My friend Marius has tons of product connections, likely because he’s talented, rational, and fair in his reviews. He spent a couple weeks with the venerable Canon RF 50mm f/1.2L lens recently and had a few words to say:

Studio, wedding, and other fair weather photographers have less to gain, but that won’t stop them from buying this lens anyway. It’s desirable, and sometimes we buy things not because we need them but because we want them. I think that’s perfectly fine if you can make the purchase responsibly, especially if it brings you satisfaction and inspiration.

For those photographers, buying this lens represents the epitome of chasing that last ten percent of sparkle, of polish, of specialness in their output—even though it’s almost certain that only they will notice and appreciate it.

…

There is nothing conservative about this lens. It is a marvel of photographic technology and I’m grateful to have had the chance to shoot with it.

Knowing that this kind of talent is being poured into Canon’s new products really builds confidence in the future of the RF mount, particularly since all of these advancements will trickle down to the lenses that the rest of us can afford.

This is, of course, all correct — I’m not sure the analysis could be more spot on.

When I purchased the Canon EOS R at the beginning of January, I planned to initially purchase the RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro STM and then save for a few months to buy the RF 50mm f/1.2L. After some additional deliberation, I convinced myself to put the 50mm aspirations aside and save up for the RF 70-200mm f/2.8L instead.

Thanks to Marius, I’m back to where I started.

There are three specific reasons I want the RF 50mm f/1.2L:

1. I prefer the 50mm focal length to the 85mm focal length for portraits. I tend to prefer portraits with additional background context. I also prefer full-body portraits, and the 50mm focal length means I don’t have to step back as far to nab the full-body photograph.
2. The f/1.2 aperture is big, wide, razor thin, and fast. Too fast, for all intents and purposes — I doubt that thin depth of field would throw more eyes out of focus than it would keep in focus. But subject separation at a distance matters a lot to me (again, think of full-body portraits) and the fast aperture allows for even faster shutter speeds when shooting indoors. My two little girls seem to move faster and faster each day, so the faster shutter speeds are tremendously helpful to snag more indoor keepers.
3. I tend to prefer 50mm-85mm focal lengths when shooting product photos for The Sweet Setup. These focal lengths feel more immersive, in my opinion. My small bedroom office has walls that hit quickly when using an 85mm focal length. A 50mm focal length is perfect for my little home office and for getting the angles I prefer to shoot.

So, clearly, preference is king here.

I’m not sure which lens is next on my list at this point. I’d like to stick it out and see how Canon releases new lenses with all the shipping delays in the world, but there’s not a single day that goes by where I’m not clamouring for additional focal lengths for my EOS R.

The RF 50mm f/1.2L just snuck back up to the top of the list thanks to Marius.

I checked Twitter at about 7:15AM CST this morning and left for the office around 7:30AM CST. By the time I arrived at 7:45AM CST, Apple’s latest iPad Pros had dropped. There was no time to read about the new iPads and accessories — I ordered a 256GB, Wi-Fi, Silver, 11-inch iPad Pro with Cactus Smart Folio case and then began reading about the new devices after putting in the order.

I received an email yesterday from Marcus P. asking whether I would be keeping my 12.9-inch iPad Pro or if I’d be moving to the smaller 11-inch iPad Pro. I intended on writing a blog post to answer his email from the very start, but I didn’t expect brand new iPad Pros to drop the next day. Alas, Marcus has his ultimate answer.

Why the 11-inch this time?

I use my 12.9-inch iPad Pro for a lot of work purposes. The full size Smart Folio Keyboard lends itself well for responding to emails and messages at the office, or for writing short blog posts like this one. The big display also works great for multi-tasking, editing photos, and more.

But I can’t remember the last time I pulled out this iPad to read the news or answer messages on the couch. This iPad has been effectively rendered itself to being a desktop iPad. Some people swear by this 12.9-inch size. But I just can’t get comfortable using this iPad anywhere other than a desk.

My ultimate reservation about the 11-inch iPad Pro has always been the Smart Keyboard size. I’ve tested the size in the Apple Store on numerous occasions and always came away feeling I’d hate to use the small keyboard for any sort of long form writing. I’m sure I’ll get used to the smaller app windows when multi-tasking. I’m sure photo editing won’t be impeded in any major sort of way. But I’m most afraid of that smaller hardware keyboard.

The upcoming Magic Keyboard doesn’t really change any of these reservations, though its additional features definitely make it worth a try. How they’ll be able to cram a trackpad into that tiny keyboard is beyond me. But, with hard key caps, additional key travel, backlighting, and an additional USB-C port, it’ll certainly be worth an extended trial run. The extra USB-C port on its own may well change how certain people use the iPad Pro — I could very easily see the new Magic Keyboard becoming a dock more than a keyboard, as the extra port allows for a powered connection and the ability to instantly undock by simply grabbing the iPad. USB-C docks are sure to see a boost in usage with this new Magic Keyboard.

And the trackpad, of course, will be revolutionary for some. The accessibility cursor currently available has gone almost unused for me, so I’m unsure how cursor support will affect my usage. We’ll see.

Ultimately though, the Magic Keyboard to me is secondary this time around, even though it would have been the primary driver in any prior iPad buying decision. For every other iPad, it’s always been about how I can do more writing and more work on the device. This time, I’m wanting to have more fun with the device.

The iPad and Smart Folio are set to arrive on March 25 or 26th. I’ve shipped them to my home, as I assume I’ll be working from home at that point in time. And on the day of arrival, I’m sure there won’t be any real working from home.