Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Canon launches an iconic lens for a new generation - the RF ...

08/05/2019

Canon launches an iconic lens for a new generation - the RF 85mm F1.2L USM - offering Canon's highest resolution yet*

United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 8th May 2019 - Canon Europe, world leader in lens manufacturing, today builds on its ongoing commitment to photographers, with the launch of the latest generation of Canon's iconic 85mm f/1.2L lens, the RF 85mm F1.2L USM. Offering the highest resolution of a Canon lens launched to date, it features a super-fast aperture and outstanding AF speeds, making it ideal for capturing candid portraiture and wedding photography. Following Canon's lens development announcement in February, the RF 85mm F1.2L USM is the first of six RF mount lenses being introduced by Canon in 2019. This lens, endorsed by award-winning Canon Europe Ambassador F licia Sisco, will take users of the legendary EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM to the next level of performance. All six RF lenses will offer incredible quality and versatility for those looking to get the perfect shot.

Canon Europe Ambassador - award-winning wedding photographer F licia Sisco

RF 85mm F1.2L USM

Image by F licia Sisco using Canon's EOS R and the new RF 85mm F1.2L USM

Impressive resolution for every detail

Designed for the EOS R System, the RF mount redefines the possibilities of photography and videography, providing the tools for users to enhance their skills and shoot creatively without limitations. Developed in line with technological advancements and end user feedback, the RF 85mm F1.2L USM uses the RF mount's advanced possibilities to enhance image quality and communication between the lens and the full-frame mirrorless camera body.

The 85mm short telephoto lens provides the ideal focal length for portraits and a flattering perspective for faces. The RF 85mm F1.2L USM is only the second lens in Canon's line-up, after the EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM, to use Canon's unique BR optic technology, which effectively corrects axial chromatic aberration that is not completely correctable with a combination of traditional glass lenses - improving resolution and sharpness. Ensuring incredibly high image quality for every shot, the aspherical and UD lens elements reduce lens aberrations enabling stunning optical performance.

High-speed, high-quality

The RF 85MM F1.2L USM is one of Canon's fastest aperture autofocus lenses for its full-frame mirrorless range of cameras. When coupled with the short telephoto length and Dual Pixel CMOS AF, the fast f/1.2 aperture creates stunning shallow depth of field, bokeh and background separation. The lens aperture makes the subject leap from the image, whilst the nine-aperture blade system enhances the subject against the smoothly blurred background, ideal for portraiture photography. The ultra-wide aperture transmits 50 per cent more light than a f/1.4 lens for shooting in challenging, lighting conditions - down to -6EV (EOS R) and -5EV (EOS RP) - capturing the atmosphere in every moment.

Using the same ring type USM motor as the RF 50mm F1.2L USM, the RF 85mm F1.2L USM ensures sharp focus is found swiftly and accurately, allowing objects to be tracked as they move around the frame. Coupled with a new microprocessor, which uses a new high-performance CPU and firmware, the lens utilises the EOS R system increasing data transfer, resulting in faster operation and AF, allowing the photographer to capture split-second moments.

Exceptional handling and durability

Incorporated in Canon's RF lenses is a control ring - where settings are programmable to TV, AV, ISO and exposure setting - adds a layer of customisation, making it ideal for wedding photographers who need ranging settings for both perfect candid moments and beautifully modelled shots. The lens is also equipped with a full-time manual focus ring, which allows manual focusing by turning the focusing ring, without the need to switch to MF mode. Ideal for shooting outdoors, or on location, the RF 85mm F1.2L USM features the iconic L-series weatherproofing, sealing the lens to protect against adverse weather conditions when shooting outdoors or on location.

Award-winning wedding photographer and Canon Ambassador, F licia Sisco commented, As a wedding - and portrait - photographer, I need to be able to trust my tools so that I can focus on the subject and tell their story. I have been using Canon's iconic 85mm 1.2 lens for over 20 years because of its speed and wide-aperture which guarantees beautiful images, even in low light.

