Canon 85mm f1.8

I will concur with the fans of this lens. It was my first USM lens, and my third prime. It is a jem of a lens. It focuses fast fast fast and accurate. This lens got me into candid people photography. I can fill the frame so nicely. I also use it to shoot indoor dance events. The fast focusing makes it all possible. As someone else said, this lens should be on the must have list.

Mark

The 85/1.8 is one of those lenses where I take a picture and say, "Did I really get this for only xxx dollars". In low light it's amazing. It can really get you out of a jam where the lighting is very poor and you can't use a flash, like this school gym which was only lit with about 8 sodium lights in the rafters.

90% of shots in my basketball galleries were shot on 85mm 1.8, it is famously known as "Basketball lens", perfect focal length, fast focus, great optics, very affortable, too. However, I have yet to give it a go with portrait work.

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=61967

Thanks to everyone who has posted a reply, it's made me even more confident that I have made the right choice in buying this lens.

All I have to do now is wait for it to arrive!, hopefully later this coming week.

I have one coming from B&H on monday. It scores a 4.45 on the lense test yet is only $340.

Phil Hall

Since many of you may have both of these lenses, I thought I would ask: If you were to get only one, which one would you choose and why?

Canon Telephoto EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Autofocus Lens - $ 339.95

Yikes! That is a TOUGH question.
I guess it depends on your needs.

Definitely depends on your needs, but I'd pick the 85/1.8 because the 50/1.4 is too short even for indoor basketball. I still have the 50/1.8 too, but I hardly use it anymore.

I would choose the 50 f1.4. It's faster.........and its more versatile (for me). However, the 85 f1.8 is an AWESOME lens!!!

Ro1

For me the issue would be that the F1.4 lens is almost a stop faster than the 1.8. I don't have either lens though

My experience of the 50mm f/1.4 is that it isn't great at focusing in low light, especially with the shallow depth of field the wide apertures will give. It hunts a lot, and the only solution I found was to shoot at f/2.8 or less, so it didn't offer me any advantage over my Tamron 28-75 (which is probably sharper anyway).

I've got an 85mm f/1.8 on order, and from what I've heard of the focusing capabilities of this lens, I am really hoping it will give me what I was missing with the 50mm f/1.4. We will see!

I love the 85mm 1.8 prime. It is great in low light. These pics are of my daughter playing B'Ball in a very poorly lit gym. ( I've posted them before).

John

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Yup, wonderful lens. Sharp and great background blur. I like mine so much I ended up getting rid of my 50 1.8 as I was never using it.

Good for things other than people as well.

Of course it doesn't look nearly as sharp now its a small, compressed jpeg. I'm sure you get the idea though.

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I just bought the 50mm f/1.8, but I'm thinking the 85mm f/1.8 would be a nice addition for taking live-band performance shots. I like the idea of a longer lens without the need for more stage lighting or a flash.

I'll probably keep the f/1.8...

Steve

It will almost take pictures in the dark, and focuses well also.

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