What is the canon ef 85mm f 1 2l ii usm good for?

The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM is a portrait lens. At 85mm on full frame it gives a flattering working distance, and f/1.2 gives very shallow depth of field and soft backgrounds. It's also useful in dim light, since it lets in a lot of it. It has autofocus but no stabilisation, so keep your shutter speed up.

It fits full frame bodies such as the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and Canon EOS 6D Mark II, which get the lens's full field of view. On APS-C, such as the Canon EOS 90D, it frames like about 136mm, so it becomes a tight telephoto for headshots and sport.

If you're new to this, my portraits guide explains where an 85mm sits among the other options, and the sensor sizes page explains the crop maths.

Written by Claude from this site's pages.