Is this amount of CA normal for the 85/1.8?

I shoot my zeiss 100 MP wide open all the time, and it has comparable CA, even for a fairly expensive lens

it's only a problem when you've got bright sunlight in the frame. If you're shooting hard sunlight then the CA really shows up, but of course, images are kind of lackluster with harsh light anyway. Control the light and minimize the issue.

Frodge wrote in post #17738056
What use is it wde open if the CA is bad? Not much.

Other than CA, in most cases stopping down the aperture could minimize/eliminate Vignetting, provide better Coma control (for city light, nightscape, astro, etc), higher contrast and sharpness, and most importantly...to gain more DOF. I guess some people only care about blowing out the background shooting a fast prime wide open and completely disregard any other technicality.

ben805 wrote in post #17738105
I guess some people only care about blowing out the background shooting a fast prime wide open and completely disregard any other technicality.

That's true. And some people shoot at f/5.6 all the time. And others shoot only family snapshots. Some people only order chocolate chocolate chip for their cones. And some people have never voted in an election. Isn't variety marvelous?

I shot my f/2.0 lens at f/5.6 this past weekend...I'm radical!

I personally don't see the point of buying a 85 L II and mostly use at 2.8 when there is a 24-70 that has same cost/quality.

Coming to the original purpose of the topic, yes the 85 1.8 has heavy CA especially WA and in some cases that cannot be corrected in post. To my knowledge the more expensive 85 L has bad CA too and third party 85mm are just sligthly better in this regard. The 1.8 has also more pronounced drop of microcontrast at wide apertures .
Hey, I believe the most can live with that and be more than happy for the $ spent.