Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens – Black
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens – Black
| Weight: | 0.94 Pounds |
| Dimensions: | 7.5 x 7.1 x 7.5 centimetres |
| Brand: | Canon |
| Model: | 2519A012 |
| Part: | 2519A012AA |
| Colour: | Black |
| Dimensions: | 7.5 x 7.1 x 7.5 centimetres |
| Origin: | Great Britain |
This is a classic lens that I fell in love with as soon as I saw the kinds of images it took. Its sharp, very sharp and has great bokeh too and it flatters the subject by making them slimmer so it is great for portraits. It is a fast lens at f1.8 and I thoroughly recommend it.
Very good quality/price must-have lenses for everyone, I use mine with an aps-c DSLR without any trouble. Highly recommended for portrait photography.
I just go to this lens all the time. I like the simplicity.it was one of the first lenses I started using 10 years ago – any maybe that’s why I feel so comfortable using it. But it also means, its that easy, anyone can use it.
Very good services of delivery, especail on time perfect lens for the photography.
Really really love this lens. Amazing for portrait photography. However, it is not a beginner’s lens, as it might seem a bit confusing at first.
Outstanding lens at a fraction of the price of the L-series. If you’re looking for a fixed lens, then you can’t go far wrong with this beauty.
I loved this lens but although I only used it occasionally and it suffered no trauma, something failed after 18 months and auto focus no longer works. Very disappointing as I have bought many lenses second hand which all work perfectly – this was the only lens I bought brand new
Serious value for money
Love i
Great piece of glass lightweight good fast lens exellent for portraiture and field work.Quick service through Amazon, quicker than stated over Xmas too!.
The focus is sharp at any aperture size – wide or shut.
I am using this on a Canon EOS6D and being a full frame camera, there is a bit of lens aberration on some pictures, but nothing that a little photoshop cannot fix.
Its quite a heavy lens, so be ready to lug it around with your kit.
Its a specialised lens which won’t replace your regular lens, but will complement it well.
I carry it along with my Canon 24-105 f1.4 L IS normally.
I have been having the most fun since I have got this lens.
Definitely recommended for the portrait fan.
Amazing, my favourite lense so far! The bokeh is incredible. But you need a verysteady hand as blurring can happen more easily with this than say a 50mm as there is no image stabilisation.
This is a must own lens for full frame users. Crop users be aware that with the 1.6 crop factor the lens works out to be something like an effective 135mm.
Great creamy bokeh when shot wide open and good low light performance. To the untrained eye it’s really hard to spot the difference between this lens and the L f/1.4. Sure If you’re a protog you’d want the L f/1.4 but honestly the difference is negligible for most users.
The lens is a little soft in the corners at 1.8 which is really to be expected at those wide apertures unless you’re buying insanely expensive portrait lenses like the L 85mm f/1.2 or a Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4. It sharpens up really nicely at f/2.8 and is razor sharp across the frame at f/4 and above.
On a full frame camera this is really good first portrait lens to go for especially If you’re on a budget. At this price point there really isn’t anything to touch it in terms of image quality. On a crop body it might not be such a good general focal length as at 135mm you may be happier with using zoom lenses that provide image stabilisation. In any case the image quality is great as I’ve tried it on both.
It’s a superb prime lens unquestionably the very best of the of non luxury lenses canon make with the 100mm and 50mm primes right behind it.
Great lens, very fast and sharp. A must have for anyone who wants to start portrait photography, or any shy person who wants to try street photography and not get to close.
Bought as a gift for my husband. It has proved ideal for getting candid portraits at family get-togethers. Wide-open with natural light produces stunning results compared with his existing 24-105 f4L. He is absolutely delighted with it.
Ive attached actors headshots taken @ F2.2 – its now my go to lens
excellent lems that’t id pay 450+ for
pmna photography.
I do recommend that you read about axial chromatic aberration (or longitudinal chromatic aberration) and understand what causes it – in short you will see green or purple outline around the out of focus edges with bright subjects in certain lighting conditions. Let that not scare you! It is common in fast prime lenses and you should not worry about it as it’s fixable in programs like Adobe Lightroom in a few mouse clicks.
For the money spent – really cannot recommend this more! Best of luck.
Traded in the Canon 70-200mm for this. Its a great lens but with travelling around alot with the weight and only using the shorter focal lengths (checked the metadata) I found the 85mm would more than cover my needs. It’s very compact, fast to focus and extremely light. I’ve had it a week and already used it on two shoots and I am very happy with the results.