The new RF 85mm F1.2L USM is better than I could have imagined. This lens produces a depth of field and bokeh that is impossible to achieve with other lenses and I already know it will become a staple in my kitbag. It separates the subject from the background and delivers a sharp focus on the subject's eyes which is simply breath-taking, capturing every special moment.

Read more about our Canon Ambassadors' experience with the RF 85mm F1.2L USM on location:

https://www.canon.co.uk/pro/

For standalone product information on the RF 85mm F1.2L USM, please visit:

https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/rf-lenses/

RF 85mm F1.2L USM Key Features:

Extreme high performance 85mm prime lens

85mm focal length to provide flattering perspective ideal for portraits

Very Large f/1.2 aperture with 9-aperture blade for superior low light performance and smooth background blur

BR optics (Blue Spectrum Refractive optics) reduce chromatic aberration ensuring the highest image quality

Aspherical and UD elements ensure the highest resolution across of the image

USM motor for smooth, near-silent operation

Control Ring - giving direct control over Tv/Av/ISO settings

ASC (Air Sphere Coating) prevents flare and ghosting from deteriorating image quality

Pricing & availability:

The following products will be available from Canon's online store and official
LINK: https://www.canon.co.uk/press-centre/press-releases/2019/05/iconic-len...
See more stories from canon

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

07/11/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Athlos NYC CMO Kayla Green on Building the Brand of the Young Track & Field League

SVG Sit-Down: Athlos NYC CMO Kayla Green on Building the Brand of the Young Trac...

07/11/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Inside Wasabi's Egress-Fee-Free Cloud Offering with Mike Welts, Isabel Freedman

SVG Sit-Down: Inside Wasabi's Egress-Fee-Free Cloud Offering with Mike Welts...

07/11/2025

PGA TOUR On the Road: How NEP Supports the TOUR's Spectacular Centralized Facility with an On-Site Truck Compound

PGA TOUR On the Road: How NEP Supports the TOUR's Spectacular Centralized Fa...

07/11/2025

Analysis: No Matter the Sport, Women Need a Fair Share of the Biggest Stages

Analysis: No matter the sport, women need a fair share of the biggest stages By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large Tuesday, November 4, 2025 - 10:19 Print Th...

07/11/2025

DAZN to Stream First Live Football Match on TikTok

DAZN to stream first live football match on TikTok By George Bevir Friday, November 7, 2025 - 09:55 Print This Story DAZN has partnered with TikTok to str...

07/11/2025

SVG Sit Down: E1 Founder/CEO Rodi Basso on the Future of E1 Series and Bringing the Action to Life

SVG Sit Down: E1 Founder/CEO Rodi Basso on the Future of E1 Series and Bringing ...

07/11/2025

TNT Sports Puts Multi-Feed Production Model Front and Center for Largest College Hoops Slate Ever

TNT Sports Puts Multi-Feed Production Model Front and Center for Largest College...

07/11/2025

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions is a Cinematic Symphony of Black Greatness and Resilience

Kahlil Joseph attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival BLKNWS: Terms & Condition...

07/11/2025

Fire Through Dry Grass: Remembering My Co-Director, Andres Jay Molina

By Alexis Neophytides For Jay and me, filmmaking wasn't just a response to crisis, it was a way through it. I first met Jay in the summer of 2019. He was ...

07/11/2025

8 Easy Ways to Share Your Spotify Soundtrack with Friends

Word of mouth has always been at the heart of the Spotify experience, with people sharing music, podcasts, and audiobooks with friends and family millions of ti...

07/11/2025

A Statement from L3Harris Chair and CEO Chris Kubasik on the Secretary of War's Arsenal of Freedom

A Statement from L3Harris Chair and CEO Chris Kubasik on the Secretary of War...

07/11/2025

Fincons Group reveals how to unlock the potential of GenA...

Fincons Group, a leading international business consulting and system integrator firm, releases its free white paper, Unlocking GenAI's Potential for Appli...

