Question about the 85L...

Phate

Phate

Phate

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Now, the 85L...

We all have our opinions on it, and I certainly have mine...but that's not part of this discussion.

However, what is is the focusing speed of this lens.

Now, it is a slow lens to focus...like, SLOW lens to focus, when compared to several others its infact a PITA (imo)

Anyway, during a wedding yesterday I did a quick comparison, I put the 85L on my 5DII and it was the usual not very good focusing speed...however, straight away I put the lens on the 1DIII and it was MUCH faster...as in the lens in now much more usable.

The focusing system on the 1D 3 is, we know, far far superior to the 5DII, giving a lot more focusing points and with them all being cross points as well it focus' first time, every time, however, it was to my understanding that the motor is built into the lens? so surely the focusing speeds should be the same?

Can anyone confirm my madness and provide an explanation? or am I mad and the focusing speeds are the same? :)

Cheers,
Jake
 
I can't provide any explanation as I don't know enough about the system, but I do know that the 5D AF is slow, even if the AF is in-lens, and I remember when testing the Sigma 85mm f/1.4, moving from the 1DMkIV to the 5D MkII Kaii noted a distinctly slower AF speed.
 
The in lens focusing system is only part of the equation and just moves an elements a few cm, it is the camera that has to figure out all the magic- calculating the distance, wether the image is properly focused, determining focus points, tracking focus, etc.
This is why professionals such as sports shooters use professional bodies with pro focusing.
Sadly, the 5D doesn't have pro focusing so is best for landscape type work, the 7D works better for sports/action/wedding type stuff.

This why the Nikon bodies are so well regarded, the D700 and D300s give you a pro auto focus system, which some claim surpasses the Canon 1DmkIII!
 
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An important point with fast aperture lenses is that they often don't have very fast autofocus since the lens needs to be very accurate due to shallow DoF. Lenses like a 24-70 2.8 will focus extremely fast, but the Canon 85 1.2 will have to be much more precise.
 
D.P. said:
This why the Nikon bodies are so well regarded, the D700 and D300s give you a pro auto focus system, which some claim surpasses the Canon 1DmkIII!
Click to expand...

If you shoot back to back the D3s is faster than the D300s in my experience, it's marginal but it's definitely slightly less hesitant. I think it's also ever so slightly faster than the D700 but that's more gut feeling. The only difference is a faster processor in the D3s...

I strongly suspect the difference is more processor performance than AF points, the 7D gives the D300s a good run for it's money for AF performance with 19 points.

Yes, point being, better AF systems in the body will make a difference, even with slower focusing glass....
 
bigredshark said:
If you shoot back to back the D3s is faster than the D300s in my experience, it's marginal but it's definitely slightly less hesitant. I think it's also ever so slightly faster than the D700 but that's more gut feeling. The only difference is a faster processor in the D3s...

I strongly suspect the difference is more processor performance than AF points, the 7D gives the D300s a good run for it's money for AF performance with 19 points.

Yes, point being, better AF systems in the body will make a difference, even with slower focusing glass....
Click to expand...


I've heard the same, even Thom Hogan has pointed this out, but the differences are fairly small. Plenty of sports and wildlife shooters still use a D300 for the pixel density.

The D300 is more or less EOL now, D400 should be out by August and will give the 7D a run for its money.
 
Not in servo AF though unfortunately, it pans it with DR though.

The 1D3 is darn fast with AF and does squeeze more performance out of your lenses. Even my old 50mm 1.8 mkII was quick with AF on the 1D3. Always amusing using using a £70 lens on a pro body :D
 
Ejizz said:
^^^
The D7000 already gives the 7D a run for it's money.
Click to expand...

Indeed, in some ways it does, pity it's so obviously a consumer model in other respects, the buffer size isn't up to serious use and the handling isn't great with bigger lenses, the D7000 internals in a D300s body with a 3/4x larger buffer would be nice though. Then again, the 45 point AF is a step back from the D300s....
 
bigredshark said:
Indeed, in some ways it does, pity it's so obviously a consumer model in other respects, the buffer size isn't up to serious use and the handling isn't great with bigger lenses, the D7000 internals in a D300s body with a 3/4x larger buffer would be nice though. Then again, the 45 point AF is a step back from the D300s....
Click to expand...

Well, the D7000 is supposed to be a model below the 7D/D300... just think what the D400 must bring this summer to surpass the D7000!
 
D.P. said:
Well, the D7000 is supposed to be a model below the 7D/D300... just think what the D400 must bring this summer to surpass the D7000!
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised if it's anything other than the 16.2MP sensor, very few people need more than that especially at crop level, and I doubt there's much more they could do on a crop noise-wise without bumping up the price a lot at this point in time. Of course there will be a few other minor updates, but the AF is already fantastic, as is the build etc. so I guess perhaps a tilt-screen? Not the most "pro" feature in the world though, so we'll see.
 
I really like the look of the Nikon bodies, it's just that I like the Canon lens line up better. They're generally cheaper, especially with a much larger second hand market. Also I really like the 35L, whereas the 35G doesn't excite me very much. I have to say though that me owning such lenses is a long way off!
 
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