Canon EF 85 mm f/1.2L II USM
8. Vignetting
The small matrix wasn’t demanding at all – the frame corners light fall-off is only visible near the maximum aperture. By f/1.2 it amounts to 27% (-0.91 EV) and by f/1.4 it reaches 23%. The problem disappears completely as soon as by f/2.0 where the vignetting is only 9%.
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Full frame is another story, though. At the maximum aperture we must deal with the brightness loss as big as 51% (-2.1 EV). By f/1.4 the problem decreases but only slightly because we still get 43%. A significant improvement is noticed only by f/2.0, where the vignetting decreases to the level of 22%. The aberration is eliminated completely only by f/2.8 where its level is just 5%.
How to comment on such a result? The 50% vignetting level is making a big impression on our readers, used to APS-C matrixes results level. There, we’ve complained a lot if the aberration reached 30-40%. Full frame is something totally different, though. The sensor is huge so, when it comes to fast lenses, the 2-3 EV vignetting should be, in fact, considered a norm. For the fast portrait lens as the 85L, its influence will be seen but it is not necessarily always a problem for the photographer. Many people add some vignetting on purpose, to infuse their pictures with some mythical art – here we have this effect for free…The situation is worse when we don’t want the vignetting. We can get rid of it using a computer application but, firstly, brightening by 2EV causes proportionately more noise and, secondly, we can’t retrieve the lost image quality by brightening.
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