This is a big lens… especially when coupled to a slimline EOS R-series. It’s also costly. The highly complex optical path includes aspherical and UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) elements, the same Air Sphere Coating that’s featured in the latest EF 85mm f/1.4 lens, plus BR (Blue spectrum Refractive) optics. The overall aim is to maximize wide-aperture sharpness and contrast, while keeping lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberrations, ghosting, flare and distortion to a minimum.
Build quality is a step up from Canon’s EF f/1.2 lens, with a sturdier overall feel and the addition of weather-seals and fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements. The ring-type ultrasonic AF system is much faster than in the EF f/1.2 lens, but again has an electronically coupled manual focus ring that operates with smooth precision. Another addition is the ‘control ring’ which can be customized for a variety of functions.
Performance
For an f/1.2 lens, centresharpness remains spectacular even when shooting wideopen, while axial fringing is incredibly well controlled and becomes entirely negligible when narrowing the aperture just a little. The quality of bokeh is the best of any lens in the group, and defocused points of light remain wellrounded when stopping down. The edges of these ‘bokeh disks’ are even smoother in the DS (Defocus Smoothing) edition of the lens with its special coating, but is even pricier at £3299/$2999.