07/11/2025

EBU Selects the LiveU EcoSystem to Deliver Round the Cloc...

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world's leading alliance of public service media, has awarded LiveU a five-year contract to deliver 24/7 live new...

07/11/2025

Atomos Launches Ninja TX GO

Atomos introduced Ninja TX GO, a new HDMI monitor-recorder that brings the performance of the acclaimed Ninja TX to an even wider community of filmmakers and cr...

07/11/2025

Visual Data Media Services Completes Acquisition of Sound...

Visual Data Media Services, a global leader in content localisation and media supply chain services, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Sound ...

07/11/2025

NBC Sports Brings NASCAR Viewers Closer to the Action Wit...

When NBC Sports' Director of Remote Technical Operations for Motorsports Matt Hogencamp walks onto a NASCAR track, he's not thinking about lap times or ...

07/11/2025

Headroom Productions Brings Unmatched RF Precision To The...

When it comes to outfitting complex, multi-venue reality shows with flawless audio capture, few do it better than Headroom Productions. Based in Canada and led ...

07/11/2025

Riedel RefCam and Easy5G to Make Handball Debut at the Me...

The European Handball Federation (EHF) will introduce Riedel's RefCam and Easy5G systems at the final weekend of the Men's EHF EURO 2026. The RefCam, a ...

07/11/2025

Broadcast Solutions Expands its Management Team

Leading systems integrator Broadcast Solutions is taking a forward-looking approach and expanding its management team. Effective from 1 November 2025, Stefan Br...

07/11/2025

New Calrec 48 fader Argo M takes centre stage at Tonmeist...

Calrec is set to make a major impact at Tonmeistertagung 2025, featuring its cutting-edge broadcast audio solutions including the German debut of its brand new ...

07/11/2025

Grass Valley Demonstrates Leadership in Hybrid and Softwa...

Grass Valley will showcase its latest advancements in live production, networking, playout, and media management at Inter BEE 2025, taking place November 19 21 ...

07/11/2025

IABM Strengthens APAC Member Engagement with Dynamic Pres...

IABM continues to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region at Inter BEE 2025 with a dedicated IABM Hub including member pavilion, the IABM Industry Im...

07/11/2025

Ikegami to Demonstrate its Latest-Generation Broadcast Pr...

Following a successful IBC Amsterdam in September and NAB New York in October, Ikegami will demonstrate examples from its wide range of broadcast television pro...

07/11/2025

Pixellot Signs Landmark Five-Year Contract Extension with...

Pixellot, the largest streamer of global youth and amateur sports, today announced a five-year extension of its partnership with PlayOn Sports, the premier fan ...

07/11/2025

ES Media Group hires industry veteran Brian Clark to driv...

ES Media Group, which specialises in providing professional services to the broadcast industry, has announced the hire of industry heavyweight Brian Clark as Gl...

07/11/2025

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Presents Opera Adaptation of Little Women

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Presents Opera Adaptation of Little Women Marc Adamo's acclaimed opera brings Louisa May Alcott's beloved story to life...

07/11/2025

Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.4 Million for Berklee City Music Students

Amplify Berklee Gala Raises $1.4 Million for Berklee City Music Students This year's event featured performances from student K-pop group B-Girls, the Ove...

07/11/2025

DoubleVerify Taps Into IMDb for Insights on Streaming Content

NEW YORK DoubleVerify has launched a streaming TV offering designed to give advertisers greater transparency, control and efficiency across their streaming TV i...

07/11/2025

Telefnica Selects Ateme for New Cloud-Native VOD Platform

PARIS Ateme said it has been working with Spain-based multinational telco Telef nica to deploy a cloud-native media processing platform for next-generation vide...

07/11/2025

SMPTE to Hold Its Annual Meeting on Dec. 10 Via Zoom

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has announced it will hold its annual meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 10, via a Zoom webinar at 11 a.m. ET....

