Canon RF 50mm F1.2L: Review Part 2 | 4K

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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today to give you part two of the review of the Canon
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RF 50 millimeter F1.2L. I'm actually filming on it and the Canon EOS are at the moment. And so
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this of course is a lens that is designed specifically for Canon's RF mount which is
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for their new full-frame mirrorless systems. And so this won't work on
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traditional DSLR cameras like the 5D series or any of the APSC cameras either
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This is designed specifically for mirrorless. So at the moment of doing this review
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there are only two full frame mirrorless bodies that are available that this lens will mount on, the R and then the RF from Canon
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Now, if you missed part one of this review, I recommend that you start by looking at that
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It will give you the details about various aspects of the lens, build, design, and handling
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and also the autofocus performance for both stills and video. And so it helps to kind of set the stage
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And today we're going to explore more the image quality for both stills and video
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along with giving a final verdict. Now, a few of the high points from that first episode is that this is obviously a very physically large lens
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In fact, out of all the 50 millimeter lenses that I've reviewed, or 50 millimeter-ish lenses, which is somewhere close to between 25 and 30 at this point
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It is outside of the Zeiss Otis 55 millimeter F1.4, it is the largest and heaviest 50 millimeter lens that I have reviewed
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However, for that size and that girth, you are getting a very pro-grade lens that not only has thorough weather ceiling throughout
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but also has something somewhat unique in that it's got anti-vibration shock resistance as a part of it
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Essentially, this is reinforcing inside that is to help to prevent. you know, the lens getting decentered or the autofocus mechanism getting fouled
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even if it takes a few hits along the way. So Canon is really touting that this is a professional-grade lens
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designed to be used in a variety of weather conditions and also maybe to take a little bit of abuse
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as might happen with a professional using it. So this is good news, of course, for those of us that shoot in harsh type conditions like this
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to know that this is a lens, it's not going to fail us, even if we have to put it into some demanding situations
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The other thing that we observed as far as the autofocus is that IAF worked exceptionally well on humans
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The one limitation that we've got on Canon at the moment is that Canon doesn't really have the equivalent
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of the pet IAF that Sony has. And so I find that when shooting pets
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you don't always get as good of results. And for example, in the shot of my dog
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because it's not detecting the eye, which is unique in its quality
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compared to human eyes, so it's not detecting that. And so instead it grabbed the most prominent feature
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which in this case happened to be the nose. And so, you know, that's one area that I like to see yet tweaked
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maybe via firmware or in future Canon bodies. But certainly as far as human goes
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IEF has been flawless throughout my review period. One of the thing that I do want to highlight that I didn't in that first review
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is that the low-light performance is exceptional with this combination. Canon rates it down to a minus 6 EV, kind of the darkest I could create was an ISO 40,000
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I was shooting at 125th of a second. I couldn't hardly see what I was focusing at, but the sensitivity was well enough that focus just locked on with really quite little slowdown and focus was accurate
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So this is going to be an amazing lens for those of you that shoot weddings and venues where the lighting is not great
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even if you want to add some mood to your portrait work. It's an exceptional performer when it comes to that
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Now, today we're going to break down the image quality a little bit further. And so we're going to jump in and take a look at some of the optical qualities of this lens
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Let's take a look. So let's start by taking a look at distortion and vignette
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You can see that distortion is negligible. There is a tiny bit of barrel distortion, but not enough to really be noted even when shooting a brick wall here
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You can see however there is a significant amount of vignette. And so that vignette can be a factor
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Fortunately, of course, being a first-party lens, you've got a lot of support for profiling
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And so either JPEG a video in camera, and then you'll automatically have a profile available
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in your software of choice, most likely, to correct for that vignette
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And you can see it comes through very cleanly Now as I been noting about some of these higher lenses that have a vignette that has a very linear nature to it the in some situations at least the vignette can be
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viewed as a feature rather than a bug. It helps to draw the eye in towards the center and just
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adds charactered images as I feel like it does here. In other situations however, you know
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for example where you've got lighter backgrounds, the vignette becomes more of a distraction
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because it just feels a little bit unnatural and it's, you know, it just doesn't flow quite as well
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And so anyway, you know, the good news is you can either choose to keep it or to correct for it depending upon the situation
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Let's take a quick look at the sharpness here in the center of the frame at F1.2
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You can see that already there is a lot of resolution and good contrast there, even wide open
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We move off towards the edge of the frame and towards the corners
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and sure enough, we have got resolution all across the frame from F1.2 on
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And so you can see that despite it being really, really sharp in the center
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it's really not all that far behind along the edges. So while they're not identical in terms of the setup
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I thought it might be instructive to take a look at how this compares to the best 50-millimeter lens available on Sony
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the Sony's ice planar 50-millimeter F-1.4. And so taking a look at the center of the frame
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Obviously, the A7R3 is higher resolution, 42 megapixel. But what we can see is there's a little bit more contrast and sharpness for the Canon lens in the center of the frame
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So we move off towards the edge of the frame. Both of them are actually really strong towards the edge of the frame
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I do think that the Canon is the winner, however. Now, if we take a look at some real world images, even wide open at F1.2
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we can see that there is a beautiful amount of detail in the plane of focus
