Gorgeous lens
Rowan β 5 out of 5 stars
This is a stunning portrait lens at an affordable price point, and also delivers strong macro capability. The bokeh is gorgeous and subject is sharp. The autofocus can hunt around a bit but it comes with a focus range limiter to help with this which is a great feature.
Exceptional Sharpness, Compromised Bokeh
The Garden Magazine Guy β 4 out of 5 stars
The Canon RF 85mm f/2 Macro is definitely a versatile lens, bit it another mixed bag, with outstanding sharpness and useful 0.5Γ macro magnification, but disappointing background rendering. Unlike the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro, this lens is already very sharp wide open at f/2, making it suitable for portraits as well as close-up photography. Fine detail, contrast and overall image quality are excellent, particularly when photographing flowers, plants and products. However, complex backgrounds can look nervous and messy, with hard outlines around blurred details that detract from otherwise excellent photographs. Simpler backgrounds produce much more attractive results.
Compared with Canon's older EF 85mm f/1.8 USM, the new RF lens has a slightly slower f/2 maximum aperture and replaces the fast USM autofocus motor with a cheaper gear-driven STM system. Autofocus is noticeably slower, particularly when shifting between close and distant subjects, and the focusing barrel extends outwards. In return, Canon has delivered substantially better sharpness, image stabilisation and excellent close-focusing capability.
Despite these compromises, this lens has been a reliable workhorse for my professional magazine photography. For years, the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro, RF 85mm f/2 Macro and RF 24β105mm f/4 L were my main lenses. Its sharpness and 0.5Γ macro magnification make it particularly well suited to product photography, where backgrounds are usually controlled. It also produces excellent flower and garden photographs, as well as close-up technical images, when the background is suitable. Canon has achieved outstanding optical sharpness at an affordable price, but the harsh bokeh and slow autofocus prevent this otherwise excellent lens from being a truly great all-round 85mm prime.