Well, the UPS truck pulled up to the studio at 4 sharp and dropped off my 85. At 4:15, I was shooting some test shots. This is not exactly an exhaustive shakeout but it has given me some information already.

First image is one I took of our cat, OJ, on the counter -- available light, hand-held at F1.8 and 1/60sec. Focal point is left eye. Here's the full-frame shot.



And here's a 100 percent crop.



Next, I went outside and took a few shots of Sundance. He is just so serious!! And it's ironic that in behavior, he is anything but . Here's a full-frame shot at F4.0.



And here's a 100 percent crop.



Next, I took a shot of my neighbor's house at F8.0 to see how sharp the lens is at what I would assume is optimum aperture. Here's the full-frame shot.



And here's a 100 percent crop.



And, finally, here are a couple of samples of the specular highlights, first at F2.0.



And again at F2.5.



Keep in mind that wide open, the specular highlights should be pretty much round because the diaphram is not closed down at all so using these two apertures shows what the OOF diaphram highlights look like.

My conclusions so far:
1. physically, the lens is very nice. Not quite an L but much nicer than most of the other "regular" Canon lenses I've owned and used. Plus, this lens was rated "Excellent" by KEH. It is spotless both in terms of the glass and the barrel. I can't imagine how much better a LN or LN- lens would be.

2. The lens is light, fast and pretty sharp even wide open.

3. Stopped down a couple of stops and it's very sharp. At F8.0, it's as sharp as anything I've used recently including the 135L. I'll do more to test that theory but just from what I've shot today, I'm very impressed.

Tomorrow, I'll set up some stuff in the studio and shoot it on a tripod and with studio strobes and we'll see just how well it does the things I bought it for -- portraits. But right now I can tell that this is a very nice piece of glass.

BTW, I was able to fit the lens hood of the 50 onto the 85 with a step-up ring so I don't have to buy the "custom" lens hood for the 85. That was pretty cool.

Jim