crazydaddio Loc: Toronto Ontario Canada

Anyone have the new Canon 85mm F1.4L is. Looking specifically for how fast and accurate the AF is for indoor sports. I have read reviews but was looking for real world experience. Not much posted yet.....
(It will be killer for portraits....maybe not quite as sharp as the Sigma or Zeiss but good enough for me based on reviews and better than the tammy, which also has vibration control.)

...almost ready to buy....

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Any Canon "L" lenses should be very good to excellent in sharpness. Yes, the Zeiss lens is most likely sharper. And Sigma's 85mm Art Lens is rated among the very best too. The Canon 85mm should do fine for indoor sports, if the lighting is good. And you're close enough to the action.

wds0410 Loc: Nunya

Check out Dustin Abbot on YouTube who does pretty good reviews on camera gear. I find his reviews detailed, fair, and unbiased. He recently reviewed this very lens. Hope this link works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNBSrIBznRs

crazydaddio Loc: Toronto Ontario Canada

Thanks for replying.
Dustin Abbot is pretty good...saw that one.

Also saw a review of the 85mm posted by another pro regarding using the lens to shoot a basketball game but most of the feedback was too generic to be of any help.
User forumns on dpreview had a commentary on using the lens for indoor soccer and described a hit rate of about 70-80%. Which i would be happy with for a lens that has that much glass to move....

I am very concerned about combo AF speed and accuracy in a real world setting.

Another review compared the canon 85 1.2 vs sigma 85 art vs canon 1.4. He showed all 3 side by side and set them to infinity and then focused on a target. You could see the sigma go past focus and then set on the target. Subtle but it ws there. 85 1.2 is glacial. And the canon seemed to go right to the focus spot and stop with no hunt.
...that sealed the deal on the canon vs the others from a relative perspective. Now decision is whether it is absolutely as good at AF speed and accuracy as my 70-200 f2.8 is ii . If not, the incremental value of the 1.4 is not there for me.
If it can focus quickly, it will live on my camera :-)

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

This lens is $1800. Wow.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

All my lenses are L's, except for my 85mm f/1.8. After reading reviews I decided to take a chance on it. Glad I did. You may want to consider it. Excellent for portraits. Sharp and fast. Haven't tried it for indoor sports. Worth considering though.
You may also want to wait a bit. Canon is said to be coming out with a stabilized 135mm f/2 L lens which would also be good for indoor sports. I tried a current version of the lens at a basketball game once. I found the focal length to be excellent but wished it was stabilized. The new version takes care of that.

67skylark27 Loc: Fort Atkinson, WI

Rent it and make sure before dropping that kind of dough. Or buy a used 85mm f1.8 and see if that's enough.
I use my Nikon version 85/1.8 and it works great for basketball and volleyball indoors in high school
gyms. The 1.8 is plenty fast. I have a 50 1.4 but end up shooting it around 1.8 or 2.0 anyway.

wds0410 Loc: Nunya

Friend of mine gave me this link https://www.borrowlenses.com/ where you can rent lenses for seven days. Might be good idea before big investment purchase. Not many things are worse than buyers remorse.

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

I am sure the 85mm is a terrific lens. But I shoot videos of triathlons and a running festival and
am now shooting soccer in Florida I have 3 grandchildren who play soccer. It seems to me
you need a zoom to shoot sports. Even with the camcorder I am reframing and going in
for closeups and out for whole action. I don't know what I could do without quality
zoom lens. I believe the nikon 85 1.4 a great rated lens is 1500 bucks.
I am now using more often the Sony RX10 III bridge camera for a while.
24-600mm zeiss 2.4--4 lens. Great images and great video.
This frame was pulled off the RX10 hybrid HD video.
It sells for about $1300 some list less. Their is a newer
camera the mark 4 with even better AF. I don't see how I could follow action
without a zoom with a sharp image. This camera is an amazing invention. Good luck.