I would have loved IS on it as it’s not that light, but it performs very well. Creamy sharp shots.
For the price its an excellent lens. However please keep in mind you do need to get used to it. The f1.8 is awesome but its easy to throw the whole picture out of focus because the FOV is so narrow.
I am using it both on the D7 Mk1 and the full frame D5 Mk2 and to be honest still getting used to using it even after about 5 weeks, but they may be me!
It is worth the money to have this in the camera bag
I did a comparison between this and my Canon 24-105 f/4 IS L @ 85mm and the differences are shocking. This lens is so much sharper and has much nicer bokeh. At f/1.8 it’s a teeny bit soft in the middle (which may actually be quite flattering for portraiture) and there’s quite a bit of vignetting, but stop down to f/2 – f/2.2 and it’s lovely. By f/2.8 it’s beautiful.
There’s so much more detail in the edge of the frame compared to the 24-105 – not that it’ll make much difference if you’re shooting portraits as the edge and corners would most likely be blurred anyway, but, in the instance where you have the subject in the edge of the frame it’ll be pin-sharp at f/2.8 with hardly any vignette. In comparison, the 24-105 at f/4 has so much vignette that it’s really noticeable compared to the little 85mm Canon and the edges are mush.
I’d have absolutely no worries with using this at f/1.8 – especially considering vignette can pretty much be eliminated in Lightroom / ACR – but for me it’s at its best at f/2.8. This is where it really shines if you ask me.
I bought this during Canon’s 35 rebate scheme so I ended up only paying 200 for this lens. 200! That’s a true bargain for something that does something so well. Great colour and contrast across the frame. Perfect for portraits.
eally good quality, with my 6d sometimes front focusing but that is maybe my error, wide open f1.8 picture is really sharp, if stopped down sharpness improvement almost no visible
You’ve read the reviews that say that it’s great? It is certainly that. I’ve tried it on my 5D mark ii and it produced perfect portraiture – clear but with enough bokeh to gush, but strangely it didn’t look as clear on my 550D, maybe because one is FF and the other not?
Excellent sharpness and a nice size, weight and great price. Bought this for my Sony A7R to use with Viltrox EF-NEX ll adapter. It seemed more sensible than paying over the odds for Sony/Zeiss or the rather bulky Samyang. Autofocus is slow on the Sony, but I’m quite happy to use manual focus anyway.
Superb prime lens at an affordable price. Free of nearly all aberrations and very sharp images. In fact sharper, than many expensive zoom lenses and much lighter in weight. Recommended.
Note, sadly my lens is being replaced due to some debris inside the lens.
I love prime lenses and this is no exception. It is a great short telephoto lens (equivalent to a 135mm on a crop sensor camera) as well as a portrait lens.
The bokeh is superb – beautifully creamy.
The wide maximum aperture means that you do have to be careful when focusing – the shot can end up slightly out of focus because, at f1.8, the depth of field is so small.
A lovely lens.
Stunning image quality! The short time I had the lens, I really enjoyed using it. Quite a long lens on crop sensor (136mm equiv.) and not always easy to use indoors, but when you get the shot, it’s good – Very good.
I did return the lens, however, as I got an offer I couldn’t refuse on a Canon 70-200mm f4 L USM – Otherwise this lens would have been a keeper.
Highly recommended.
Not used it a ‘lot’ as yet but have used it for portraits and close up and shots outside, as many others I am disappointed canon dont include the hood, its an expensive piece of plastic which cold be included and may make the decision of quite a few people to buy this instead of something else, anyhow back to the lens.
The shots are incredibly sharp, focusing has to be accurate if you want the intended area in focus, people not into photography are now impressed with my shots, so yes it has taken my photography to a new level.
Mainly used on my 60D, it is however a telephotoish lens and thats not really my style, but for isolating things in the shot, close up and portraits it cannot be beat with what i can afford or already have.
Close up is 85cm, not macro but good enough to crop, however as mentioned focus has to be accurate and depth of field will only be around 5mm max at that distance, if not less. The area in focus in impressively sharp.
So if your on the fence, for the money go for it, on a crop it is a tele lens, ish, but great for portraits if you want head and shoulders from about 6-8 feet. I dont really do telephoto shots outside, i like wide angle, but this complements the lens I have, my main for the 60D is the 17-55. One day I will get a wider lens still, but also I have a 50mm 1.4 this complements the 85mm for me as a choice of two good primes. I also use full frame film, not used the 85 on film yet but will soon. I guess the final bit is that this adds that bit more enjoyment to photography which you will all understand if you are reading this, with a zoom, you stand where you ended up and zoom to get your composition, with a lens such as this you have to move about, use your feet and find the composition, it isnt just there.
