Canon 85mm f1.8: a love affair

[22littlereasons]

Has there been enough said about this lens already? If not, then let me say what a really good lens this is. Sharp, crisp, fast. Can you tell I'm a new owner or what! *s*

[CyberDyneSystems]

Go ahead,. say some more! Our 85mm's are blushing ;)

[Arsonist lolol]

Hmm. and I just put in for the 50 1.8 last night....shrug :(

[DieselGirl]

Luv the 85mm F1.8!!!!

[roanjohn]

.............can't believe you didn't mention the BOKEH!!! This lens is stunning.

Ro1

[glangston]

Trying to choose between the 85m f1.8 and a 100mm Macro f2.5. I think the Macro will have to wait.

[Steve Parr]

The more I hear about this lens, the more I'm leaning towards it. I've got the Nifty 50, and I think this could be a nice compliment for shooting inside clubs...

Steve

[amber65910]

Ive had this lens for more than a year now and even after buying my first L lens last month, this still remains my favorite. Super sharp at any aperture and beautiful background blur!

[jbradc]

I ordered one from B&H Monday, it will be here tomorrow :-)

[cmM]

its my favorite prime :)
Good for a lot of things

[wintoid]

I've had the 50mm f/1.4 but in my opinion the 85mm f/1.8 is much better. I do find it slightly frustrating that it won't focus very close, but other than that, this lens is perfect!

[Olegis]

Do you realize what you do to people with threads like this ?! I already LOVE this lens - and I don't even have it !

[bitbytes9]

must buy ......

[Thenethiel]

I ordered mine over the weekend (along with a 580EX, grip, and second battery), should get here today or tomorrow. I also have the 10-22 EFS on endless-backorder from Dell, I'm having a hard time deciding whether to keep waiting for it from them for the good price or just cancel that and get it elsewhere.

[johnbs]

I just wish Canon made a 50 that was as nice ;)

John

[Joona]

Got mine yesterday... this is a sweet lil' beast, wide open it's more than useable(must nail focus of course), stop it down just a bit to 2.0 and its excellent. Colour, contrast are great, USM on this thing is very quick. Excellent value.

[Huckaback Photo]

Hi Johnbs

Canon do (sorry did make) a 50mm lens thats as good.
it was the original 50mm mk1 with the metal mount if anyone still uses these lenses
i'm sure they will agree with me.
finding a good one may be a problem though.

check out this image I shot to use for our shop advertising , I have placed the full sized image on my gallery so magazines picture editors can grab the image for use.
this picture in my view also demo's the sort quallity that can be recorded in the whites of digital images, as often its the whites that let down quallity of final print.

http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/40070989
look below image and you can view the original although i did downsize a bit.
this picture also won a competition for me this year.

As this post was about the 85mm lens take a look at this shot with 85mm f1.2 wide open in available light. with my 1D mk 2.
a vary kind chap from Canon loaned me the lens to try out at Focus on Imaging recently
Both 85mm lenses available from Canon are excellent prime lenses.

http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/40932710

this is cropped section of above

http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/40932743

regards
Martin (Huckaback Photo)

[griff2]

(http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/40932710)http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/40932710 (http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/40932710)What a superb lens.

[Huckaback Photo]

thanks Griff2

Thinking of getting the 85mm f 1.2 L I do a lot of on stage stuff, people say its slower focusing, yes it possibly is if you're going to time the lens from closest to infinity we dont often need that infront of a stage and i often use manual focus anyway .

Cheers
Martin (Huckaback Photo)

[sugar_babygirli]

Oh my GOSH this lens is awesome I LOVE it! Anyone who doesn't have it has got to get it! :D

[PacAce]

My avatar was the first thing I shot with my 85. :mrgreen:

[Huckaback Photo]

I realise that I have posted about the f 1.2 version above but its all 85mm when it comes down to it, main difference is the price ???. the quallity, the feel etc.etc.

