New 85mm f/1.8 - 1.4 Nikon Coming Soon?

<p>Hi guys,<br>

I'm thinking to purchase the 85mm f/1.8 but I read of some rumors that a new 85mm with VR might come out in the next months. Does any of you know more about it?</p>

<p>Cheers</p>

<p>Has been 'coming soon' for a long time now.........</p>

<p>I also considered waiting for a new 85mm f/1.4 but purchased one a while ago now and have taken plenty of great images with it.</p>

<p>I see little point in adding VR to wide aperture f/1.4 or f/1.8 primes........ defeats the purpose a bit IMHO - just my 20 cents worth.</p>

<p>I believe an 85 mm 3.5 AFS with VR was released earlier this year. Not sure though - my memory's been acting up on me of late.</p>

<p>Nope, it's there alright. </p>

<p>$490 on Amazon:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-85mm-3-5G-Digital-Cameras/dp/B002SQKVE4">http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-85mm-3-5G-Digital-Cameras/dp/B002SQKVE4</a></p>

 

<p>The 85mm f/3.5 new release is a micro Nikkor, not the portrait lens turning the rumour mills</p>

<p>The 85mm/f3.5 AF-S VR was announced last year; it is a macro lens and is also DX: <a href="00UkBQ">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00UkBQ</a></p>

<p>There is also a Sigma 85mm f1.4 announced. That could well be a better lens than the Nikon. We'll have to wait and see.<br>

Kent in SD</p>

<p>If, if if, the f/1.<strong>4</strong> new lens will be a bit more costly than the current 85 f/1.<strong>8</strong>. That's hardly guessing, just look at the current 85 f/1.4, the new 24 f/1.4 and you get an idea what it may cost. So, even if the rumour has any merit (which is debatable too), it will be in a completely different price bracket.</p>

<p>Yeah, their recently released primes have all been priced at the higher end (meant for professionals and doctor types I guess).</p>

<blockquote>

<p>There is also a Sigma 85mm f1.4 announced.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There is. Sigma USA says we can expect retailers to have it mid-September. IMO that's a prediction, not a promise.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /><strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Henry, are they talking about September 2010? :-)</p>

<p>If it exists, there is little reason to wait for it because it ain't going to be cheap. Regard the (I admit, beautiful) 24mm f/1.4 released in the spring. Oy. Over 2 grand. Or the 16-35mm - over 1000. I mean jeez. Also it seems odd that they'd intro a new 85mm 1.4 insofar as it, along with the 70-200/2.8, is their highest ranking lens at various test/rank sites.</p>

<p>You can pretty much forget about VR in an 85mm f1.4 update. The rear elements of an 85mm f1.4 design are huge (both in diameter and thickness) and close to the camera. That makes VR near impossible. The fastest VR lens in the Nikon lineup is the 200mm f2, and that's only possible because it's f2 (rear elements 70% of the diameter, and 34% of the mass of those needed for an f1.4) and 200mm (so the moving parts can be farther from the camera and get a lot more linear movement from a given amount of angular deflection).</p>

<p>So, if there is a new 85mm f1.4, expect the following:</p>

<ul>

<li>AF-S, with focus override. The existing 85mm f1.4 focuses surprisingly fast for a screwdriver lens, but its M/A collar is clumsy to use, and a frequent failure point with the existing lens.</li>

<li>Better longitudinal CA correction: either a recompute or a new design with some ED elements. The current lens suffers from longitudinal CA, bright objects have purple fringes behind the plane of focus, red fringes in front of the plane of focus. Since the direction and amount of fringing vary with where the object is, conventional CA or "purple fringe" correction software won't touch it.</li>

<li>Even better flare and ghosting control, not that the existing 85mm f1.4 isn't very well behaved.</li>

</ul>

<p>As far as the Sigma, the 85mm f1.4 is one of the lenses I frequently manually focus, and Sigmas focus the wrong way (all Canon style, even the Nikon and Pentax mount versions). Scream!</p>

<p>I think I won't wait then and catch the actual version now...</p>

<p>Andrea, I agree completely. I'm always lecturing people about "opportunity costs". Life is too short to wait for the next big thing.</p>

<p>On Aug 13, Thom Hogan reports that Nikon will be announcing a new 85mm f 1.4 AF-S G lens, with nano coating but no VR. See here for details on this lens and other new lenses and new body:<br>

<a href="http://www.bythom.com/">http://www.bythom.com/</a><br>

Joe Smith</p>

<p>Re Joseph Wisniewski - excellent analysis, and you were right on target, the new 85 1.5 Nikon just announced has no VR as you predicted.<br /> Question: does the comment below applies also to DxO? They seem to do correction in a more thorough way.<br /> Your comment about the current 85 mm " ...The current lens suffers from longitudinal CA, bright objects have purple fringes behind the plane of focus, red fringes in front of the plane of focus. Since the direction and amount of fringing vary with where the object is, conventional CA or "purple fringe" correction software won't touch it. .. "</p>