It's so nice to see actual photos from photographers rather than the early samples from hands on by many reviewers that are more tech-minded than photography minded. The sample images I saw before release looked fine in most cases, but not great. Put it in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, such as here, and suddenly the lens looks a lot better. Mine should be here within the hour, so I hope I can contribute something useful soon.
I sold all my Nikon 85s and going by memory is always bad. I can tell u that I was pleasantly surprised by the speed. It was keeping up with my wife and child running and playing on my a7r2 in continuous af which I could never achieve with 85gm for sure. Sharpness wide open is amazing and it easily resolves 42mp. Size of the lens and especially weight is very pleasant. The hood is not huge so I removed the front cap and Justi left the hood on. It is one of these lenses that due to its combination of light weight and performance, you want to keep on your camera. The only other lens in Sony lineup which I can say the same about is 55fe
crashwins wrote:
How's the AF speed? Is it up to snuff to the Nikon 85G you mentioned
Are you going to do some interesting comparisons? One could be done between this lens and the lens both you and me have Fuji 56/1.2 as the field of view should be the same.
Another curious thing is I read and saw examples from several previewers shooting side by side Sony 85 1.8fe with baits 85 and Sony 85gm. In each case at portrait distances, Sony 85 1.8fe appears clearly longer than the other two lenses. Does it mean that Sony 85 1.8 is longer than 85 or, actually, batis and gm are shorter than 85? Is there a technical way to accurately measure lens' focal length or all these things are kind of approximate to begin with?
Jman13 wrote:
It's so nice to see actual photos from photographers rather than the early samples from hands on by many reviewers that are more tech-minded than photography minded. The sample images I saw before release looked fine in most cases, but not great. Put it in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, such as here, and suddenly the lens looks a lot better. Mine should be here within the hour, so I hope I can contribute something useful soon.
Good to hear about the speed as I had to sell my GM 85 for lack of it. I'll be getting one soon here. I bought a whole bunch of stuff this week and my wife is on my case. Lol
absolutic wrote:
I sold all my Nikon 85s and going by memory is always bad. I can tell u that I was pleasantly surprised by the speed. It was keeping up with my wife and child running and playing on my a7r2 in continuous af which I could never achieve with 85gm for sure. Sharpness wide open is amazing and it easily resolves 42mp. Size of the lens and especially weight is very pleasant. The hood is not huge so I removed the front cap and Justi left the hood on. It is one of these lenses that due to its combination of light weight and performance, you want to keep on your camera. The only other lens in Sony lineup which I can say the same about is 55fe
So, mine just arrived. I can confirm what others have said before: while set to smaller apertures, it'll focus stopped down on the A7II (though not fully), unlike on the A7R II where it'll focus wide open. I did notice that it appears, when set to f/8 or f/10 or the like, that it'll open up and focus at around f/5.6. We'll see how accuracy is affected, but it didn't seem to pose problems when focusing in low light. The big reason I got this lens is because of AF, so I hope it works well. Until now I have been using a Canon 100/2 (which I really like) on a Metabones adapter. It focuses quickly and very accurately in reasonable light, but its ability to lock in a reasonable time frame in dim light isn't there. So far, it looks like the FE 85 is notably better in that area, from a quick head to head I just did in a dark storeroom.
Images to follow later today. I will also say, it's a fairly light lens, and while it's plastic, it feels very well built to me. Absolutely no creaks or flex at all. I wish the focus ring were a little more damped, but it's not bad.
Mine should arrive some time today which is good since I'm traveling tomorrow overseas. I just wish it would arrive earlier than the stated 'by 8pm' today!
GMPhotography wrote:
Good to hear about the speed as I had to sell my GM 85 for lack of it. I'll be getting one soon here. I bought a whole bunch of stuff this week and my wife is on my case. Lol
Two quick shots...certainly nothing special. It's pouring right now, so no chance to go out and shoot, but I grabbed an umbrella for a quick shot of the blossoms outside my office, and a quick shot of one of the people in my office, and have taken a whopping 18 images with it just around my office. So far it looks pretty darn good. It's quite sharp at f/1.8, even towards the edges. Bokeh isn't anything amazing, but looks pretty neutral in the few shots I've taken so far. Note that some of the vignetting you see towards the edges was added in post (though there is some naturally at f/1.8, and even some left near f/4)
Jman13 wrote:
It's so nice to see actual photos from photographers rather than the early samples from hands on by many reviewers that are more tech-minded than photography minded. The sample images I saw before release looked fine in most cases, but not great. Put it in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, such as here, and suddenly the lens looks a lot better. Mine should be here within the hour, so I hope I can contribute something useful soon.
I feel almost offended by that statement
I just took the lens to spain and captured a few more images on a business trip. I still like the lens, especially the size and the sharpness.
I'll update the review as soon as I find some time.
Jannik Peters wrote:
I feel almost offended by that statement
I just took the lens to spain and captured a few more images on a business trip. I still like the lens, especially the size and the sharpness.
I'll update the review as soon as I find some time.
I wasn't referring to your review, but a few others I've seen with just sample images. DPReview's gallery has several images where the focus point appears to be off, some over on their forums have posted samples where they just aren't good images. Ephotozine's review has a few decent shots and a lot of mediocre ones.
I actually had missed your rolling review in this thread, but just now searched for it, and you have some lovely shots with it...especially the flower shot at the beginning, and several others further down (the cat image shows lovely rendering, and the flower images are taken low and show good impressions on the foreground and background.
Jman13 wrote:
So, mine just arrived. I can confirm what others have said before: while set to smaller apertures, it'll focus stopped down on the A7II (though not fully), unlike on the A7R II where it'll focus wide open. I did notice that it appears, when set to f/8 or f/10 or the like, that it'll open up and focus at around f/5.6.
Excuse me for going off topic, but is this not always the case then? I ask this because my A7II does this with all my native lenses....(Sony 2/28, 1.8/55 and Batis 85).
Mark_EL wrote:
Excuse me for going off topic, but is this not always the case then? I ask this because my A7II does this with all my native lenses....(Sony 2/28, 1.8/55 and Batis 85).
It is for the most part. And most of the time, it isn't an issue, but especially on the 85 GM, I found it to cause problems at smaller apertures, as did a lot of other people. It can make sense a bit if a lens has a lot of focus shift when stopping down, but for the most part, it's a lot better to focus wide open, and on some lenses, Sony's starting to realize that, as they have with this lens....but only on the A7R II...on the A7 II it does the same thing as other lenses.
elicious wrote:
For those that have the Batis85, can you please post your impressions on performance/image differences between it and the Sony 85/1.8?
I have a Batis, had the Sony85/1.8 in my shopping cart last night, but decided against pulling the trigger.
The Batis is very nice indeed but another $300+ in my pocket (along with 100g less weight hanging from the front of my camera) with no downside would be nicer
I have the Batis, and I will receive the FE 85 today (for a friend-- not my purchase). I'll have a chance to shoot the two side-by-side over the coming day, days, weeks. Don't expect a scientific test, since I'm going to handhold and just use-- but I will be evaluating with the intent of considering selling the Batis.
That said, I am currently doubtful-- unless I decide I want to squeeze that extra funding somewhere else (like if we ever get that mythical Batis or Zony 35mm f/2)-- I'll sell the Batis for the FE.
What stands out most of all to me in the samples of the FE is pretty strong green/purple fringing-- particularly in the OOF regions. The Batis is extremely well corrected for this. And while CA and fringing can be cleaned up quickly and effectively in post-- it's a nuisance AND cleaning it up leaves its own issues (it still has a deleterious impact on IQ).
