Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM
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| Name |
Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM |
| Description |
Canon 85mm F1.8 |
| Street Price (approximate US$) |
US$339 |
| Lens Mount |
Canon EF |
| Size |
71mm long/75mm diameter |
| Weight (g) |
422g |
| Minimum Focus Distance |
85cm |
| Filter Size |
58mm |
| Magnification |
1:7 |
| Includes Lens Hood |
No |
| Image Stablised |
No |
| |
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Average reviewer scores
| Build Quality |
3.7 |
Sharpness |
3.7 |
| Bokeh |
4 |
Other Image Quality |
3.3 |
| AF Accuracy |
3.3 |
AF Speed |
4 |
| AF (difficult conditions) |
3 |
Value for money |
4.3 |
| Reliability |
3.7 |
Weighted Score |
3.7/5 |
Reviews by our members
Review by
jt354 on 16 September 2010
| Individual review |
| Build Quality | 4 |
| Reliability | 4 |
| Sharpness | 3 |
| Bokeh | 4 |
| Other Image Quality | 3 |
| AF Accuracy | 2 |
| AF Speed | 4 |
| AF (difficult conditions) | 3 |
| Value for money | 5 |
Pros: Good build, very sharp stopped down, inexpensive
Cons: MFD! softness wide open
To be honest, I don't see the versatility of this lens. 85mm is an awkward crop focal length IMO. The lens is too soft wide open to use for anything but portraits, and I prefer portraits with a little more depth of field. Stopped-down, it's excellent, but so are the 70-200mm zooms and Canon's macro lenses. The minimum focus distance is around a meter -- which, frankly, sucks. I like the bokeh this lens produces, and, as usual, color reproduction is good. AF accuracy is poor, but the USM motor is silent and quick.
Review by
I Simonius on 3 June 2009
| Individual review |
| Build Quality | 3 |
| Reliability | 3 |
| Sharpness | 3 |
| Bokeh | 3 |
| Other Image Quality | 3 |
| AF Accuracy | 3 |
| AF Speed | 3 |
| AF (difficult conditions) | 3 |
| Value for money | 3 |
Pros: Light, cheap, sharp
Cons: not sharp wide open
Brilliant little lens, as good as the big and expensive L version except wide open, but about a third of the price. If you don't need the REALLY wide f-stops of the L version of this FL, then get this lens, from f4 onward it matches and may even be better than the L version
Review by
jmarshall on 20 May 2008
| Individual review |
| Build Quality | 4 |
| Reliability | 4 |
| Sharpness | 5 |
| Bokeh | 5 |
| Other Image Quality | 4 |
| AF Accuracy | 5 |
| AF Speed | 5 |
| AF (difficult conditions) | 3 |
| Value for money | 5 |
Pros: Good portrait lens, great sharpness, contrast and bokeh
Cons: No significant issues
This is my favourite lens for head shots.
The image quality is fantastic, with a contrasty image, saturated colours, and nice bokeh. It generally focuses fine, without any fuss, and the full-time manual focus is good to have.
The only downside I can think of is that it's probably a touch too long on a crop body to be in use all the time.
It's great value for money, as it's 1/4 of the price of the f/1.2L. The other lenses that could be compared with this one (for portraits) are the 70-200 2.8 IS and non-IS, which are both still much more expensive, even if more versatile.