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and stepping back, you can see that the kind of dimensionality of the subject here is really, really excellent
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Microcontrast is excellent. This is an extraordinary lens. Here's a landscape image at F1.2, and so we can see that there is great acuity resolving of these fine details
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I can't wait to put this lens on a higher resolution our body, and I just feel like it's going to be able to really shine there
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but we can see moving out even towards the edge of the frame that we're not losing a whole lot
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There's a lot of fine detail that is rendered there. Here's another wide open F1.2 image, medium distance, you know, medium far
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And we can see here that, you know, there is lots of detail, no real evidence of chromatic aberrations marring it at any point
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Contrast is very good. It's just quite an extraordinary optic that really does remind me of the Otis lenses in a lot
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lot of ways. Full body portrait at F1.2 and note that, you know, I haven't noted in the past that
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50 millimeter lenses are necessarily fantastic for obliterating backgrounds. But what we can see here is that
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we've got a lot of detail on the subject, even at F1.2, enough to have some more in the skirt there
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But what we can also see is that even though the background is not incredibly distant
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we can see that it is nicely blurred out and we have got a really three-dimensional cutout
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effect of the subject here for portraits. Here's another portrait at F1.8 and so we can see here that
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I mean looks great on our subject. All the detail of everything here is rendered nicely
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But then our background looks really really pretty. F2, another shot here. So getting a little closer
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we can see that we've got great detail on the subject, but we can also see as backgrounds continue
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to be really nicely blurred. So moving on to another comparison here at F2
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what we're going to see here is that, you know, both lenses really are exceptional
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and, of course, the Zeiss Planar has the advantage of working on the A7R3
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and so having quite a bit more resolution to work with, nearly 50% more
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But despite that, we can see that now we're very, very crisp, even into the very corners on the Canon RF lens
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And, you know, they're good on the Sony's ice, but not as good here towards the edge of the frame
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nor is it as high resolution along the periphery here at F2
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So if we look on to F2.8, you can see you're just getting a little bit of an uptick in contrast and resolution
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but now we've got just brilliant sharpness off into the corners. Really, really fantastic
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So if we grab a real world, by the way, this is handheld landscape image at F5.6
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we can see that the amount of detail rendered throughout the frame is really fantastic
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and basically everywhere you look even though snow is falling in the air and obscuring some of the distant textures You can see that the lens is drawing all the way out None of these far textures are becoming kind of crushed or muddy
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Everything is just really, really crisp. And once again, it makes me long for a high-resolution EOS R body
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because I can just imagine this on a 50 or 60 megapixel camera
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Looking, however, at F-16, obviously it doesn't go to a small, a mapture as some lenses and the EOSR is not as higher resolution as some other cameras
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So we can see the diffraction while you can see the effect and that F-16 is not quite as sharp
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as F-1.2, it is not as, you know, pronounced as what I see in some of my comparisons
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And off towards the edge of the frame, the, you know, added kind of resolution across the frame
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kind of offsets diffraction into where it actually looks a little bit better in the corners at F-16
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than at F-1.2. So diffraction, not as big a deal here on this combination
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Of course, beautiful color as well as we can see coming into this image
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that even though it's winter and it's cold, we can see that we've got great detail across the frame
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I didn't even see these when I was shooting, but we can see that there are maybe loons or something
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that are flying here over the water. And so anyway, beautiful results
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Now, in terms of flare resistance, wide open flare is pretty decent, as you can see here
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There's a little bit of veiling there at the epicenter, but contrasts and the rest of the image has held up nicely
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Sometimes at smaller apertures, you will get a little bit more of a ghosting pattern
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Obviously, there's lots of elements, lots of big glass in this lens
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and so you can get a little bit more. At the same time, however, you know, it's kind of localized
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and so not as destructive, and obviously contrast has held up. well. Now looking at the bouquet obviously this lens is capable of
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producing massive amounts of bocha because of the large maximum aperture. We can
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see looking at the bocair circles that they are nice and clean. The inner line is
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not you know overly pronounced. Now there is certainly some geometric deformation definitely some you know lemon shape towards the edge of the
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frame at f1.2. We stopped down to F2.8 there are 10 aperture blades and so we
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While you can start to see the aperture blade shape a bit
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it is still quite a circular shape because of the high count of blades
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And so I consider this to be a nice looking result. Stopping down to F5.6, we can see that the same is kind of true
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You can definitely see the shape of the aperture blades. However, it's a fairly round effect, just with a few points to it
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And so I think that we get a good result out of that. Now, in real world situations, lots of them
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you're going to be able to have backgrounds that just melt away. And I think that this is just gorgeous right here
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And so we can see just fabulous detail and contrast on our subject
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There is a little bit of uncorrected, longitudinal chromatic aberrations, which you'll look at a bit more in a second
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However, you can see that they're not really destructive, even in these very high contrast areas
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And the tradeoff for that is often a softer bouquet, which we've got in spades here
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One final test, we can see here that there is, This is at minimum focus basically
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We can see that there is some longitudinal chromatic aberration, purple fringing before the plane of focus
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a little bit of green fringing afterward. That being said, in real world images
