Looking to pick up a fast 85mm for my NEX system. I was focused primarily on the lenses listed in the title. Does anyone have any comparison or experience with these? Anyone used one on a NEX?
Find a second-hand Contax/Yashica 85mm Planar F/1.4
Believe it will give you a 170mm lens on you NEX.
From F/2.0 you will get very good pictures.
F/1.4 can be a little bit soft - however a lot of people prefer that when shooting portraits.
I recommend the Contax Carl Zeiss Planar 85mm f/1.4 C/Y, too.
I have one, and I also have a Canon 85L II, Rokinon (Samyang) 85/1.4, and Leica Summicron-R 90/2. The Planar was my first, and I think it was a great start.
I have the Zeiss Contax 85/1.4 AE and the FD 85/1.2L.
The Canon is a bit optical modified for the use with my EOS 5D.
The Zeiss is a good lens, but the iris of the AE version is bad, because of the zig zag form of the bokeh at some f-numbers. And the quality for near field is not very good - I love to work with extension tubes, and there it sometimes sucks.
The FD is much better at this.
But I love the Zeiss at the moment more - a bit smaller, and I think a bit better focusing mechanism.
I hadn't thought about the Rokinon, but that may be a good option if it is in the ballpark optically. I already have an eos adapter for my Rokinon fisheye.... could pick up something else with the considerable savings...
ZoneV wrote:
...The Zeiss is a good lens, but the iris of the AE version is bad, because of the zig zag form of the bokeh at some f-numbers.
Good point. The AE version has "Ninja star" bokeh highlights at slightly closed down apertures. Look for the MM version, which has green numerals on the "16" aperture label, instead of the white labeled 16 on the earlier AE version.
In my experience the Rokinon/Samyang is better at wider apertures than the C/Y 85/1.4, but the Zeiss is better from f/2.8-f/5.6 (though the Rokinon is not bad here either). Overall, I prefer the rendering from the Rokinon. I've owned two C/Ys, an AE and an MM, and both were essentially identical except for the ninja star bokeh on the AE at f/2-f/2.8.
Thanks all. I just picked up a Rokinon. I may still try the others though. I seriously covet the L (just as I do its EOS cousins). But the Rokinon should do what I need for now and I saved enough cash to pick up a few FD mount toys to go along with it.
I would not recommend Samyang.
I own the 14/2.8 and read much about the other versions.
The 85/1.4 has sometimes a stuck iris. Now the people that sell this lens used sometimes even write "no stuck iris" or "iris stuck only one time, but since then ok". Furthermore on this lens the bokeh is not at every lens ok. It is a aspherical lens, but has not the onion rings like most better aspherical lenses. Sometimes it is wooly structure - I think mostly to see with colored artifical light. I think because of the hybrid aspherical lens.
The bokeh is another thing the Zeiss has better than Canon FD L for me - I donīt like onion rings. This is a reason why I like the Rokkor 58/1.2 that much.
Too late. I alread ordered the Rokinon (though used and from a place I can return it). If I understand you correctly, you are saying that the bokeh is not good because it does not have "onion rings" like some expensive fast aperature lenses. As I strongly dislike onion ring bokeh, that seems sehr gut to me. If it does have that issue, I'll return it. Onion rings are a problem not a feature I desire.
Hmmm. In my experience. and this is shared by many other Alt-minded folks in posts when the Rokinon 85/1.4 was new kid on the block, the Rokinon is bokeh king. It's not quite as sharp as the Planar (and 'Cron) at smaller apertures, as mentioned by Jordan, and it doesn't have the Zeiss microcontrast (whatrever that is), but wide-open, the Rokinon consistently renders usually-nasty backgrounds as smooth and dreamy. Hence, "bokeh king".
P.S. I own both the Samyang 14/2.8 and Rokinon 85/1.4. The Samyang 14mm is fantastic. The Rokinon 85/1.4 is bokeh king. My other 80mm to 105mm lenses are all good; each has it's own place.
Canon FD 85L was one of the first lenses I ever bought. This was about a year ago. Since then I have become a huge Zeiss fan, and I've sold almost all my non-Zeiss glass, but the 85L is one lens I don't intend to sell. I like it so much, I see no reason to replace it with the CY 85 1.4.
I had the ZF85 for a few weeks, but I decided the Canon was a better lens for me, and I sold the ZF.
GC5 wrote:
..
If I understand you correctly, you are saying that the bokeh is not good because it does not have "onion rings" like some expensive fast aperature lenses. As I strongly dislike onion ring bokeh, that seems sehr gut to me. If it does have that issue, I'll return it. Onion rings are a problem not a feature I desire.
Sorry for my bad English:
I donīt like onion rings too. Because this I like the Zeiss Contax 85/1.4 (and the Minolta Rokkor 58/1.2) because they donīt have aspherical lenses, and so no onion rings or worse things.
I think it is not visible under most conditions. And it looks like most lenses are ok with normal onion ring bokeh, but some of the Samyang 85/1.4 seem to have this wooly bokeh.
but the fd 85L is sharp!