Hello members:
I was ready to pull the trigger and purchase the Canon 85 mm F1.8 after reading reviews and feedback from this forum's awesome members. Then, I found out about the Rokinon 85 mm F1.4 lens. I read the stellar reviews on the web and I can buy a new one for $ 265 shipped. Even though the lens is manual, owners have stated the Bokeh is fantastic, super sharp wide open and very good contrast. Anyone has both lenses and thoughts are much appreciated. Thanks again !
I think the Rokinon 85/1.4 has the best bokeh against "challenging" backgrounds of all 80mm to 90mm lenses that I've owned. Here's some example photos,
OTOH, in many situations autofocus can be pretty useful. Also, many of the 80mm to 90mm lenses compared in the above links are sharper than the Rok at similar apertures. Of course, that's often not relevant for portraits.
I currently use the Canon 85/1.8 and 85/1.2L II, as well as the Leica-R 90/2.8 (wickedly sharp with the Leica look), SMC Pentax 85/2.2 Soft (unique), and a few other Alt lenses in the same range of focal lengths, but they're not 'portrait' lenses. Most of my 'portrait' photos are taken with the 70-200/2.8L IS II.
Long story short, why not buy the Rokinon now? Then you can decide if it works for you, or not. You can't go far wrong, as you can resell it for about $200.
Also, bear in mind that with the Rokinon you'll probably be using stopped-down metering ( setting shooting aperture manually on the lens first ) unless you're good at juggling EVs and DoFs in your head.
Not that it's a bad thing, after all that's how all Canon lenses operated before the FD-mount. But it does require a different technique and the dark viewfinder image can make focusing difficult.
I've had both, kept the Canon and sold the Rokinon. The Rokinon is a very nice lens, but I sold it mostly because I didn't use it much due to it's longer minimum focus distance and manual focus took longer and difficult to get on at 1.4 unless using live view to focus. mine also had color fringing-I think slightly more than the Canon exhibits. I think I only got like $175 on the used board, so you could keep your eye open for one on there if you want to try one out. I didn't see an appreciable difference in sharpness and bokeh between my canon and rokinon copies, but I have a real sharp copy of the canon.
If you ever decide to shoot MOVING things I'd go with the 8.5 1.8. It's a favorite stopped down the F/2.2 for indoor basketball. Light, quick to focus, and plenty sharp about 1/2 stop from wide open.
The manual focus is not really the big deal, but the lack of any exposure coupling or auto aperture will be a complete pain, unless you only shoot at f1.4-2.8 or thereabouts. These lenses work better for Nikon owners as they have an auto diaphragm in the Nikon mount I believe, but with Canon you not only will have to manually focus but also stop the lens down to the working aperture before you take the shot. I'd take the Canon 85 f1.8 anytime - it's a proven performer.
