This past week there’s been a plethora of announcements and releases from pretty much every camera company out there, so when Canon announced the release of it’s 85mm f/1.2 L USM DS for the RF mount along with its flagship DSLR, there were a ton of questions to be asked. Thankfully Canon went ahead and covered the biggest one for us before we even had a chance to ask it. “What exactly does ‘Defocus Smoothing’ mean?”
To address the questions and concerns of the masses, Canon released the video below detailing exactly what it does and how it works, including examples and technical details. So let’s have a look;
In the video, Canon explains Defocus Smoothing as this;
Defocus Smoothing is a vapour-deposited coating that’s added to the front and rear surfaces of one or more elements which has the effect of gradually decreasing the transmission factor from the centre to the periphery of the lens.
Basically this means that the out of focus areas (bokeh zones) will have a sort of “radial gradient feathering” applied to soften the edges. The RF 85mm F/1.2 L USM DS is the first lens from Canon to have this technology applied and is effectively, one of the reasons for the $300 price difference between it and the non-DS version of the same lens. After using and practically falling in love with the non-DS version, (review coming this week), i’m REALLY intrigued to get hands on with this new version to do a side by side comparison to see which I prefer. I know a lot of photographers will gravitate towards the feathered bokeh….but there’s something about the hard edges on the non-DS version I also love….sheesh. Decisions Decisions?!? For more information on this lens and the DS technology, be sure to visit Canon’s Official site here.
So what about you? What do you think about this technology? Are you leaning towards the new DS version of the 85mm f/1.2? or are you thinking you’ll stick with the “old school” version? Let us know in the comments below.
Check Pricing & Availability of the RF 85mm F1.2 L USM DS lens Here
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