Four new Canon L Series lenses have been announced, including three TS-E tilt-shift (perspective control) lenses and Canon’s first 85mm f/1.4 lens. Let’s get straight to it, with the key things you need to know about each new lens.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM

Canon adds to its 85mm f/1.2L II USM and 85mm f/1.8 USM lenses for full-frame cameras with the Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM. These lenses are squarely aimed at portrait and wedding photographers.

Price and specification wise, the new f/1.4 lens is actually rather similar to the popular f/1.2 version, the latter of which provides an extra 1/2EV of light. So why buy the new lens?

Well, image stabilisation may play a big part. The new 85mm f/1.4 lens features 4-stop (EV) of effective stabilisation, which further ensures sharp images and could make it more suited to handheld work in low light and for videos.

As we would expect with all new Canon L-Series lenses, the new 85mm f/1.4L USM lens is designed to bring out the best in Canon’s high-resolution DSLRs. It features Air Sphere Coating (ASC) technology, which is an ultra-low refractive index layer that eliminates image flare and ghosting. An Electro Magnetic diaphragm allows the lens to capture an attractive “bokeh” look.

We are interested to see how professionals respond to this new lens, specifically comparing it with the f/1.2 version.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM key specification

Aperture: f/1.4 to f/22

Lens construction: 14 elements in 10 groups

Close focusing: 0.85m

Filter diameter: 77mm

Weight: 950g

Size: 88.6mm (D) x 105.4mm (L)

Maximum magnification: 0.12

Dust moisture resistant: Yes

Image stabilisation: 4EV

Trio of tilt-shift lenses

Canon has ceased production of its TS-E 45mm f/2.8 and TS-E 90mm f/2.8 lenses, both of which are more than 25 years old now. Each lens is replaced with a new L-Series version, the TS-E 50mm f/2.8L Macro and TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Macro respectively.

In addition there is an all new TS-E 135mm f/2.8L Macro lens. There are now five current L-Series lenses to choose from in the TS-E line up. The other two lenses are the TS-E 17mm f/4L and the TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II.

All the new TS-E lenses are billed as macro, with minimal close focus distances. However, with a 1:2 ratio they are not strictly macro, producing half life-sized images up to 0.5x magnification.

Each lens features new and easy-to-use tilt and shift mechanisms that dominate the lens barrel. There’s some fancy sounding action going on in the lens construction too, with ‘Air Sphere Coating’ and ‘Subwavelength Structure Coating’.

Of course, the lens quality is made to match Canon’s latest and greatest high-resolution DSLRs, such as the Canon EOS 5DS. And we’d hope so too - each lens costs a whopping £2,500! This is more than twice the street price of the older versions.

You may think of tilt-shift lenses as traditionally being used for correcting perspectives in architectural photography, for which the two wide angle TS-E lenses are well suited. However, the effects created by tilt-shift lenses can also be used creatively for all kinds of photography, by shifting the plane of focus.

Canon bills the TS-E 50mm f/2.8L Macro for landscapes, product and architecture photography. The TS-E 90mm f/2.8L is described as for portraiture and product photography, while the TS-E 135mm f/2.8L targets studio still life photographers.

Here’s the key spec for each new tilt-shift lens:

Canon EF TS-E 50mm f/2.8L MACRO specification

Aperture: f/2.8 to f/32

Lens construction: 12 elements in 9 groups

Close focusing: 0.27m

Filter diameter: 77mm

Weight: 945g

Size: 86.9mm (D) x 114.9mm (L)

Tilt: 8.5°

Shift: ±12mm

Macro ratio: 1:2

Canon EF TS-E 90mm f/2.8L MACRO specification

Aperture: f/2.8 to f/45

Lens construction: 11 elements in 9 groups

Close focusing: 0.39m

Filter diameter: 77mm

Weight: 915g

Size: 86.9mm (D) x 116.5mm (L)

Tilt: 10°

Shift: ±12mm

Macro ratio: 1:2

Canon EF TS-E 135mm f/2.8L MACRO specification

Aperture: f/2.8 to f/45

Lens construction: 11 elements in 7 groups

Close focusing: 0.49m

Filter diameter: 82mm

Weight: 1,110g

Size: 88.5mm (D) x 139.1mm (L)

Tilt: 10°

Shift: ±12mm

Macro ratio: 1:2

Pricing and availability

All four lenses will be available from November 2017. The three TS-E lenses have a SRP of £2,499.99/€2,999.99, while the 85mm f/1.4L IS USM has a SRP of £1,569.99/€1,879.99

For more details about Canon UK please visit: http://www.canon.co.uk/