Considering the 85mm 1.8

Stone 13 wrote in post #12355590
I've owned my 85 1.8 for a total of 2 days and it has blown me away, someone said it was soft at 1.8, but that's not the case with my copy. Yes the purple fringing can pretty bad wide open but I'm finding it easy to fix in LR & PS5. It's a deadly sharp lens and it focuses lightning fast. I went to B&H to test out and possibly buy the Sigma 85 1.4 and walked out with the 85 1.8 and I'm not disappointed, especially with the ~$500 still in my bank account..lol Get it, you won't regret it.

I was the one said it was a little soft at at f/1.8. I also said:

"By a "little soft" I mean if you do 100% blowups of critical features and compare shots taken at f/1.8 and f/8 from a tripod, you can see that the f/1.8 lacks some of the fine detail. You would never notice this in normal use unless you were doing huge blowups or extreme crops. All fast prime lens I know of are a little softer at maximum aperture. "

I'm pretty sure if you did tests, you could see this too, but for normal photography you will never notice this.

How about the 85mm 1.8 on a FF vs 50mm 1.4 on a crop (80mm effective). Should I expect similar results or will one be better than the other? 50mm at 1.8 is not wide open so may be slightly sharper??

mikeca42 wrote in post #12355928
I was the one said it was a little soft at at f/1.8. I also said:

"By a "little soft" I mean if you do 100% blowups of critical features and compare shots taken at f/1.8 and f/8 from a tripod, you can see that the f/1.8 lacks some of the fine detail. You would never notice this in normal use unless you were doing huge blowups or extreme crops. All fast prime lens I know of are a little softer at maximum aperture. "

I'm pretty sure if you did tests, you could see this too, but for normal photography you will never notice this.

I'll admit I haven't tested it, and I rarely look at my pics at 100% either unless i'm sharpening or doing some sort of cloning or healing so your points are well taken. I drove myself crazy looking at 100% crops when I 1st started so I generally avoid doing so...

John_N wrote in post #12354568
I'm wanting to improve my family snaps I guess, my sig has my current lens line up (minus the 1-00-400 but I don't think that counts here although I have used it as such ).

I don't want to break the bank, but equally don't want to just skip through lenses until I get what I should have in the first place, again that said my better half has noticed my lenses getting increasingly expensive

I have the 85mm f/1.8 and like it, but I don't see how it will make that much difference in pictures of your kids when you already have a Sigma 17-70mm and a Canon 100mm Macro. I've never used either of those lenses, but I hear the 100mm Macro makes a nice portrait lens.

It's just a hunch, but I feel that adding another lens isn't going to make you that much happier with your shots. Maybe there is something else you can do that will provide a bigger boost to your results. Are you shooting in RAW? What post-processing software do you use?

Don't rule out the Rokinon 85mm f/1.4. Completely manual lens but that speed is hard to come by for a $250 lens and the results are stunning for that price-point. My $.02

May I also suggest you consider the 100mm f/2. I found that I preferred the slightly extra reach and slightly smoother background blur when compared to the 85mm 1.8. Plus, there's less CA wide open than the 85mm. That said, the 85mm 1.8 is an excellent choice as well. The lenses have more similarities than differences.

Ya, I agree with you Stone, as I had have mine now for just about a week. Also bought from B&H however I had to get mine delivered...no one here locally had one available. I love this lens...the sharpness is unreal and fast...incredibly fast....can't wait to use it to its full potential.

Okay, so on the whole thats a big thumbs up

The reason for not using the 50mm is that its on perma-load to a friend so I've not seen it for months, that said I could get it back.

Shaftmaster - funnily enough I've switched from RAW to JPEG, the reason being burst speed when I need it and even on JPEG post processing in Lighroom is pretty straight forward, that and the space images were taking up was getting ridiculous. As you may have guessed I'm just a guy with a hobby, if I were doing professional work I would shoot raw though and take time in PP rather than just usually doing - crop, autotone, punch, sharpen, noise reduction (I do both because a higher sharpen brings out the detail but a little NR gets rid of the noise without softening it too much)

Well, I plumped for one - £260 new off ebay and in the UK!

Fingers crossed its not a dodgy ebay geezer

The Canon 85mm 1.8 is one of the best values out there. I have both the 85 1.2L (incredible bokeh and sucks in light) and the 85 1.8. I kept the 1.8 because it has faster focus when I'm shooting more action and its relatively inexpensive. But optically, it is very nice.

You will get purple fringing with both the 1.2L and the 1.8 if you shoot in high contrast scenes wide open. Its part of the character of the lens and its something you work with. Both of these are fantastic lenses. Remember, however, that while the 85 is a great tool, it won't make you a better photographer. But if you know what you're doing, its a great lens.

I know my pics will still suck, but at least they'll suck a little less

Actually having heard the feedback such as yours its the AF speed that made me want the 1.8 all the more.

Purple fringing I can deal with, but from whats been said its only really visible if you look hard isn't it?

I too am a new owner to the 85 1.8 and absolutely love it! Fast, sharp, and just an all around great lens. Took me two copies (first one something was wrong with - was soft to the point it looked OOF, second one appeared to have been used, third was a winner).

Here are a couple shots with mine.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/22396397@N04/5​659227847/

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

I hope I have more luck with the lenses as mines an ebay job - in part due to the price and also they're getting really hard to get hold of!

Nice images though, worth the swaps

I see from your flickr you moved up from the 50mm 1.8 - I take it was worth the upgrade.

Good luck with the lens John. I think the only thing that can go wrong is a "dodgy ebay geezer".

For me the 85/1.8 is the best lens in my bag, and a ridiculous value. Great for portraits and great for indoor sports in gyms with sub-optimal lighting (if you ever need that).

Looks like I might be in luck ebay wise - he's a photographer - not a guarantee of sound character but it explains why he has some spare kit that never been opened!