Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 Wide Open

I love shooting street candids in low light, high ISO and wide apertures.. I find it very challenging and when I nail it, very satisfying..

Last week I bought a EF 85mm f/1.8 to team up with my EF 50mm f/1.4 and 135L..

Today I went out with the EF 85mm f/1.8 and shot only at f/1.8.. I am really surprised how well this lens handles shooting at full aperture.. It almost rivals my 135L wide open..

Check out the pics,, EXIF intact..

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It's a very good lens, imo. The complaining about PF doesn't usually show itself unless you like to shoot chrome or blow out high contrast edges.

My advice..... don't shoot spectral highlights and learn how to expose properly

PF doesn't enter my decision process when I am debating what lens to use for a shot.

bohdank wrote in post #12244069
It's a very good lens, imo. The complaining about PF doesn't usually show itself unless you like to shoot chrome or blow out high contrast edges.

My advice..... don't shoot spectral highlights and learn how to expose properly

PF doesn't enter my decision process when I am debating what lens to use for a shot.

Sorry for the silly question - PF? Is that purple fringing? Is that the same as CA? Thanks. I love this lens!

I love mine, too.
its mack tack wide open with gorgeous buttery bokeh.

ofafeather wrote in post #12245115
Sorry for the silly question - PF? Is that purple fringing? Is that the same as CA? Thanks. I love this lens!

Pretty much! PF can be thought of a type of CA!

Oh yeah, and I love my lens as well!

nepali wrote in post #12245303
Pretty much! PF can be thought of a type of CA!

Oh yeah, and I love my lens as well!

Thanks! What other forms does CA take?

When i had the 85 1.8, the CA never really bothered me, and I shot almost exclusively wide open. Occasionally there'd be a really contrasty scene I'd correct, but I generally just left it there, and nobody ever noticed a thing.

The 85 1.8 is a lens that I feel rarely lets me down. I'm pretty much always happy with the results. Great AF, nice wide open, compact and stealthy for a longer FL. I think it's definitely one of the best bang-for-the-buck Canon lenses. Maybe even THE best.

The fringing is a non-issue for me, but then again, I'm not a major pixel peeper. For what it's worth, I've showed photos to non-photographer friends where the fringing shows up and asked if they see anything wrong with the photo just to see what they say. Nobody ever seems to notice it (and I get comments on lame composition or something like that instead ). Besides, it's easy to remove if you're really worried about it anyway.

What COkid said -- best bang for the buck lens for sure.

Are those SOOC?

I got some great wide open shots last weekend with the 85 1.8. I don't mind the ca at all unless you shoot in the sun.

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And the best part is it's physically fast as well!

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I don't mean to hijack the thread, but what causes the PF / CA? For me, I get it when shooting high contrast (especially strongly backlit scenes), but what makes the lens do it?

thenaturephotographer wrote in post #12254644
I don't mean to hijack the thread, but what causes the PF / CA? For me, I get it when shooting high contrast (especially strongly backlit scenes), but what makes the lens do it?

One trade off of having such fast transmissive properties is that sometimes all of the photons don't hit the same spot at the same time.

It's a prismatic issue related to how the light gets bent. Usually, just 1/2 to 2/3 of a stop down can make a big difference but this is where the f/1.2 version gets its advantage.

With the "Keg" you're still at f/1.4-f/1.8...
With the f/1.8 version, you're now at f/2-f/2.8.

That is "Exactly" the reason I call it the best bang for your buck lens in the Canon lineup.