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I have seen it very occasionally, but not enough for it to really be a factor at all
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And I think the tradeoff, as we've just noted, is that you do get a creamier bouquet
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then you might get if you perfectly corrected all of the aberrations. So obviously, this is a really, really incredible lens
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I noted in that segment that we just looked at, I really look forward to seeing it on a higher
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resolution body because frankly, it feels like it's not even yet breaking a sweat on the 30
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megapixels of the ESR. And so I look forward to seeing more from it in the future, but this
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is an exceptional lens. In many ways, it feels and handles very much like an auto-focusing
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Zeiss-Otuce lens. It's that exceptionally good, great microcontrast. And Otis lens might
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have a slight better control of chromatic aberration. The trade-off is that the Otis may not have
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as nice of bouquet as what we see out of this lens. So I think that Canon really has nailed it. I don't
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think there's enough CA there to be a real issue for anyone, but the bouquet is so nice and creamy
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Probably pretty close to the best that I've ever seen out of a 50 millimeter lens. So it's pretty
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special Let take a look for video performance as well and take a look at a little bit of footage together I feel like it hard for me to give a verdict on video at this point because we are limited by
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a couple of factors that have really little to do with the lens and more to do with the camera
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Number one, the lack of image stabilization means that hand-holding video footage is a little bit
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difficult. The other factor, of course, is that if you're shooting 4K, which I almost exclusively do
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it means that you're working with an over 1.7 times crop factor
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which makes this focal length a little bit long for a lot of video situations
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On the plus side, there is a lot of potential there, obviously, for incredible image quality
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and so that's certainly a positive factor. And so I feel like once we're able to get maybe a little bit better of a delivery system
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for the lens itself, it will become a little bit more useful when you can use it
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its native, you know, 50 millimeter angle of view. And of course, when you're able to have image stabilization, it will help some as well
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It's a little heavy for a gimbal. And so as I noted, I feel like the grade is incomplete here
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There are some serious limitations on the 4K front for this camera system right now
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And while for what I'm doing right now, you can see the footage looks really, really nice
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There are definitely some limitations that we are fighting there when it comes to the crop
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factor and the lack of image stabilization. And so I think that, you know, down the road
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we might see, you know, even better performance when it comes to video. One thing to note on the
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video front that for a fee, if you're so inclined, Canon will declick the control ring and so that you
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can use it like a clickless aperture. And so, you know, that might make it even a more beneficial
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video lens in the future. But I certainly would love to see this uncropped and to see the kind of
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footage you can create because I'm sure it would be beautiful and exceptional. There are two different
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ways to look at the Canon RF 50mm F1.2L. There are those that will look at this lens as being
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hugely expensive and huge for a 50 millimeter lens. And they would be absolutely right. This is
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the second most expensive 50 millimeter lens that I've ever reviewed, again outside of that Otis
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lens. And even though, for example, those ice planar 50 millimeter F1.4 is an expensive
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lens on the Sony front, around $1,500. You know, Canon takes this to a whole other level to where
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MSRP is about $800 higher. At the moment, you can get it a little bit closer to the $2,000 range
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due to, you know, sales at the moment. But whenever you're watching this review, it's hard to say
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what the price fluctuations will be at that point. Suffice it to say, however, this is a very
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expensive lens. And so for some people, it's too big, too heavy, too expensive, not even on your
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radar. I completely get that. I completely understand. This isn't a lens for everyone
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At the same time, there are others that will look at this and compare it, say, to that Zeiss Otis
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and to say it's a relative bargain. It's some $1,500-ish less, and it has autofocus, it has
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weather ceiling, and it has pretty much just as good optical performance, maybe even a little
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bit nicer bouquet quality. And so certainly it is a very attractive proposition. This is really a
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lens that is designed for those that aren't looking for a traditional 50 millimeter lens
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but they're looking for something exceptional, you know, maybe for professional work
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or if you are, you know, a deep-heeled amateur that, you know, has, desires the very best
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This is a lens that is designed for you. And so, you know, it has, again, that two-edged
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effect. For some people, it's not the 50-millimeter lens that they are looking for to get them
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to buy into the Canon mirrorless system. It's just too much of it. It's just too much of
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all those things. For other people, however, this is going to be a serious system seller
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And as Canon begins to produce more professional-grade mirrorless bodies, I think that this lens
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will make even more sense as time progresses. I certainly look forward to taking a look at it
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And once Canon has released such a body, I'm going to be taking a long look at this lens myself
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because it really is exceptional. I'm Dustin Abbott. And if you look in the description down below
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you can find linkage to the full text review. Lots of image samples there, lots of
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further explanations as a part of that. There is also linkage to an image gallery if you want to
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look at more photos. It's so easy to take beautiful photos with this lens. And then of course there
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are buying links. If you'd like to purchase one for yourself, there is linkage there to follow me
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on social media, to become a patron or to sign up for my newsletter. And if you haven't already
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please click that subscribe button right here on YouTube. Thanks for watching. Have a great day

Canon RF 50mm F1.2L: Review Part 2 | 4K

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Canon RF 50mm F1.2L: Review Part 2 | 4K

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