About the 85, I had the STM, and the optical quality was already good enough for me; but I ended up selling it to get the Sigma for the brightness (and for the AF which wasn't up to my standards, and especially had lot of hunting in backlighting, which I do a lot).
So it's not always a deal of sharpness or optical performances in general; of course I like sharp lenses, low aberrations and distortions, etc, but as a wedding shooter in the end my goal is to take the picture no matter what, so brightness (giving faster shutter and/or lower iso) trumps up quality in the end if I'm shooting in low/bad lighting.
50 f1.4 I'm not even talking about it, it's an old battle for me! :-D
On the aps part (which I don't use anymore, so it's just for pure pleasure of talking about it), yes iso got better, but I don't find this a reason to have dark lenses (either on aps or ff). But the "problem" I see is that Canon has few and dark aps lenses (and always had, excluded the usual suspects 17-55, 22 and 32), while everybody else has lot of choice and lot of brightness. If I'm looking at systems from outside, Canon doesn't look an appealing system for non ff shooters.
Surely Canon has no advantage with third party...or not? No, Canon is not doomed, please everyone don't be childish. Everyone of course is looking from his own perspective. As a non-wealthy professional, I look at usability, ergonomics of bodies, etc, but also to solutions to have a smaller and lighter bag of gear, and to the best price/performance ratio on stuff in general.
24-105 is not breaking the internet,
for me; 28-70 did break the internet, because gives me something more valuable then extra 35mm in the long end (because 105 is still short for me to have it as a do-it-all lens for the entire wedding, so I still need second body with 135 or 70-200), it gives me a full stop of extra brightness, which no one else in any other system gives me today. But it's super expensive (no problems on weight/size, as the lens is really special), so it's a no-go. What else is life(or work)-changing for me? The Tamron/Samyang 35-150.
It's coming in the next 12/18 months? Ok, I'll wait. It's coming...not in the next 24 months, and after that..maybe in 36...maybe in 48...maybe never?
Small professional is a niche, for sure; bit it's a niche I feel Canon is not protecting and supporting enough, imho. That means Canon is doomed? No, it's not. But they're clearing deciding, with the policy super expensive vs super cheap (50, 85, 35 in the future) to cut off the middle range pro stuff (or actually, push the pro stuff to a much higher level in terms of performance, yes, but also in terms of price), which is usually what normal pro buys.
So what is the advantage for Canon in third parties? It's not losing a lot of professionals (as people I know who had Canon in dslr days, now they're in Sony, or stayed in Canon but with 70% to 100% of their glass is still EF), that after being blessed in dslr with great glass from Sigma, Tamron and Tokina too, now they see that possibility cut off from them, while seeing those same manufacturers doing wonders for other mounts.
Then, professionals are...2% of current Canon users? Potentially losing them to Sony (or to Nikon...the infamous 35-150 just arrived for Z mount) is not a problem for Canon and for their shareholders?
From a business perspective I understand that, but it's still a choice they're doing; pro's maybe don't bring money directly, but may (
may) bring money as indirect advertising; if comes the day when very few professionals (the kind of professional you see at a wedding, or for your family pictures, etc) will have Canon, what people are going to think about Canon, if anybody is using something else? I get asked at least once, maybe twice, per wedding from a random guest "hey cool, I'm into amateur photography, what are you using? Do you have some suggestions?", and now I show a Canon, and advertise it; if I'll show a SoNikon, and many others will, what's the long term deal? I just ask that to Canon management. Because it's maybe just me, but I'll surely trust more the guy I speak directly while seeing him working, then trusting the YT influencer or the marketing phamplet of any manufacturer.
End of rants