Getting serious about portraits and weddings...85L or 85 f/1.8...help!

I've decided to dedicate my time to learning and hopefully mastering portrait and wedding photography. I've also been wanting to spend some time learning how to better control depth of field. I'm working with a 1D Mark II (x1.3) and am having some trouble deciding between the Canon 85mm f/1.8 and the 85mm f/1.2L II. I'm sure this has been asked before, but what differences am I going to see for the extra what $1400? I'm not a big fan of the focusing ring, but I'm sure I'll get over it.

To those who own the 85L, how often do you find yourself using it compared to lens like a 70-200?

I know that the 85 f/1.8 is a great lens, and I should just go with that instead of the 85L in this troubled economy.

I'd appreciate any opinions or advice or the lens or just portrait/wedding photography in general.

I am a rank amateur, but I'd want a wider mid-range zoom range for a wedding. For portraits, the 85mm focal length should be great on your camera. For quick candids, the 1.8 should do the job, and you could get another lens for the price of the 851.2. The 851.2 also weighs more than 2 pounds.
Another 2 pounder is the 24-70f2.8. You could pick up the 851.8 and the Canon 24-70 f2.8 for less than the price of the 85f1.2.
You have to decide whether the weather proofing of the 85L is worth it - for the amount of use it will get. If I were putting together a kit for shooting weddings, I'd want the zoom and a fast prime - perhaps the 35f1.4 - given the lenses that you already have.
All of this is very expensive, and someone who shoots weddings for a living can probably give you better advice. I only did the photos for 1 wedding reception many years ago, and that was done with a 35-70 zoom, flash and a film camera.

exodusfman800 wrote in post #9328015
I've decided to dedicate my time to learning and hopefully mastering portrait and wedding photography. I've also been wanting to spend some time learning how to better control depth of field. I'm working with a 1D Mark II (x1.3) and am having some trouble deciding between the Canon 85mm f/1.8 and the 85mm f/1.2L II. I'm sure this has been asked before, but what differences am I going to see for the extra what $1400? I'm not a big fan of the focusing ring, but I'm sure I'll get over it.

To those who own the 85L, how often do you find yourself using it compared to lens like a 70-200?

I know that the 85 f/1.8 is a great lens, and I should just go with that instead of the 85L in this troubled economy.

I'd appreciate any opinions or advice or the lens or just portrait/wedding photography in general.

I spent some time with the L, it's a great lens and really deserves it's reputation. I decided to keep my 85mm 1.8 though as I wasn't finding myself shooting at 1.2 all that often and the focus speed difference is substantial. In my humble opinion, if you HAVE TO get the shot on the first or second frame, the 1.8 is the lens for you. If you have the option to rattle off a burst of 5 or so in AI Servo and not worry about it then the 1.2 would probably be finfe/
If I could afford both and use the L for more posed pictures or shots that don't require the AF speed I would own both.

There's not going to be a lot of situations where an 85mm prime is going to be much better than your 70-200 IS zoom. It is a superb portrait lens. So I agree with the above poster who said cover your middle ground first. I'd get a 24-70L and if you still think you need another prime, get the f1.8 or maybe 100mm f2 for 1.3x crop.

Alright, sounds like a plan. I'll probably hold on to the 70-200 and just wait and maybe upgrade to the new 70-200

artyH wrote in post #9328346
You have to decide whether the weather proofing of the 85L is worth it

I don't believe the 85L is weatherproofed. and to the OP, I have the 85L and the 70-200 f/4L. Granted it is not the 2.8 IS like most people have, I find myself running to the 85L a lot more because I love shooting with a razor thin DOF even with speedlights and OCF.

I know a lot of people are satisfied with the 85 f/1.8 and you probably will be too if you have trouble juggling between that or waiting for the new 70-200 f/2.8. For me, it comes down to what is more important, the versatility of a zoom lens or the versatility of a wide open aperture

Mr. Clean, are you shooting an 85L Mk I or Mk II? the Mk II is supposed to be almost as fast focusing as the 1.8.

I absolutely love my 85/1.8, especially for the price. I hope to overtime replace most of my lenses with L versions, but the 85 will probably be the last, because it really does what I want.

The 85L is known to have better color and contrast, and I long for the ultra shallow DOF possible with it. I'm not sure, but it may be the shallowest DOF in a portrait lens (maybe the 200/2 is narrower).

IIRC the 85L is not weather sealed. I think the 50L is the only weather sealed black L prime.