07/11/2025

CIMM, TVB Study Examines Local TV Measurement Problems, Solutions

NEW YORK The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have released a study examining how local viewing is measured across television, mobile d...

07/11/2025

Altice USA to Become Optimum Communications

LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. Altice USA announced it will change its corporate name to Optimum Communications Inc., effective Nov. 7. The company will cease trading u...

07/11/2025

Screen Australia announces Gillian Moody-Ardler as Head of First Nations Content

07 11 2025 - Media release Screen Australia announces Gillian Moody-Ardler as Head of First Nations Content Gillian Moody-Ardler. Photo credit: Sally Flegg. ...

07/11/2025

X-Rite to Acquire Select Assets of Rutherford Graphic Products (RGP), LLC (USA) in Strategic Expansion

X-Rite to Acquire Select Assets of Rutherford Graphic Products (RGP), LLC (USA) ...

07/11/2025

Strategies for Simplifying Ad Ops to Drive Revenue

As audiences consume media across more platforms than ever, advertisers are demanding outcome-driven, cross-platform campaign strategies. But fragmented and out...

07/11/2025

Tribeca Festival Returns to Art Basel Miami Beach for Fourth Annual Edition

November 7th, 2025 Tribeca Festival Returns to Art Basel Miami Beach for Fourth Annual Edition Two Nights of Live Performances at the Miami Beach Bandshell ...

07/11/2025

Alessia Russo inspires 180 girls at inaugural Alessia Cup in partnership with Goals 4 Girls, presented by Sky

Friday 7 November 2025 Lioness and Arsenal forward Alessia Russo launched the f...

07/11/2025

'The Night My Dad Saved Christmas 2', Starring Santiago Segura, Ernesto Sevilla and Pablo Chiapella, Arrives on Netflix on December 6

Back to All News The Night My Dad Saved Christmas 2, Starring Santiago Segura, ...

07/11/2025

From promises to progress: 21 global organizations unite at COP30 to champion International Standards in the climate action agenda

-- Building on last year's success at COP29, the three initiator organizati...

06/11/2025

How media and information literacy in newsrooms is winning back audience trust

Media organisations from across the globe are uniting to promote media and information literacy (MIL) to help ensure their future survival and win back the trus...

06/11/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Athlos NYC CEO Kayla Green on Building the Brand of the Young Track & Field Event

SVG Sit-Down: Athlos NYC CEO Kayla Green on Building the Brand of the Young Trac...

06/11/2025

ESPN Exits ESPN BET Deal With PENN, Goes Into Business With DraftKings

ESPN Exits ESPN BET Deal With PENN, Goes Into Business With DraftKingsDraftKings will integrate innovative fan experiences' across ESPN platforms and DTC s...

06/11/2025

Peter Hujar's Day Makes the Ordinary Monumental

Ben Whishaw at the premiere of Peter Hujar's Day (photo by Robin Marshall / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival) By Bailey Pennick The premise is si...

06/11/2025

Spotify's Latest Feature Charts Your Week in Listening

At Spotify, we're always finding new ways to bring you closer to the music that moves you, turning sound into something personal. From the playlists that ma...

06/11/2025

Spotify Sessions chega Amrica Latina, entregando o controle criativo a trios liderados por artistas

O mundo est ouvindo a Am rica Latina. Os artistas da regi o est o constantement...

06/11/2025

Spotify Sessions Launch in Latin America, Handing Creative Control to Artist-Led Trios

The world is listening to Latin America. The region's artists are consistent...

06/11/2025

Spotify Sessions se lanza en Latinoamrica, empoderando a tros creativos liderados por artistas

El mundo est escuchando a Latinoam rica. Los artistas de la regi n marcan const...

06/11/2025

SGL Carbon: Transformation progressing rapidly

After nine months of fiscal year 2025, SGL Carbon generated sales of 652.9 million, down 16.5% on the previous year (9M 2024: 781.9 million). This is attribut...