Image Contrast/Sharpness: Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L I and II vs 1.8

The following photographs characterize image quality of the three lenses at varying apertures. An EOS-1Ds Mark II was used to photograph a mannequin against a brick fireplace background. This shows the camera setup. Exposure: Aperture priority with center weighted metering of the right eye region which was the focus point. ISO 100 in camera large jpg's were taken and cropped for the full size image in natural daylight room light using automatic white balance. The camera was mounted on a tripod and exposure taken using a cable release. Here is the full image field before cropping. Full size images were resized for the thumbnails and intermediate sized images.

f/stop EF 85mm f/1.2L I EF 85mm f/1.2L II EF 85mm f/1.8
f/1.2
Full Size

Full Size
f/1.4 or f/1.8
f/1.4
Full Size

f/1.4
Full Size

f/1.8
Full Size
f/2
Full Size

Full Size

Full Size
f/2.8
Full Size

Full Size

Full Size
f/4
Full Size

Full Size

Full Size
f/8
Full Size

Full Size

Full Size

Index

© 2006, William L. Castleman
Posted 14 May 2006