It’s very sharp wide open at f1.8, and fast enough a lens to take photos in dark situations such as concerts or parties/weddings when not much light is available.
The Bokeh rendering is beautiful and buttery, and provided you don’t over-sharpen your images in Lightroom it will remain smooth and buttery. Often people complain that the bokeh isn’t nice but they’re cranking the sharpening to 70. Put 2 and 2 together there 😉
The lens is super light and the focus motor is very quiet. I can’t really hear it even in a dead silent room. The flaring on this is lovely too, this lens is the king of golden hour!
I’d recommend this as a necessity to anyone looking to shoot portraits. I’ve not tried it on my 7D yet (crop APS-C sensor), but on my full frame 6D it’s just gorgeous!
I was on the fence for very long time. Flip flopping between this one and Canon 50mm 1.4 . Most of the reviews I’ve came across recommended Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens, apparently its crazy sharp .. I have Canon 600D and I do realise this would be more like telephoto on it so I would have equivalent of 136mm. So portraits on cropped sensor are only option outdoors unless you have specious house where you can step back 5 or 6 meters.
Since I have 50mm 1.8 ,on the end I’ve decided to go with 85mm as getting same focal length again does not give me much variety. I’ll spare you all technical details , you can read that elsewhere.
Well, I have one L lens – Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4.0 L USM Lens. Its good, very good. But what Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM produced is simple incredible! Yes I read it sharp but nothing prepared me for the shock once I loaded images first time on the monitor. I know I should not compare but what EF 85mm f/1.8 produces is just amazing compared to EF 50mm f/1.8! Images at any stop on EF 50mm f/1.8are simple blurry compared to EF 85mm f/1.8.
Now I know I will never use EF 50mm f/1.8 and my wife will never “authorise” purchase of full frame after seeing what good old Canon EOS 600D can do with EF 85mm f/1.8 attached to it!!! Anyone considering in future upgrading to full frame should consider the consequence of first using it on canon APS-C format camera.
I’ve yet to use this lens but I’ve heard nothing but good things. I’d needed an 85mm for portraits but couldn’t stretch to the 85L, the extra grand was just too much. This lens feels very well built and looks great, I just need to get a hood for it. Can’t wait to get on and book a job in that requires it’s usage.
I would definitely recommend this 85mm f/1.8!
My lens are:
18-135mm STM
50mm 1.8 “Nifty fifty”
…and now the above 85mm 1.8
I love it!
This lens first came out 21 years ago and is still going strong. When something works well there is no need to change it.
I wanted this for better portrait photos and the ability to shoot in poor light conditions with lower ISO settings. The large 1.8 aperture allows so much more light into the camera that it is able to focus quickly and the ISO settings stay low and I get crisp shots.
The focal distance is 85mm but on crop sensor cameras like mine that means 85mm times 1.6 which is circa 135mm in real life.
This works fine for portrait work and for the family shots which is why I bought it.
The ability of this to shoot in poor light indoors is great and means it can focus quickly for me to get the shot.
The downside of this lens is that it is a prime lens so it does not zoom at all which means you have to move with your feet to get the shot you want. In my house this means I struggle with certain shots as I have to be much further back. This can sometimes help as it keeps you far away form the subject so as to not disturb them such as children.
The lens is made well but it is not a top of the line L series lens so is made with some plastic. It still feels good though and is very pleasing to hold.
I have bought a UV filter for it to protect that glass and a rubber lens hood to help with lens flare and to protect it as well.
I recommend this lens however know what you want to use it for before you buy it and understand the difference between crop and full sensor cameras as well.
Cameras come and go but classic lens don’t. This 21 year old lens is still selling for 240 second had on ebay!
Perfect for head & sholders portraits
Useful for product photography
Can get creative depth of field control
Very sharp
No use for groups of people indoors, you would have to be further back than most rooms allow.
Though I am sure a full frame sensor would help here to some degree.
I’ve got many lenses and this if on of my favourite units.
It’s great for portraits and general use.
Also because of the low F number (1.8) it’s not bad in the low light but you may need a tripod for the best shots.
I would recommend this lens to everyone and the price is good to for what it is.
I just started with SLR and tried to find a lens specifically for taking portrait. I think this one works very well. Not so expensive but good enough for a beginner.
Nice weight, feels very solid.
Great at f1.8, superb at f2.8, flawless at f4.
Razor sharp images with great background blurring, makes the subject stand out dramatically.
