5dII or 5D+85L

Well I'm about to crack open my wallet again and let out the moths and wanted some opinions. Im ready to go FF and my dilemma is this. Buy the 5DII or get a used 5D + used 85L. I will be upgrading from the 30D and the selling my backup XT. I plan on keeping the 30D as a backup. You can see the rest of my lenses in my siggy.

opinions please.............

Do you have experience with the 85mm on a cropped body or full frame? If not, I would say try the 85 1.8 first to see if you like the focal length, before you dive into the 85L. You will get roughly the same perspective as the 50mm on a cropped body (if you use the 85 on FF); however the 50 1.8 doesn't compare to the 85. I would experiment with the 85 1.8 before I would go with the 85L. You would be dropping some serious coin for either combo that you wanted to use.

I have seen this exact thread a few times before...

Someone will talk about video, then how sweet the Prime is... It may even dissolve into ISO performance and such.

I always voted for the 5D classic + any glass.

What are you shooting? If you are a birder I would not recommend the 5D and the 85mm lens.

85L + any body works for me. Hell I'll take an 85L+Canon D60.

I'd say used 5D (if you can get a really good one) + 85mm 1.2L II.

However as a halfway point, I would say to buy 5D MK II + 85mm 1.8. The image quality will still be amazing (lens), you'll have TONS of resolution to play with (body) and it'll focus waaaaaaay faster (bit of both, but mostly the lens vs the 1.2). I've also heard through the grapevine a few weeks back (from people that I personally know) that sigma has an 85mm 1.4 coming. A couple days ago I saw a post about it on canonrumors.com. Should be interesting if there is any truth to it.

I don't think much beats FF + 85L... I'd definitely take that option over a 5D2, despite how awesome that is as well.

If you get a really good deal on a decent 5D, I'd say go with that plus the glass.

absolutly go with the 5d mark2, well, it'll last with you for a longer time, way better iso performance, crazy pro video cabablity, faster,for printing no comparision as the mark 2 could produce hugggggeeee posters with even cropping the image, but the 5d will be limited after cropping,also it will have a better resell value later (atleast 5 years from now !!) when you want to upgrade

as for the lens no doubt the 85L for me is the best canon lens, very very sharp, very good in low light, but why to risk the 5d mark 2 for getting an older 5 d with that lens? i would say get the 5 d mark 2, get the regualr 85 which is again veerrrrry sharp, and next year or something sell the 85 and get the 85L !

let's take it from another angle, the perfrmance ofthe 5d+85L in low light and high iso is worse than 5d mark 2 with 85 f1.8 and high iso !! yes way better since the 5dmark 2 handles iso up to 6400 with no problems and the 5d will show lots of noise at iso 3200

talking about relaibitly and more econ get the 5d mark 2,, because getting the old 5 d will not be sold for a good price after a year or so

i hope you consider these points and good luck in your buy

Your 24-70 and 70-200 will be great on a full frame camera.
I say go with a 5D2!

+1 5d 85L

the 5d2 is awesome... but photo wise - i dont feel its much different to the 5d (had one for long time) - when i use 5d2 i dont feel like im using a camera worth 3x more than 5d1 if you know what i mean - and i think results are similar enough that it would be cool to have 85L as well....

Well I mainly shoot weddings, portraits and products. So the deeper the ISO is better for low light. But Ive had great results using the 30D at 800 ISO with two strobes on stands at weddings. What im looking for I guess is less noise when I shoot with or without a flash on camera. better and faster focus when people are moving. Seems my 30D struggles a bit when Im in dark reception halls even with the 24-70 with no flash attached to help assist focus( I usually use the strobe setup ). A better lens for portraits is also a must. I have used the 85 1.8 on my 30D for only 1 day. I borrowed the lens from a friend at work so I could see if I wanted that focal distance.

5D+85L or even the upcoming crop 60D.glass is more important!
maybe next year there's already a 5D MKll successor.

I had a 5D which I really like but the 5DII is truly special - you can always rent a 85L until you can afford one and the 85 1.8 is quite nice.

I say get them all! That's what I did. First the 5d + 85L and then 5d mark II.