Nikon 85mm 1.4D or Sigma 85mm 1.4

<p>These lesnes are roughly the same price. The Nikon is older and was replaced by the G. The Sigma is newer. I hear the Nikon is very slow with AF. I hear the Sigma is super with AF. Money is not the issue seeing that they both are almost the same price. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Which camera(s) will you be using it on, and are your interests mostly around using such a lens wide open (or nearly so)? And, on what sort of subject matter? Different fast primes have different pros and cons in those regards.</p>

<p>Well Im a wedding photographer ( about 30 a year) and I would use it mostly at no higher then 2.8. I love to shoot wide open. I also shoot nikon d700</p>

<p>Mike, for a long time 85/1.4D was the 1st lens in my bag. I had a hate-love relationship with it. When it does it does... so gives perfect results... but... I found my copy to be quite inconsistent in AF... and also it is noisy. I am shooting events mostly in available light and sometimes in conferences, Churches, etc, I draw the attention of the people just when focusing... I hate this "feature". I tried 85/1.4 G and it seems that I've got a bad copy... It was not sharp wide open and the AF was slow, I mean SLOW. I sent it back to the store and I tried Sigma 85/1.4. It is bulkier but has a much better finish than older Sigma glass, it's fast and precise in AF, has a creamy bokeh and is silent... So for me this this is the winner.</p>

The Sigma looks pretty good right here: http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1331/cat/30

Mike are you referring to the "creamer" i have it , beautiful lens and ive had good luck with mine.

However, do you own the nikon 24-70mm or the 70-200mm ? i found them more useful for weddings.

<p>I sold my AF-D and fully intended to drop the money on the AF-S but chose the Sigma over it. Initially I have VERY sceptial this lens would actually match nikon's G but tests on lenstip and slrgear as well as a lot of wedding pros convinced me.<br>

Against the AF-D the sigma handily blows in away in every area and equallys it in the bokeh terms. The D version is a 13 year old design that suffers badly from flare, is unusable for anything that moves and the corners wide open are very poor.</p>

<p>Mike S - </p>

<p>You face a very tough decision...one very similar to the one I faced back in January.</p>

<p>See this thread:<br>

<a href="00Y5UZ">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00Y5UZ</a></p>

<p>I will tell you that when it came right down to it I liked the "look" of the photos I produced from the Nikon "D" There's just something that this lens does very well and I can't put my finger on it.</p>

<p>As for AF...well, for me it's a portrait lens...I'd rather have precise AF rather than fast AF and this lens is spot on when shooting wide open, (yes it produces flare when shooting in less than ideal light when wide open, but every lens has its downfalls). Yes, the lens is soft in he corners, but I prefer that for portraits since I want to draw the focus to my subject.</p>

<p>As for not good for moving subjects...well, see the next shot and you'll see that it's fine for anything slower than professional, (maybe college), sports.</p>

<p>RS</p><div></div>

<p>Before you buy either lens, why not rent it or them and try them out? And if manual focus is an option, Zeiss has a few lenses you might want to look at too.<br>

<a href="http://www.borrowlenses.com/AdvancedSearch.do">http://www.borrowlenses.com/AdvancedSearch.do</a><br>

Joe Smith</p>

<p>Mike,<br>

The Nikon 85 AF-D focus pretty fast on a D700. But it does have a loud sound from AF. This does not always happen. But it does happen. <br>

To what I read, the 85 AFS, 85 AFD, and the Sigma all have pretty good blurry background. I had a 85 AFD for some years. But if I buy now, I'd get a Sigma for its fine boken and definitely better AF.<br>

Eric</p>

<p>Save yourself a heap of cash and get the 1.8D instead especially since you say you're not likely to lose it wide open. Lovely lens.</p>

<p>The 1.8D's OoF backgrounds don't look anything like those of the 1.4's in question. Big difference, there.</p>