I bought into Canon on purpose. Not once — twice. The R8 for full frame, the R100 for the days I want something I won’t cry about dropping. I like Canon’s color science, I like where Canon puts its buttons, and I have defended the RF system in conversations where defending it made me look like a hostage. Nobody tricked me into this mount. I walked in. So understand that what follows isn’t brand tribalism.

A pretty straightforward gear question turned into something more layered than expected. The setup was already solid: a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM paired with both the Canon EOS R100 and the Canon EOS R8. The idea was to push subject separation further—get that stronger background blur, that cleaner isolation—by adding a 7Artisans 75mm f/1.4 Lens (Canon RF). On paper, it made sense. Faster aperture, slightly different focal length, native RF mount.

Honestly, the case for buying it is weak — here’s the breakdown. Where the 7Artisans Has an Edge The lens does bring some genuine advantages. It’s a native RF mount, which means no adapter and a cleaner setup on any RF body. At f/1.4 versus f/1.8, you’re picking up about ⅔ of a stop — which does matter for low-light work and adds a marginally different character to the bokeh. And the price is a fraction of Canon’s own glass.