Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Reviews : Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
Product By Canon
Lowest Price : $379.95
Available From 21 Sellers
 

Technical Details

  • 85mm standard lens with f/1.8 maximum aperture for Canon SLR cameras
  • Ring-type ultra-sonic monitor (USM) brings subject quickly into focus
  • Natural angle of view and perspective is ideal for portraits and natural images
  • Designed to produce beautiful background blur; weighs 15 ounces
  • Measures 3 inches in diameter and 2.8 inches long; 1-year warranty

 

Product Description

This lens is a highly practical medium telephoto lens with superb delineation and portability. Images are sharp and clear at all apertures. Through computer simulations, the lens has been designed to give beautiful background blur. Since the front lens group does not rotate during focusing special filter effects are not affected.

Amazon.com Product Description

A highly practical medium telephoto lens with superb delineation and portability, the Canon EF 85mm lens produces sharp and clear images at all apertures. Through computer simulations, the lens has been designed to give beautiful background blur, thereby bringing your subject into crisp view. The ring-type ultra-sonic monitor (USM) and fast f/1.8 aperture, meanwhile, helps the subject zip into focus in the viewfinder. And because the front lens group does not rotate during focusing, special filter effects are not affected. Best of all, the standard zoom lens--with its natural angle of view and perspective--captures the subject plainly, making it excellent for portraits and images that require a natural depth of field. As with all Canon lenses, the lens carries a one-year warranty.

  • Focal length: 85mm
  • Maximum aperture: 1:1.8
  • Lens construction: 9 elements in 7 groups
  • Diagonal angle of view: 28 degrees (at 30 feet)
  • Focus adjustment: Rear focusing system with USM
  • Closest focusing distance: 2.8 feet
  • Filter size: 58mm
  • Dimensions: 3 inches in diameter, 2.8 inches long
  • Weight: 15 ounces

 

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Customer Reviews

 "Only drawback: purple fringing" 2009-12-20
By Scott W. Larson (Portland, OR)
I've been using this lens to shoot basketball games on dim courts for several years. It's next to my 135mm f2, 300mm f2.8, and 70-200mm f2.8. It is not an L lens but what does that mean? Well, the 85mm f1.8 will get you chromatic aberration (also known as purple fringing) in certain conditions. These conditions fortunately are limited to the f1.8-f2.8 range when you have a bright light source behind a darker subject. Once you get to f2.8, the fringe is almost gone and even at f1.8 it's not likely to ruin your shot. Luckily almost every point and shoot digital camera suffers from much worse purple fringing so there are lots of actions in Photoshop to clear it up if you must remove it.



Besides that, it's just as good as any of my expensive L lenses. Wide open is just a little soft but f2.0 is just as sharp as the much more expensive 135mm at f2.0. Autofocus is as fast as any of these lenses except for the 300mm f2.8 which has a huge USM motor and the extra two stops of light are a big help in dim arenas. If you're shooting on a small court, shooting at f2.0 will do a great job of blurring the background making your players look like they were playing on a much larger court.



Some photographers are gobsmacked that I would dare to shoot sports with a lens that doesn't have Canon's elegant red ring (denoting an expensive L lens) when I have "superior" lenses like the 70-200mm f2.8. I guess that's because they can't deal with a lens that has some color fringing. I can tell you that the 85mm f1.8 will focus faster than any f2.8 lens I have in dim conditions (including the 300mm f2.8).

 "Five stars is not enough" 2009-11-24
By Gary Cumberland (California - London)
Five stars does not do this lense justice. I recently read all the reviews available on this and other sites they all proclaimed this lense as a fantastic buy, its better than that. This lense is a steal at the price, equivilent quality costs over $1000 usually, for portraits its the only lense to have at the price, if there is something better on the market in the price range I havn't seen it. The sharpness and clairity even in near darkness was way better than I was expecting and in comparison to my L lenses this is on a par. This is such a good deal I may get another just in case I lose the first one. If you buy no other lense, get this one.

 "The best lens I have ever used... better than "L" Zooms." 2009-11-22
By Armeen Mazda (Tiburon, CA United States)
This takes the absolute best pictures of all the lenses I have. I have bought consumer grade primes and "L" zooms. I wish canon's other consumer grade primes were as good as this since 85mm focal length on crop factor DSLR is good for only limited situations.

 "wow!" 2009-11-11
By Brian Caswell
I really dont know what else to say but wow this is a MUST HAVE!!! I have had nothing but awesome shots from this lens

 "A Hidden Gem by Canon" 2009-11-11
By Electric Boogaloo (Norman, OK USA)
This lens not being an "L" series lens doesn't get the attention it deserves and is an excellent value for the price. I've had it for over a year now with regular use and not had any problems.



Using the EF 85 f/1.8 on a full frame camera, like 5D and 5DMkII, for portraits or photos of children, you get excellent results using ambient light. It is exceptionally sharp and comes very close to the 85 f/1.2L lens in image quality from f/1.8 and above, but is lighter and at less than 1/4th the price. If you can't decide between this and the 85 f/1.2, then get this lens first as it will quench your thirst and then see if you can utilize your skills for a very thin DoF from f/1.2-f/1.8.



The auto-focus is one the fastest in the Canon EF lens lineup and is quiet for not being an L. The manual-focus ring is also quite smooth. It is well built and is very easy to travel with on any camera body. I would rank its performance over the Nikkor 85 f/1.4 in terms of auto-focus speed. Since this lens isn't an "L", it doesn't come with a lens hood or case, but is made in Japan.



Some people have complained about the chromatic aberration (purple fringing), but in-camera or auto correction in Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture can easily fix this. Even without it, its really not severe. Don't pass up on this lens if you're looking for top notch primes!


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