every 10 years. If that is true, which it is, they should be releasing a new one some time soon.

I personally don't like sinking 2,100 into a portrait lens.

70-200 is much better for that price and way more versatile.

Yes the aperture makes a huge difference but it all depends on what style of portraits you shoot I suppose.
As much as I love 'Bokeh', being a photoshop wiz makes a lot of those things irrelevant when choosing a lens ;\


I know this isn't much help thought I'd throw my hat in the ring

For what it is worth, unless you're blowing pictures up huge and do large prints, I don't even notice a difference worth mentioning (vs the price ofc) for the 85mm 1.8 and the 1.2


either way, I thought they were talking about a 85mm Art series. Would also be worth waiting for

I don't care for Auto focus so the zeiss planar ZE 85mm was always an amazing option which I still contemplate

/edit

answering the original question

I would take a 50mm and 135mm over a single lens.
I can safely tell you to keep those and get yourself an 85mm 1.8 used (I'm selling mine for like $300 brand new so they can be obtained cheap) and just use that for a while. If you love the focal length but hate the quality, think about selling all that crap

I never clicked with the 85mm focal length for whatever reason. Seemed too long for indoors, too short for outdoors.
I settled with the 50/135 combo and couldn't be happier.

Of course, that is 100% personal preference.