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Anyone use a Canon 85mm 1.8?
- Thread starter jrm27
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I've rented that lens before, and my opinion on it is that its a sweet, lightweight fast lens. I personally like that focal length, works good for portraits and indoor sports where you can get close. It focus's fast and pretty accurately. Granted I had only used it with my 40D and not on my XSi, so I can't make a call on that. I'll check my aperture library for shots from it.
Photozone.de lavished much praise on it. I don't know one way or another for sure, but I think the aperture blades on it are rounded. That's something the Nikon 85/1.8 does not have.
The nikon does have 9 rounded aperture blades, I know, I owned it and now I regret selling it. That was one sharp lens. The Canon, while I'm sure is a stellar lens, has 8 blades which would produce a less circular highlight in the out of focus areas. Photozone called testing the Nikkor "boring" because the lens performed so flawlessly thy there was little to report on.
I'm thinking I'll buy it again soon.
SLC
The Nikon 85/1.8 definitely does not have rounded aperture blades. I own a copy and it just isn't so. Points of light near to the lens will be rendered as octagons, rather than perfect circles (as is the case with the 85/1.4). If you look at the 85/1.4, 105/2, 135/2, 24-70, 17-55, or any Nikon lens with rounded blades, you'll see that they form a circle in the center when you hit the depth of field preview button. With the 85/1.8, you'll see an octagon.
That's for the Canon 85/1.8.
I have it and love it. But it has limited use. There are times that it doesn't come out of my bag. However when I want to shoot indoor, theatre or sports it is a great lens. Fast focusing, sharp, great bokeh. I use it on a crop body.
I got my information straight from the source, the Nikkor definitely does have rounded blades, 9 of them.
http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/lens/af/telephoto/af_85mmf_18d/index.htm
SLC
SLC, it simply does not. Next time you come across one, do a depth of field preview and look at them. They are octagonal, not rounded. In the days when the 85/1.8 was first made, only three lenses had rounded blades (excluding super telephotos, which I don't know about), those being the 85/1.4, 105/2 and 135/2. Now, most lenses are made with rounded blades.
The 85/1.4 comes to a perfect circle when a shot is made. The 1.8 comes to an octagon. All you really need to do to show that is to get a shot with a bunch of points of light in the background.
I can see what Nikon's product information says, but they are not rounded in a true sense. You may notice at Photozone that they list the 1.4's as being rounded and the 1.8 does not have that distinction.
The 85/1.4 comes to a perfect circle when a shot is made. The 1.8 comes to an octagon. All you really need to do to show that is to get a shot with a bunch of points of light in the background.
I can see what Nikon's product information says, but they are not rounded in a true sense. You may notice at Photozone that they list the 1.4's as being rounded and the 1.8 does not have that distinction.
Perhaps your copy is faulty then, mine made a nearly perfect circle, and had that nice circular look to defocused highlights. That combined with the 9 blades, and the fact that Nikon themselves claim them to be rounded (they looked identical in shape to those of my 24-70 and 70-200) tells me that they are in fact rounded.
Like I said, maybe your copy is somehow defective, but mine created buttery smooth and circular bokeh.
SLC
Or 50 1.4?
Hi there,
The 85 1.8 is great, I use it for mainly sports (basketball, volleyball). The lens is sharp, and fast, and very quiet on the focus as well.
Don't forget about the 50 1.4, as since you are using an xsi it has the 1.6 multiplier. Think about what you will be doing with your lens. Do you think you will be closer to whatever it is you will be doing to where you may need to go wider? I own both and they are both stellar lenses.
Hi there,
The 85 1.8 is great, I use it for mainly sports (basketball, volleyball). The lens is sharp, and fast, and very quiet on the focus as well.
Don't forget about the 50 1.4, as since you are using an xsi it has the 1.6 multiplier. Think about what you will be doing with your lens. Do you think you will be closer to whatever it is you will be doing to where you may need to go wider? I own both and they are both stellar lenses.
