As I did mention in the first installment of this diary, one of my reasons to get an EOS R was the RF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens. You might have read in other reviews that it’s worth to buy an EOS R just to be able to use this lens. Well, this isn’t an exaggeration. On my subjective lens quality scale it scores great.
My subjective lens quality scale have eight levels: awful, weak, mediocre, decent, good, great, excellent, and exceptional. To put you in perspective, I consider the Zeiss Otus 1.4/28 and Rodenstock HR Digaron-S 100mm f/4 to be exceptional. The Zeiss Otus 1.4/55, the Zeiss Apo Sonnar 2/135 and Rodenstock HR Digaron-S 180mm f/5.6 are excellent. The Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM and EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM scores great. And the Canon EF 35mm f/2 IS USM gets a good rating. Keep in mind that these are subjective ratings, and sometimes a lens moves from one class to another in my view. But generally everything at great or above have very good image quality and is a joy to use.
Compared to the Otus 1.4/55
The 50/1.2 is roughly as big, as heavy and almost as expensive (2000 vs 2700 EUR net) as the Otus 1.4/55 – one of my all time favorite lenses. Let’s first see why I think that the Otus is a better choice if you don’t need autofocus.
Must be careful with strong backlighting
Two things. Well, actually three. The first is that the 50/1.2 is rather susceptible to flare, while you can basically shoot into the Sun with the Otus with zero flaring. It was quite shocking to realize this after all those years spent with flare resistant Zeiss glass. So you have to be careful when shooting backlit scenes with the 50/1.2. But this explains the oversized lens hood…
The second is very strong vignetting. It is easily correctable in post-processing, though. But keep in mind that vignetting is visible even at f/8.
Last, and maybe most importantly, the 50/1.2 breathes like hell. This practically renders the lens unusable for near-to-far focus bracketing. In comparison, the Otus breathes way less, but still exhibits some image size change.
Focus breathing refers to the image size change when focusing distance changes. All lenses breathe by default – unless they are corrected for it. The 50/1.2 doesn’t seem to be corrected much.
Why Does One Want the 50/1.2?
Simply put, this is the finest 50mm autofocus lens I have ever used. Focus acquisition is quick, despite the motor has to move 340g of glass and metal around. But this snappiness is not a surprise since the the focusing motor is borrowed from the new 400 and 600mm super telephoto lenses. The only issue is that Dual Pixel AF systems are totally blind to horizontal detail, and you’ll have problems focusing on the edge between the ocean and the sky, for example.
Of course one wants an f/1.2 lens for bokeh. And the 50/1.2 will not disappoint here. Although depth of field is razor thin, and you’ll end up stopping down a bit. But in any case, out of focus areas are rendered in a creamy smooth way, with nice transition between sharp and unsharp. This reminds me how German glass renders, and not typical for Canon. Out of focus areas are also free from contamination (colored haze, chromatic aberration, etc).
Nice creamy bokeh
The image above was shot for my favorite confectionery, and shows not just the beautiful bokeh, but the high degree of freedom from aberrations (look at how the metal bowls are rendered, despite being shot through the side glass of the fridge and under spiky, cold fluorescent light).
This freedom from aberrations is what I want in a lens these days. This ensures a transparent, airy rendering of the scene. Just the way I see it.
Colorwise the 50/1.2 has bit warmer atmosphere than I would prefer (like the 500/4). I do prefer the colder images Zeiss glass produces. I sincerely hope that Canon will finally introduce some consistency into how its lenses render. The Zeisses I use are consistent, but Canons are all over the place. The 50/1.2 would be a good reference rendering style for future Canon lenses.
With that said, I do like the images from this lens. They look natural and are full of detail. And yes, we arrived to one of the prominent features of the 50/1.2 – its high resolving power. While the EOS R isn’t a very high resolution camera, the 50/1.2 is in the same league as the Otus 55 and HR Digaron-W 70 on this body. Image field also seems to be rather flat (unlike the Otus, and most Zeiss lenses, where you should be very careful with focus placement).
The following image is just a handheld shot, with no tripod and focusing at the center. It had to be corrected for vignetting, though. It was shot at f/8, as the EOS R is a medium resolution camera and you don’t have to worry about diffraction. Which makes the EOS R and 50/1.2 combination a very easy to shoot one.
Natural color and plenty of detail
Construction and Handling
It is a large lens. Thicker than the Otus 55 because of the focus motor. Thicker than it would be convenient even for my large hands. But you’ll get used to it. I did. And the lens hood is humongous… At least it’s a constant diameter design, so no extra space is needed for the hood in your bag.
Fortunately inner focusing is employed here, as I have severe aversion to protruding lens designs. But the front of the lens is not weather sealed, meaning that a 77mm protector is advised to be used is inclement weather conditions.
Speaking of inclement weather. My very first shot with the Otus happened on a cold November morning. My hand literally froze to the lens (and I was wearing a light glove). So the use of plastic as the exterior is very welcome on the 50/1.2.
As I did mention in my EOS R customization post, focus ring rotation behavior on my EOS R (ill-named as sensitivity in the menu) is linked to rotation degree, resulting in 360 degree focus ring rotation, which is quite nice for manual focusing. I still think that rotation speed sensitive behavior is useless.
It’s Almost Always in My Bag
When I shoot from a car or boat, and have capacity to carry a secondary bag, then the 50/1.2 and the EOS R comes with me. It was rather surprising, since the 5DS R and Otus combo is a much better one. Well, except that the R system is way easier to shoot, and reach for it when I have no inclination to set up a “proper” camera.
All in all, if you can live with its shortcomings, the Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L USM could be a very nice and high performance addition to a serious photographer’s toolkit.
☕ ☕ ☕
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