To 85 1.4 or Not, That is my question!

[joseph_brown7]

<p>I have been drooling over the new 85 that sigma is releasing (or the nikkor for that matter) lately but I am having problems justifying buying it. My plan is to use the 85 when I have control over where I am in relation to my subjects during the ceremony, For portraits obviously, available light and as a short tele for receptions. My problem is that I already have a 70-200 which I love and will never get rid of. I want to hear from others who use both, Do you get alot of use out of it? How and when are you using it? And finally, do you see a big enough difference in you portraits to switch from the 70-200 during a session? FWIW If I bought the lens I would shoot it Wide open or close to it all the time. BTW cameras are d300 and d700. Thanks!</p>

[neilambrose]

<p>I like the focal length. But not the Sigma lens. If you want to see a great 85 1.4 that will make you leave your 70-200 in your bag, go for the Nikkor 85 1.4 D, or even better the Zeiss version if you can handle manual focus. The Zeiss is fantastic optically but tricky for accurate focus if you can't take your time. The Nikkor is the best 85 1.4 with AF in my opinion.</p>

<p>I shoot mine on a D700. I also have the 70-200 VR, and the 85 is far better for portraits. It's got lots of pop wide open, but lacks micro-contrast. At f2.8 it's excellent, probably the best portrait lens I've used on a Nikon.</p>

[johnvphoto]

<p>I was a Wedding Photographer for over 25 years. In all that time I used Contax Cameras and Zeiss 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.4. That is a typical Wedding set-up in my experience. In all that time I didn't need another lens.<br>

Mind you, I've always been a member of the " if you need wider, take a step back, if you need to be more telephoto, take a step forward" school of thought.<br>

J.</p>

[joseph_brown7]

<p>Neil - Thanks, I like the Nikkor version as well. I may get that as I found one used for 750 dollars. Have you tried the sigma? I was not aware that it had been released yet.</p>

[bill_clark___minnetonka_mi]

<p>I have the 85 f1.4 Zeiss lens and use it for portraits. It's available for Canon or Nikon. <br>

My primary lens at a wedding is the 24-70 f2.8 lens. </p>

[greg jansen]

<p>I use my Nikkor 85mm 1.4 a lot. I use it on one body, with a 28mm 1.4 on the other body.<br>

The 85mm 1.4 Nikkor is heavy, big, and expensive. <br>

You may want to try the NIkkor 85mm 1.8. It is about 1/3 the size, price, and weight. The focus is not as quick, but you are getting about 98% of what you get with the 1.4. It's a great portrait lens. Couple that with a 35mm f2, and you have a nice range, light weight and quality prime set for not too much money.</p>

[samuel_lipoff]

<p>

 

<p>I use the combination of the Nikkor 28mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4 AF-D lenses as well. I don't like the 85mm f/1.8 nearly as much (mostly due to its bokeh) although I find the autofocus speed actually a bit faster than the 85/1.4. The 85/1.4 Ai-S lens is no match, quality wise, for the current AF-D version. Finally, while I think there are some excellent Zeiss ZF lenses, their 85/1.4 isn't one of them. I haven't tried the Sigma lens.</p>

<p>As for whether you would use it a lot, that's hard to say. I might start by analyzing some of your recent weddings with ExposurePlot (<a href="http://www.cpr.demon.nl/prog_plotf.html">http://www.cpr.demon.nl/prog_plotf.html</a>) and see whether you currently take many photos around an 85mm focal length. Then I might look to see whether you are often taking photos around 70-100mm at full aperture or often stopped down to f/8. If you take a lot of images in this range and often are near full aperture, I think you'd benefit a lot from the 85/1.4. Otherwise, probably not so much.</p>

<p>I like the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-D lens much more than the 70-200/VR I (I haven't tried the VR II), but only you can say whether you'd take the time to swap lenses and have a convenient bag in which to carry the 70-200.</p>

<p>You also might want to rent one for a day and give it a try at a wedding and see whether it comes out of your bag!</p>

 

</p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>D700 with an 85/1.4 Nikkor. Faster than the Canon versions but not quite the same creamy look.</p>

<p>I use my copy at every wedding.</p>

[mark liddell]

I like the 85 1.4 but wish it was sharper wide open, the corners don't get sharp until f/4 which as it's a portrait length isn't s show stopper but the 70-200 is well ahead in the sharpness stakes.

[parv]

Mark L, is your 85 mm lens from Nikon?

[mark liddell]

Parv, yes it's the nikon f/1.4.

[fotografz]

<p>85/1.4 is the go to portrait lens for many wedding photographers. It's useful for full length outdoor portraits where the background isn't ideal ... and 1/4 effectively blurs out the ugliness. It is also very useful in the church where most officiants won't allow flash during the ceremony. I also use a 85/1.4 plus a wide zoom for a majority of the first dance shots. Again, f/1.4 not only helps open up the background in dark situations when using flash to freeze dance action, it blurs the background distractions and pops the subject off that background.</p>

<p>I liked the Nikon 85/1.4 very much when I shot D700/D3X ... but the best 85/1.4 I've used to date is the Autofocus Zeiss N 85/1.4 on a Contax camera ... now replaced by a Autofocus Zeiss ZA 85/1.4 on a A900. The Zeiss ZF 85/1.4 manual focus is really difficult to focus @ f/1.4 & f/2 on a Nikon digital camera even with a Brightscreen split-microprism screen installed. Action is almost impossible without stopping down.</p>

<p>Given the choice of a faster aperture in any focal length I go for it ... you can always stop down from f/1.4 but you can't open up a slower lens : -) Besides the viewfinder is brighter with fast aperture lenses.</p>