Canon’s new 85mm prime aims to solve a basic problem: you want fast glass and shallow depth of field without carrying a giant, front-heavy lens all day. If you work with Canon RF bodies and bounce between portraits, events, and video clips, how this lens balances size, speed, and autofocus will directly change how you shoot.
Coming to you from Jared Polin, this detailed video focuses on the Canon RF 85mm f/1.4 L VCM as the capstone to Canon’s new VCM prime lineup. Polin shows how Canon pitches these as true hybrid lenses, quiet enough for video and responsive enough for stills, with a voice coil motor that is far less noisy than older designs. You see the size and weight difference compared with the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM, which matters if you are tired of front-heavy portrait lenses but still want strong background blur. The clickless aperture ring and iris switch get a close look, including the the slightly awkward two-hand move required when you want to disable it mid-shoot. He also points out that the lens uses a 67mm filter thread, matching the other VCM primes, which simplifies your filter kit. Polin runs all of this on a Canon EOS R6 Mark III and even references how Canon’s older Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM now sits in the lineup.
From there, the video moves into real-world shooting, starting with tight portraits and tough lighting. Polin works in low light outside a tour bus and under ugly overhead fixtures, letting the lens show how it handles color shifts and contrast instead of relying on clean studio light. You get a sense of how the 11-blade aperture draws background blur compared with the nine blades in the 85mm f/1.2, especially around specular highlights. At wider apertures, the subject separation looks strong while still holding enough detail in the environment to keep context in the frame. The sample images give you a feel for the character of the bokeh without turning into a technical chart review.
Autofocus and action are the other big focus of the video. Polin takes the lens to a skate park and a bike race, relying on subject tracking at f/1.4 with the R6 Mark III firing at high frame rates. You see the lens hold focus as skaters move across the frame, toward the camera, and unpredictably through the composition, which is where the voice coil motor earns its keep. For the bike cross event, he chooses the 85mm over a Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM specifically to lean into the f/1.4 look and tighter depth of field. The way the camera and lens hang onto focus on riders coming straight at the lens at speed is where you start to see whether this prime can replace a zoom in some action situations.
Later in the review, Polin talks about where this 85mm sits in a real kit. He compares it to the big, expensive Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM, the more affordable Canon RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS STM, and zooms like the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 L USM. He shares why he left the 85mm f/1.2 at home on a Japan trip because of weight, and how a lens shaped like this new f/1.4 would have changed what he carried. Close focusing distances and minimum working distance get some attention, which matters if you like tighter headshots or environmental details without switching into a macro lens. Price also comes up, including how this option compares to the remaining EF option and where it lands relative to Canon’s top-tier primes. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Polin.
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