There is also something about using such a unique lens as this as I'm sure other photographers must feel at times. and that is the "Feel Good Factor" .maybe not all understand this.
When i put the 85 f1.2 on my 1D2 theres that sort of feeling in your mind WOW!!!
this is some bit of kit .
There are so many zooms on the market these days covering this focal length so it would not be for everyone.
The vary nice guy from Canon unfortunately wanted this one back but did shoot abouth 30 shots in available lighting.
just take a look at the next 2 images to really see what an f stop of 1.2 can produce

The man working for Canon was wearing glasses so instead of focus on eye my focus point was bridge of the nose note either end of spectacles are way out of focus.

http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/41149526

http://www.pbase.com/huckaback_photo/image/41149576/large
select original if you wish to really check it.


Cheers
Martin (Huckaback Photo)

[Huckaback Photo]

Pac Ace.
Nice avatar, not really got into avatars yet,
would appreciate if you could you tell me about doing one
Cheers
Martin

[cmM]

Pac Ace.
Nice avatar, not really got into avatars yet,
would appreciate if you could you tell me about doing one
Cheers
Martin
Check out Scottes' sticky in the post processing/printing forum. Great tutorial on "avatars"

[roanjohn]

The 85 f1.2 is my ultimate dream lens. I am just waiting to get really depressed so I can have a reason to buy this lens (sorta like a picker upper).

So far I'm still happy :-(

Ro1

[perfectpixel]

How does the 85/1.8 compare to the 135/2.0?
Can't decide between the two (BTW, already have a 70-200 2.8 )

[PacAce]

Pac Ace.
Nice avatar, not really got into avatars yet,
would appreciate if you could you tell me about doing one
Cheers
Martin
Thanks, Martin. Making an avatar really isn't that hard. Just take your favorite image and crop it the way your want. Then just resize it so that no side is greater than 80 pixels. "Save for the Web" (without any embedded profiles or EXIF data) as GIF or JPEG. I usually do both to see which creates a smaller file of the two since there's also a limit in how large the file can be. :)

[PacAce]

Check out Scottes' sticky in the post processing/printing forum. Great tutorial on "avatars"
Oops! Forgot about the sticky. :o

[steibeldj]

My 20d has a 1.6 factor so 85mm is 136mm. I would have thought that this would be a difficult lens to frame subjects. 50mm is tough at times, but you can move closer. For those of you who use this lens, what kind of pictures are you taking? Mostly outdoors?

[roanjohn]

My 20d has a 1.6 factor so 85mm is 136mm. I would have thought that this would be a difficult lens to frame subjects. 50mm is tough at times, but you can move closer. For those of you who use this lens, what kind of pictures are you taking? Mostly outdoors?

Mostly outdoor portraiture......and indoor sporting events..........also stage productions.

Ro1

[PacAce]

Mostly outdoor portraiture......and indoor sporting events..........also stage productions.

Ro1
DItto plus indoor portraits, too.

[Huckaback Photo]

Cheers Leo & Co
had a play first avatar in position,
never done an image that small before.

Martin

[jbradc]

UPS just left and I am now the proud owner of a Canon 28 F1.8 and an 85 F1.8. I can't wait to use them both, but after all the rave reviews I think will try out the 85mm first.

[Huckaback Photo]

UPS just left and I am now the proud owner of a Canon 28 F1.8 and an 85 F1.8. I can't wait to use them both, but after all the rave reviews I think will try out the 85mm first.

Hi Jbradc

Good for you get out there and try them & enjoy, always had a thing about prime lenses.
sure zooms are good these days but there are times when you can't beat primes.

Enjoy.
Martin

PS. we shall expect the first image posted within the Hour , joking really

[cyclone]

This is my favorite lens as well - it's a nice portrait length for both film and digital.

[Steve Parr]

The rave reviews I've read of the 85mm f/1.8 have convinced me that this is the next lens for me. The 70-200mm f/4L will DEFINITELY be after that...

Steve