Wedding Photographer Kent - 85mm f/1.2 L

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Hi David,

What are your thoughts on the 85mm f/1.2 L as a more general lens for weddings. Clearly it is fast enough for any environment and ideal for posed portraits, but what about guest shots and candids. Can it focus quickly or will it miss the shot - I keep reading that it is slow - but slow compared to what? Do they mean if switching focus from a close to a far object? Compared to a 24-70L what % are we talking about here?

Thank you

James

Hi James,

The 85mm f/1.2 L and 35mm f/1.4 L prime lenses find great favour amongst wedding photographers. You can use them in all scenarios but there is a learning curve with the 85mm lens.

The 85mm lens is slower to focus than most other AF lenses - I don't have hard figures for you on this though. It does take some getting used to, but if you want an aperture of f/1.2 and awesome optical quality (and I do) that's the price you have to pay! People need to learn how to shoot with this lens - it has a minimum focusing distance of 95cm for example! Focusing on objects between 1-2m is probably where people encounter most of their problems. Beyond this, focusing becomes much quicker. I use it for candids but you do need plenty of space.

Yours,

David

Sorry David,

If you have time, can you please expand on what the difficulties are with this lens and what the learning curve relates to? What also is the significance of the minimum focusing distance? I'm looking to buy one but don't want to make a very expensive mistake.

Thanks in advance!

James

Hi James,

The key points to be aware of:

Objects need to be more than 95cm from the focal plane for the lens to be able to focus on them - so you need to keep your distance.

You need to be aware that if you focus on an object between 1-2m away and then refocus on an object further away it can take the lens time to refocus.

Focusing technique needs to be very accurate with wide apertures.

It's not a steep learning curve but, as you can see from the above points, there is one nonetheless.

Yours,

David

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