85 f1.8 optimal apertures for sharp photos

I returned my earlier version because of back focus. The new version seems OK.
I find the lens a bit too soft at f1.8 and even f2. It seems fine at f2.2 and 2.5 - sharp enough for good portraits, but my wife actually preferred the shots at f1.8.

Of course, some of this could be the result of shallow depth of field and user "error." Slight body sway could move the point of focus, and this could be a problem wide open.

How does your Canon 85f1.8 shoot wide open or at f2?

fantastic.

I use it at f/1.8 -f/2 all of the time and it's amazing.

There will be some PF in very high contrast situations...

The lens I had was sharp at f1.8, but considerably sharper with less ca at f2 whch is where I shot my lens at most of the time.

If you have a camera capable of Ma, utilize it to produce the results you Desire from your lens

For some reason, I always preferred to shoot at f/2 instead of wide open at f/1.8, even when I needed the shutter speed, and my photos always came out looking really good. I stopped down in good light to about 2.2 or 2.8 for optimal sharpness.

Sold the 85mm to fund for a more usable 50 1.4 (got a legendary copy, picked from 3 in-store ones) but I will purchase the 85mm again.

A 1/3 stop down significantly improved CA handling on my copy.

The optimal aperture depends what you are shooting. For a close headshot, you might need f5.6 to get the everything in focus you need in focus. You just have to figure it out for your kinds of subjects. F1.8 at 85mm at typical portrait distances is just so thin there is no margin for error if you are going to print huge or pixel peep.

The f/1.8 version is usually sharp at wideopen.

I'll usually shoot at f/2 to f/2.2. Bokeh isn't drastically different from f/1.8 to f/2.2 except you'll get less purple fringing and improvements in IQ.

While i find the 85mm f1.8 to be a fine portrait lens it is a little tight indoors on a crop and my copy is at its sharpest around f4.0 which is indicative of the below SlrGear test results: [LEFT Click on the Graph Blur Index and slide the aperture up to 4.0]

http://www.slrgear.com …ct.php/product/​154/cat/10

IMO at 4.0 and using an external flash bounced this lens is outstanding!

artyH wrote in post #9183420
I returned my earlier version because of back focus. The new version seems OK.
I find the lens a bit too soft at f1.8 and even f2. It seems fine at f2.2 and 2.5 - sharp enough for good portraits, but my wife actually preferred the shots at f1.8.

Of course, some of this could be the result of shallow depth of field and user "error." Slight body sway could move the point of focus, and this could be a problem wide open.

How does your Canon 85f1.8 shoot wide open or at f2?

i use very often at f2 & f/2.8 & f4. almost never at f1.8 or even f/5.6.
at f/2, it's very sharp...never been disappointed of it...

I could just as well shoot at f1.8 all day but, as a previous poster, for some reason I tend to use f2. The lens produces, imo, and there shouldn't be any hesitation to use it wide open.

What you are probably experiencing is the razor thin DOF when shooting tight portraits. Any movement between Af'ing (you and/or the sunject) and tripping the shutter will usually not give you acceptable results. I won't even metntion foxus and recompose other than, don't.

The depth of field is really minimal with this lens. It takes some practice to use it - I find it much easier to use the 35mm focal length.
I am getting much sharper photos at 2.2.
How does anyone use the 85f1.4 wide open?

Not my sharpest lens wide open, But it is my sharpest at 1.8 .
Really it's very useable at 1.8 and gets better stopped just a little.

I found that my specimen (best of three) was usable from F/2.2, and sharpest from about F/4 to about F/8.

I always thought it was quite soft at F/1.8 and F/2, at F/1.8 really unusable for the stuff I used to do with it, and had too much PF as well at the larger apertures.

Kind regards, Wim

Mine at 1.8 is razor sharp

I think that shutter speed is also a problem indoors. As soon as I get a decent day, I am going to take some shots outside. I have had the best luck at f2.2 indoors, but this may a good compromise between shutter speed and aperture.
The photos are much better at f2.2 than wider apertures in my living room.

I was never afraid to use mine at f/1.8, but at f/2.8 it was ridiculously sharp.