I ordered an 85L from Amazon today. Should be arriving tomorrow.
I also ordered an "X-72UV-GB Hoya 72mm Super HMC Multi-Coated UV Filter," which gets decent ratings when I looked around, from Spotlight Photo ( http://www.buyphotogear.com/
). They seem to be one of the cheapest places to buy Hoya filters on the Internet. I discovered them through E-Bay and have bought all of my filters through them. They are really nice people when you call them, too. I'm pretty rough on my gear due to frequent traveling so I use the filter for protection more than anything else.
I'm not a portrait photographer but I do enjoy urban exploration while shooting candids, signs, interesting vehicles, statues, buildings, trains and anything that might be interesting to me. My favorite now is my 24L-II, my first non-macro prime. I am a prime convert after spending almost a year shooting the 24. 98% of my last 10,000 frames have been with my 24. Hopefully, my second prime will be as enjoyable and interesting to learn how to shoot as my first. I contemplated the 35L and 50L along the way. The 35L is older and too close to my 24. The 50L was intriguing but the focus issues still have me concerned. The 85L-II gets almost 100% approval (except for the high price) from every feedback and rating I've ever seen (fredmiranda, amazon, bh, et. al.).
So, I pulled the trigger and we'll see what happens. I'll be quite pleased if it spends 6-12 months permanently mounted while I learn how to use it the way my 24 has been. I'm headed to Tokyo in a few weeks and I plan to shoot as much as possible with it. I've shot scenes in Japan many, many times so I'm at the point where I really don't need to shoot anything in particular or where I need to use my 24-105 or 70-200. I can concentrate more on getting "the shot" instead of needing to shoot anything and everything.
I was originally planning on selling my 70-200L-F/2.8-IS-I to get the -II but I took the -I out recently to shoot photos of our home remodel and I really couldn't find much wrong with the -I to justify the cost of upgrading to the -II. Maybe it's prime snobbery or something but I love my 24 and decided to keep the -I and get another prime. It's a lot more money but I think I'm making the right choice.
I don't think there is anyone out there that is sorry for buying the 85L-II, right?
