Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

[chodeva]

Hi guys

I have been considering the Canon 85mm 1.8 lens as my next prime after the 50mm 1.8. I love portraiture and hear this is a good choice for that photography. Anyone here has experience with it. It seems to good reviews and I hear is a very sharp lens with very good bokeh. Is it any better than the 50mm 1.8
Any feedback is welcome

Thanks
Donald

[Trevoreast]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

Hi Donald, it’s a very sharp lens, fast focussing.
You need a bit of room to work in (135 equiv. on a FF) for anything other anything other headshots. Out doors this is no problem. It doesn’t weigh much so I always carry it. It’s a pleasure to own this lens.

You’ll come across people moaning about the lens hood not being a bayonet type fitting, I can re-assure you this is a non-issue.

You’ll get some CA wide open or near wide open in some situations, as long as you know this you can avoid those situations, not a deal breaker. No lens is perfect in that respect.

This lens brings 'something' to any kind of shoot, and I’d often swap to this lens if I find I’m constantly shooting at 70mm with an L zoom.
I think of it like like cruise control, zooming in traffic changing focal lengths, then changing to a prime on the open road.
That probably sounds crazy :-)))

The other lens worth considering is the 100 2.0 USM.

Trev

[chodeva]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

Thanks Trev. That's helpful indeed!

[Bloosman]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

Donald,

I had this lens a couple of years ago and found it to be a quality piece of kit...

The ONLY reason I parted with it was that I found that I was using this focal length less and less, and used the sale to purchase a wide-angle.

I wish I had persevered with it, and am seriously considering looking for another...

All I can say is "buy it", you will not be disappointed.

Dougie

[chodeva]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

Thanks Dougie. Am sold

[Trevoreast]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

Hi Donald I just remembered I posted some images I took with this lens.
Not stellar images by any means, just test shots. On the first one with the glass you can see the CA on the rim.
I could have removed the CA with software.

http://www.eos-magazine-forum.com/showthread.php?12716-85-1-8-USM-self-imposed-challenge

Trev

[fadetoblack]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

Donald,
I agree with all above posters... It is an awsome lens for the money,
and yes, as sharp if not sharper than the 'nifty fifty' !

In case you have second thoughts.. DON'T...
Just buy it !! You won't regret it !!

Fred D.

[DrJon]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

It's amazing value for money and much lighter and faster to focus than the f1.2 85mm. It's also probably better than the Sigma 85/1.4 about 60% of the time. Although the 85/1.2 is pretty much on a different planet other than the weight and cost... I have no idea how they made it so sharp at f1.2, but I love it... You won't regret the f1.8 though, bargain...

[Northman]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

I'll stick up for the Sigma 85 f1.4, which compares very favourably with the Canon 85 f1.2 for performance and IQ - just Google and you'll find various head to head tests. In many ways it outperforms the Canon lens. The Sigma can be picked up for less than half the price of the Canon 1.2so worth a look and a test drive if you can arrange it. Its a fantastic lens for the money.

[chodeva]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

I have read good reviews of the Sigma 85/1.4 but both it and the Canon 85/1.2 are way out of my budget reach at the moment
thanks for all the advice comments! Great sharpness Trev in your images. Thanks

[DrJon]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

Since we've been talking about a variety of 85mm lenses here I'll go slightly off-topic and do a more-general post. Apologies to the OP but it's 90% on-subject.

I spent a very long time (really, you wouldn't believe me as to just how long) looking at 85mm lenses and I think the Canon 1.2 is noticeably better than the others, but it is very expensive and heavy. Here's my, entirely personal, opinions based on shooting a bunch of pictures with all three lenses. The way I rate things may be different to other people, so take with a pinch of salt. Also I shoot full-frame, issues in the corners matter much less for the crop camera shooters.

The main thing that isn't ideal with the Canon f1.2 (I mean the mk II unless I specifically state not) is there is some purple fringing on just-out-of-focus high-contrast edges. Rather strangely while the slow auto-focus is what delayed me buying one for a long time owning one I don't find it an issue. The focus is apparently slow as the depth of field is so narrow it needs a lot of small focusing steps to get sharp photos wide open, so takes a long time for big focus changes (although it is a lot faster that the mk I). However the ring USM motor in the mkII moves short distances very rapidly. If you want to quickly move from 3m to infinity and back you'll probably not be a happy bunny. If you want to photography birds flying around at 5-15m from you it will be plenty fast enough moving between them (been there...). Just pre-focus somewhere in the ball-park.

I found the Sigma to be less sharp and have more fringing, annoyingly so for me. I really don't like LoCA fringing, but I still love the pop the 1.2 gives me, plus the options for sharpness/DoF, that I live with it, plus I found less green than with the Sigma, they both do purple but overall I greatly preferred the Canon. I really wanted to like the Sigma as it seemed to combine noticeably better sharpness and bigger aperture than the Canon 1.8 plus faster AF than the 1.2. (I also know some nice people at Sigma.) I took a bunch of photos with one but really didn't like them all that much. The Canon 1.2 photos just "pop" a lot more in my eyes.

I found the Canon 1.8 not to be quite sharp enough for me wide-open - look at SLR gears' full-frame results, you need to get to f4 for the corners to be good - although a lot of the time softer corners aren't an issue, and sometimes are a plus, but I wanted to use it for many things other than portraits. BTW f2 is the fastest common denominator on their tests. Also I wanted less DoF for some things. It does have faster AF than the 1.2 and is amazing value for money.

My summary would be -

If you can only afford the Canon 1.8 it's great value for money, pretty sharp in the centre at the wider apertures and is the size/speed champ. It's a really good choice on many levels.

I have a hard time with the Sigma 1.4, in tests it's clearly way ahead of the Canon 1.8 for sharpness (see below) but I kept getting photos with it I wasn't happy with. If you shoot full-frame and want shallow DoF it's well worth a look as you may value different things to me. Some reviewers do seem to rate it closer to the 1.2 than I do.

Canon 1.2 - you really do need to want to spend a lot of money and be prepared to carry a lot of extra weight around, but even with the bonus purple bits it's my favorite lens as I just get more amazing photos out of it. I sometimes go out with it as my only lens and see what I can shoot.

References (aka other opinions are available):
Slrgear -
1.2: http://slrgear.com/reviews/showprodu...uct/354/cat/10
1.4: http://slrgear.com/reviews/showprodu...ct/1331/cat/30
1.8: http://slrgear.com/reviews/showprodu...uct/154/cat/10
Photozone (their ruler test shows something like the LoCA issues I found) -
1.2: http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff...5f12ff?start=1 (>3100 at f1.2, that's just silly, silly good tho)
1.4: http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff...4eosff?start=1 (curiously they rate it lower than the 1.8)
1.8: http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff..._18_5d?start=1
The Digital Picture -
1.2: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...ns-Review.aspx
1.4: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...ns-Review.aspx
1.8: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/R...ns-Review.aspx

[Hereford_EOS]

Re: Canon Prime 85mm 1.8

A great lens at a very affordable price, go for it.