Review on Canon 85Mm Medium Telephoto Cameras by Jeremy Watkins

This is going to be my favorite lens. I have a 70-200 2.8 IS which used to be my main portrait lens. It replaced him! I shoot at f/2.8 with this lens, but it's still pretty sharp, even wide open. I feel this lens is a bit sharper than my 70-200. The only complaint about this lens is chromatic aberration. A LOT, but it's easy to fix in Photoshop, and even the larger, more expensive 85 f1.2 L suffers quite a bit. I honestly can't justify the price difference between the L version and this one. That being said, the L version has slightly better bokeh and a faster aperture, but not nearly 5x the price! The 50mm 1.4 is often compared to this lens. In my opinion, the 50mm 1.4 isn't a bad lens, but the build quality of the 85mm 1.8, while they look the same, is much more solid. The 50mm 1.4 suffers from focus inconsistency and is prone to damage (poor internal design). Autofocus at 85mm is also much more stable. It's useless to shoot wide open with 50mm 1.4, it's very soft to about 2.2. A 50mm 1.2L or Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART lens is worth upgrading from a 50mm 1.4 lens. All in all, this is a great value portrait lens that rivals the large and expensive 85mm 1.2-litre lens.