Canon 85mm f/1.2L II

A remarkable lens, and arguably the best portrait lens made. The 85L Mark II is incredibly sharp even wide open, and the wide aperture blurs the out-of-focus background beautifully. The depth of field wide open is so narrow that you must often stop down to f1.4 to get the subject’s entire face into focus. With the aperture wide open, it’s possible to shoot in near darkness or candlelight. This is a hefty piece of glass, almost as wide as it is long (sometimes called ‘the magic cannonball’). It’s focus speed is most charitably described as “deliberate” – it is really not suited for fast action or sports shooting.

Roger’s take: Be warned: This lens is hugely addictive. Strong photographers have wept standing in line at the post office to return it. Please don’t let your tears fall on the return label’s bar code – it slows down return shipping when the scanner can’t read it.