Mr. Clean wrote in post #9328413
I decided to keep my 85mm 1.8 though as I wasn't finding myself shooting at 1.2 all that often and the focus speed difference is substantial. In my humble opinion, if you HAVE TO get the shot on the first or second frame, the 1.8 is the lens for you. If you have the option to rattle off a burst of 5 or so in AI Servo and not worry about it then the 1.2 would probably be fine

Me too, exactly!

Buy a full frame cam. The 70-200 makes more wedding sense on a FF cam. And get a 24-70L

exodusfman800 wrote in post #9328015
I've decided to dedicate my time to learning and hopefully mastering portrait and wedding photography. I've also been wanting to spend some time learning how to better control depth of field. I'm working with a 1D Mark II (x1.3) and am having some trouble deciding between the Canon 85mm f/1.8 and the 85mm f/1.2L II. I'm sure this has been asked before, but what differences am I going to see for the extra what $1400? I'm not a big fan of the focusing ring, but I'm sure I'll get over it.

To those who own the 85L, how often do you find yourself using it compared to lens like a 70-200?

I know that the 85 f/1.8 is a great lens, and I should just go with that instead of the 85L in this troubled economy.

I'd appreciate any opinions or advice or the lens or just portrait/wedding photography in general.

laydros wrote in post #9328741
Mr. Clean, are you shooting an 85L Mk I or Mk II? the Mk II is supposed to be almost as fast focusing as the 1.8.

I absolutely love my 85/1.8, especially for the price. I hope to overtime replace most of my lenses with L versions, but the 85 will probably be the last, because it really does what I want.

The 85L is known to have better color and contrast, and I long for the ultra shallow DOF possible with it. I'm not sure, but it may be the shallowest DOF in a portrait lens (maybe the 200/2 is narrower).

IIRC the 85L is not weather sealed. I think the 50L is the only weather sealed black L prime.

The Mark II version. It is not nearly as fast as the 1.8, but it is considerably faster than the Mark I version. The color and contrast differences you probably would never notice. The only difference you'd notice image wise is slightly better bokeh and a brighter image, brighter corners.

I would just go out and get the 24-70...but where there's a new 70-200...there's gotta be a new 24-70 hopefully IS

I have the 85 F1.8 and used the F1.2 MKII version before. To me I don't shoot at wide open all that much. Most portrait shoots I do I end up shooting at F2.8 or F4. F1.2 seems to have a little better colour saturation compare to the F1.8 but the small difference hardy justify the huge price difference. For weddings having a zoom like the 70-200 you have would provide far more flexibility. If I were you I'd go for the 24-70 instead of a prime.

exodusfman800 wrote in post #9328015
I've decided to dedicate my time to learning and hopefully mastering portrait and wedding photography. I've also been wanting to spend some time learning how to better control depth of field. I'm working with a 1D Mark II (x1.3) and am having some trouble deciding between the Canon 85mm f/1.8 and the 85mm f/1.2L II. I'm sure this has been asked before, but what differences am I going to see for the extra what $1400? I'm not a big fan of the focusing ring, but I'm sure I'll get over it.

To those who own the 85L, how often do you find yourself using it compared to lens like a 70-200?

I know that the 85 f/1.8 is a great lens, and I should just go with that instead of the 85L in this troubled economy.

I'd appreciate any opinions or advice or the lens or just portrait/wedding photography in general.

If i were you, i would depend more on 50mm than 85 (on 1d2).
85 for wedding is sometimes a lil bit far on my FF (wondering that the space is not always big enough for photographers to take pic of the couple).
I would (once again, if i were you) sell 50 1.4 to upgrade to 50L and to buy 85 1.8 (rather than to buy 85L II for that very expensive price).

tkbslc wrote in post #9328446
There's not going to be a lot of situations where an 85mm prime is going to be much better than your 70-200 IS zoom. It is a superb portrait lens. So I agree with the above poster who said cover your middle ground first. I'd get a 24-70L and if you still think you need another prime, get the f1.8 or maybe 100mm f2 for 1.3x crop.

woah, hold on

there are many situations where the 85 prime will be better. The 70-200 does not hold a candle to the 85 in terms of optical quality at typical portrait apertures.

Sure the 70-200 is flexible in terms of the zoom, but it ain't a match for the 85. It's the same old zoom vs primes argument - the zooms will give you convenience but the primes have that extra quality.

To the original poster - the 1.2 is definitely a better lens than the 1.8 but if you are just starting out, I'd recommend getting the 1.8 and also something like the 135/2 - that will stretch your dollar further. Down the track, you can sell the 1.8 and get the 1.2 version if needed.

The 85Lis the better lens in everything but AF speed. With the 85L you will miss shots because the AF can't respond as quickly as your eyes and brain, but the shots you do get, the 85L will be superior