Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L vs Sigma 105mm f/1.4 Art (R6 II vs A7 IV): Portrait Blind Test with Andrea

Andrea (@andreailieva_5) and I teamed up again, this time for a lens shootout: the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L on the EOS R6 Mark II against the Sigma 105mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art on the Sony A7 IV. Our last shoot together was urban style portraits with the RF 85mm. She wore a cropped plaid shirt, a black mini skort and tall brown suede boots, with a tie and glasses added later in the day, an easy outfit for comparing texture, skin tones and color.

85mm vs 105mm is one of the most common choices for portrait lenses. The RF 85mm has the faster f/1.2 aperture, and the Sigma 105mm has the longer focal length with more background compression. I shot each pose with both cameras, one right after the other, from the same spot. With the 105mm I stepped back a little so the framing matched. To keep it fair, both cameras were set to the same 5900K white balance (Canon picture style User Def. 2, Sony Standard), every frame is wide open, and all photos are original JPEGs straight out of camera, with no edits.

Gear:

• Canon EOS R6 Mark II + RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM
• Sony A7 IV + Sigma 105mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art (E-mount)

The full video is a blind test with all 48 pairs: each pair is shown without names during a 10-second countdown, then the camera, lens and settings are revealed. Below are 12 sample pairs from the shoot, a mix of half body and full length shots. Play along: guess which side is the Canon RF 85mm and which is the Sigma 105mm, then tap Reveal cameras.

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Sunny Path & Crosswalk

We started in the afternoon sun on a tree-lined path and a crosswalk lined with yellow bollards. Hard sun, dappled shade and lots of leaves in the background make a busy scene, which is a good test of how each lens renders the out-of-focus trees.

Bollards & Trees

Across the street the background opens up into bigger trees, with the yellow bollards repeating behind her. This is where the 105mm's compression shows: the bollards and trees look bigger and closer behind her.

Tree Road in Backlight

Next we moved to a road under big trees with the low sun behind her. Backlight brings out rim light in her hair and bright bokeh highlights through the leaves, a good test of how each lens holds contrast in backlight.

Parking Garage

To finish we went into a parking garage, with daylight coming in from the open side and warm overhead lights. In much dimmer light, at 1/100s to 1/160s and ISO 100 to 200, you can compare skin tones, low-light color and how much the background falls off.

Garage with Glasses

For the last set she added glasses. The bright garage lights reflect in the lenses, a nice detail test, and the dark background makes subject separation easy to judge.

Want to see all 48 pairs? The full blind test on YouTube goes through every pair with a countdown before each reveal. Keep score and let me know how many you got right in the comments.

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Side by Side: What I Noticed

I measured the color and brightness of all 48 pairs (same spots, same 5900K white balance, both lenses wide open):

• Color: the Sony + Sigma files came out warmer and a little more magenta in 36 of the 48 pairs. At the same Kelvin setting, the Canon files look cooler and cleaner.
• Brightness: the Canon frames came out brighter in 36 of the 48 pairs. Part of that is the aperture, since f/1.2 lets in about half a stop more light than f/1.4.
• Framing: because I stepped back with the 105mm, Andrea is about the same size in both frames: the median difference in her face size across the pairs is about 1%.
• Bokeh: with matched framing, background blur scales with focal length divided by f-number: 85 ÷ 1.2 ≈ 71 for the Canon and 105 ÷ 1.4 = 75 for the Sigma. So despite the slower aperture, the 105mm blurs the background slightly more, and its narrower view makes background shapes look bigger and closer behind her.

Which one do you like more? Let me know in the comments on the YouTube video above, and tell me how many of the blind test pairs you guessed right.

Shop the Gear

• Canon EOS R6 Mark II
• Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM
• Sony A7 IV (B&H)
• Sigma 105mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art (E-mount) (B&H)