85mm 1.8

I'm going to be getting one of these for high school sports. I found a guy with a sharp looking copy.

I had a quick question though. My 50mm 1.8 was pretty bad wide open. What's the 85 1.8 like wide open? What about at like f2.8?

Can the 85mm 1.8 be used for everything the 50mm primes can be? I.E. full portraits (not just faces), a little bit of macro (maybe get some tubes), etc?

When I had my 85mm f/1.8 it was sharp wide open but I never had a 50 f/1.8
85mm f/1.8 at f/2.8 is razor sharp

85mm is a bit long for full portraits on a crop body unless you can back up a ways.. theoretically any lens could be used for a full body shot if you could stand far enough away

From the shots I've seen on here it's better than the 50mm 1.8 at 1.8... much, much, much better focus too

Try doing a search on the forums for it, you'll likely come up with some shots...

check out photozone.de and read for yourself.

Sounds good .

I shot the 85 f/1.8 last night wide open for volleyball. I generally shoot it at f/2 most of the time though.

The ONLY similarity between the 50 1.8 and 85 1.8 is the max aperture. 'Nuff said.

100% crop, no PP:

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The 85 1.8 is more than acceptable wide open. Like the previous poster I try to shoot indoors at about 2.0 - 2.2. Sure you can use it for full body portraits, you just have to make sure you have the room. It's an excellent indoor lens for any kind of sports, concerts, school events, fashion shows, and anythying else you can think of. A beautiful portrait lens. Your biggest concern will be room as it may be too long for some people in some cases. On a 1.6 crop body it's about a 136mm lens. Perfect for my style, but not for everybody. There are other options (lenses), but the 85 1.8 is hard to top indoors.

Jim G wrote in post #2109312
85mm is a bit long for full portraits on a crop body unless you can back up a ways.. theoretically any lens could be used for a full body shot if you could stand far enough away

and that is why i use a 70-200 for everything... portraits, body shots, sports, landscapes, etc, etc.

if you need a mild telephoto that's fast and light, 85 would definately be a top choice.. if only i could come up with 2k for 30, grip, etc, and 85 1.8....

I wish I still had my 85 f1.8. It was RAZOR sharp wide open.

basroil wrote in post #2110628
and that is why i use a 70-200 for everything... portraits, body shots, sports, landscapes, etc, etc.

if you need a mild telephoto that's fast and light, 85 would definately be a top choice.. if only i could come up with 2k for 30, grip, etc, and 85 1.8....

Perhaps this will be a good walk around lens for the school yearbook stuff I'm doing. When I take portraits and pictures at school, I'm obviously not getting as close as you would if you were shooting in a studio or whatever. I'm also going to pick up a Tamron 28-75 and 70-200 F4L, although I doubt the 70-200 F4L will be on my camera all the time, especially in doors (I have a feeling it won't do much good indoors unless I bring my flash which is probably a problem at school, and definitley not allowed in high school sports.)

CDI, I love how you feel the need to post a photo of the one thing in this world I need. Some damn compressed gas duster! Bloody installed a new cpu and another gb of ram in my pc last night, and so much dust was flying around it was nuts! I of course ran out of all my compressed gas duster a few months back . Also couldn't find any thermal gel .

Mine is sharp wide open. Posted a recent pic in the bokeh thread. I'm very very happy with this lens.

Funny, I've never shot mine wide open (must be that pesky 85L). But I can say that it rocks at f/2 or better. F/2.8 to f/4....total sweetness.

AeroSmith wrote in post #2110907
Funny, I've never shot mine wide open (must be that pesky 85L). But I can say that it rocks at f/2 or better. F/2.8 to f/4....total sweetness.

Hehe, that's good to hear. I am thinking I should pick this lens up before the Tamron 28-75 anyway becasue I think finding a good copy of the 28-75 might be hard.

Anybody use this lens for macro? Tubes perhaps?

You probably have a good chance of getting a good copy of the 28-75. If the chances of you getting a good copy was bad, that would mean the majority of the 28-75's that Tamron produces are junk and then they'd go out of business due to the cost of labor for repairing the lenses and then the cost of shipping them. The 28-75 thread has a lot of great pictures in it. Besides, 28-75 is considerably more flexible than 85mm.