Color and contrast are beautiful, and the bokeh is gorgeous.

BUT, there will be many lighting conditions in which shooting between f/1.4 to f/2.0 will give you less than perfect results (eg. distracting bokeh, terrible color, washed out photos, or complete lack of sharpness).

It seems to do exactly what it purports to do and then some...it really makes some truly lovely pictures (and yes all that wonderful L color and contrast is there too)

The lens is fun to use, easy, versitile, and the colors are as excellent as the colors produced by the Canon 14mm II f/2.8 L lens.

Beautiful colors and usable even at f/1.2L, which matters when you're shooting at ISO 1600 already.

The colors are phenomenal

Aside from having to adjust the focus point, everything else about the lens is perfect; I love the the colors it produces, bokeh is ultra smooth

The shots render beautifully with plenty of warm color.

I've read that many artists love it because of the color quality like the 85mm.

I had a Sigma 50mm 1.4, two tamron sp 35mm and 85mm 1.8, all made for high megapixel wars, but none, no other lens besides the 85mm 1.2 L lens will give u the rendering, the bokeh, the 3d look, the beautiful L lens colors, transition from bokeh to sharpness, the amount of light u can capture with this lens, its superb

I had a zeiss, nice colors, rendition, but no Canon L lens

Everything else is absolutely excellent -- color, saturation, contrast, bokeh, AF speed, build quality, etc

The color is more correct than with most other lenses, and definitely deeper, with a higher amount of contrast

The colors are outstanding and this lens is built like a freaking tank

The color and contrast are also superior.

Creamy smooth bokeh, good build, focused as fast as the 50mm f/1.4 (not faster), rich colors, and great contrast

This lens has become the lens that I leave on the camera 90% of the time due to the low F-stop, great sharpness and color depth it provides.

Color and sharpness have been completely amazing.

It does good indoor colors on FAITHFUL overall setting and ASA 800) with the 1.2 wide open-- I recommmend highly to use a single point focus that you choose (not the cameras choice) - and you can lock focus and re-compose and get great focused shots--

they also both have mediocre color rendering and contrast and perform poorly in terms of color fringing probably largely because they don't have the same lens coatings as the 50L.

The sharpness is sacrificed in the design of these lenses in favor of more attractive color, micro contrast, and blur

The colors are amazing and the build quality feels like it will take a beating and live to keep shooting(I take very good care of my gear, and this will most likely go untested)

No one has the beautiful colors and contrast in the whole range of aperture, and the sharpness between 1.2 and 2.0 is simply the best of the bunch

This is the daddy-o grande of normal primes: exceedingly well made, sharp at all apertures, contrasty and a riot of smooth 'n creamy bokeh

This is the softest L lens I own.

Plus I had my much better photographer friends telling me to go with a nice L zoom lens for the flexibile range.

Sean Reid [...]. rated this as the L lens worth its price tag

They say that amateur photographers embark on an equipment journey...beginning with cheap starter lenses, then to "L" zooms and eventually all roads lead to the elite prime "L" lenses- the 35mm, the 50mm, 85mm, 135mm, etc,

I'm in the process of acquiring a full set of fast prime "L" lenses

It seems to do exactly what it purports to do and then some...it really makes some truly lovely pictures (and yes all that wonderful L color and contrast is there too)

I had a Sigma 50mm 1.4, two tamron sp 35mm and 85mm 1.8, all made for high megapixel wars, but none, no other lens besides the 85mm 1.2 L lens will give u the rendering, the bokeh, the 3d look, the beautiful L lens colors, transition from bokeh to sharpness, the amount of light u can capture with this lens, its superb

Chromatic abberation is rather harsh for an L-lens (even harsher than the 1.8 and 1.4 non-L lenses) and the vignetting on a full-frame sensor is kind of disappointing

This is the daddy-o grande of normal primes: exceedingly well made, sharp at all apertures, contrasty and a riot of smooth 'n creamy bokeh