Only wish I had bought sooner.
brilliant lens, just love the images i have captured so far.
im not any good at writing these reviews all i can say is its Perfect,,,,,
did take a bit of getting used to 🙂 and you need to be a good distance away but
when you get the hang of not trying to zoom the lens its great 🙂
I have taken some photo with this len and i,am very happy with the results the photos are very good at f 1,8 this lens is good for poriats and is good vaule for the money
I bought this having seen many reviews which rated this lens very highly and I have to say I agree. It’s a really lovely lens which is perfect for portrait shots. I don’t normally take many portrait shots and wanted the lens for outdoors shots as my other lenses don’t quite do what I want them to in poor light. Having got the lens I’m now finding I want to take more portrait shots as it is so good.
Ordered this for my 600D a week or so ago. In my preliminary testing, I found the lens to be very sharp and it also focuses very fast! I would give it 4.5 stars but do not have the option of doing so! Half a star knocked for purple chromatic fringing around high contrast edges when wide open – this is gone if the aperture is stopped down a couple of times. Have had this lens for a few days and below are the impressions. Will add more in a few months time.
+ Fast Focusing
+ Even in dark and with only street and shop lights the focus motor doesn’t hunt for subject too much at all.
+ Very sharp for its price; great bang for buck
+ Very quite focusing motor
+ Focusing motor decoupled from the manual focus ring, so the ring can be used anytime
– Purple Chromatic fringing around high contrast edges at f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.2 (at 1.8 you can see it without zooming in if you know where to look); however its tiny/negligible at f/2.2 and completely gone by f/2.4.
** Update after 6 months **
Lens is just as good as above, but took it out on summer / brightly lit days – chromatic fringing does stay for a few more stops (f/5.6 ish) although its intensity decreases. You can still spot it if you know where to look for it. Otherwise does what it says on the tin!
I bought this for my wife as she asked for it as she was about to go on a portrait workshop & was recommended to her by her photographer tutor.
As its for Xmas & as yet she’s not been on her course I don’t have much I can pass on to help others decide if to purchase or not, but from her just trying it in the house, she loves it so far.
The Delivery company however were a disgrace.
HDNL/YODEL who were supposed to do the next day delivery were an absolute shambles. The delivery ended up taking 2 days and arrived too late for me to use the lens at a wedding shoot. I have to say that I will be reluctant to trust an Amazon next day delivery if they continue to use this dreadfully unreliable company. Amazon were very quick to refund me the delivery costs but that didn’t really help since I needed the lens for a photo shoot and was unable to get to a shop to buy one in time. Love the lens, very very disappointed in the delayed delivery. I like many many other Amazon faithfuls would like to see Yodel replaced by a reliable delivery company.
I had read lots and lots of reviews about various lenses and I felt that the EF 85 f/1,8 was just thhe right choice for me. I have other hobbies and interests and it is a balance act to spend my money :o)) This lens, however, is THE RIGHT CHOICE…!!! It is sharp, fast and has a wonderful boukeh – I recommend this lens BIG TIME !!!!
After using it for almost a week, here are my findings: the built quality is not too bad and it’s very light, the bokeh is simply amazing, the focus is extremely fast, photos are generally sharp even at wide open. However, I did found that it produces some colour fringing under strong sunlight.
I’d recommend this lens to anyone who wants a fast and fairly cheap portrait lens.
When I go out and travel light, I take my 5D, 35mm f/1.4L and this. The two lenses complement each other perfectly. For the price, this lens is worth every penny and more.
I have posted a picture of my daughter at 15 months to show what type of image you can achieve. Whilst this particular image does not show sharpness as I had the speed quite low to catch more of an art shot it still, again in my opinion, provides an idea of the creativity a good lens can offer. (not sure if Amazon will allow it and I will take this text out if they don’t)
I was a bit disappointed at first but I’ve found I use it more & more because overall it simply produces gorgeous images.
Although it is really great, I was prepared for the fact that my sensor is cropped x1.6; it still does takes some practice to take pictures.
By this, I mean that to take a portrait you are comfortably close but indoor if you want a whole person in the frame, you have to be around 6/7m (20/23ft)away from your subject.
I tried it in twilight light and could take pictures at ISO400 f1.8 really easily with no apparent shake on my 400D.
One minor issue with the auto focus: from time to time it struggle to lock on and is chasing a bit, I sorted this issue by using central AF single point auto focussing.
To resume, great indoor lens for portrait, great lens for low light and great lens for outdoor set-up such as wedding or detailed nature.