Jump to content

Canon 85mm


mike_wilde

Recommended Posts

May I apologise if this question has been asked before: I'm after a portrait lens for my F1N AE, I already own the following Canon lenses:28mm 2.8, 35mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 50mm 1.8, 135mm 3.5 and 300mm 5.6. I'm looking for a Canon 85mm, and would welcome views/reviews etc on Canon 85mm lenses and/or any other recomendations for portrait lenses.

 

<p>

 

best wishes Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The two lenses you might want to look at are the 85mm f1.8 and the 100

f2.0.

 

<p>

 

Both are a good length for portraiture, and both are fairly fast to

blur the background.

 

<p>

 

Canon also made the 85 f1.2 L lens, which is an amazing lens, and so

is the price. :) I have heard of some problems with T90s and getting

the focus exactly right though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a review at http://www.kjsl.com/canon-

fd/lenses/reviews/short-tele.html

 

<p>

 

I have this lens in the new FD mount and have used it for the odd bit

of portrait work. In general I agree with the assessment above.

Canon indicates in one of their brochures that the lens is a bit soft

wide open. I find this gives a slight pleasant glow - very much like

a softening filter. From f4 on it's as crisp as any other Canon

lens. The background is thrown out of focus quite nicely below f4

(good bokeh) which a slower lens will not do quite as well.

 

<p>

 

One problem I have with this lens is that it doesn't focus quite as

close as I would like. For my style, I run out of helicoid at 0.85

m, just as the image is getting interesting. If you think this may

be a problem, perhaps the 100 macro or one of the aftermarket macro

lenses may be a better choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would have to second the view about the Tamron SP 90/2.5 (I have

used it on an A1 -I recently added a T90 bought 2nd hand while in

Japan)- the Tamron has real "snap" in terms of its focussing as only

such a large aperture can give you - but more importantly it is a

macro lens down to 1:2 (you do need an extension tube to go 1:1

however)- as the casual shooter of flowers etc. as I am it is great -

when you get that close the possibilities of differential focus

effects really open up another world (as well as the portraiture you

seem to mainly want it for. Its the only non Canon lens I have and I

bought it about 15 years ago when I saw a review that compared the

Tamron and the Canon 100 macro (at twice the price) and I recall that

the Tamron saw it off in that review- so its a good value quality

lens, and at the right price iamsure you will get a lot of enjoyment

out of what is a real double purpose lens. Get up close to flowers

etc and you will wonder how you did without a macro lens! (and I'm not

even a botanist or anything)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...