There's a Black Friday deal on European Amazon right now for Sony 85mm 1.8
I wonder if Sony will update the 85mm 1.8 soon.
I really want to buy the lens, especially when it's so cheap. I just keep reading about busy bokeh, yet some/many photographers love the lens! It seems opinions are mixed.
Are you guys still using the FE85 in 2024?
I'd love if you could post some samples. I've seen all the sample photos from the reviews, but those photos are boring
It depends on how you are using it really. It will never give the character of the 85GM, but it's a competent solid lens. I used it extensively in studio, but often at 5.6 or f8.
It is also nice an light and easy to tote. If this is your first 85mm, and it's going cheap, it's a no brainer for me. If you plan on shooting at 1.8 or f2, you might want to think towards the GM.
scottiet wrote:
It depends on how you are using it really. It will never give the character of the 85GM, but it's a competent solid lens. I used it extensively in studio, but often at 5.6 or f8.
It is also nice an light and easy to tote. If this is your first 85mm, and it's going cheap, it's a no brainer for me. If you plan on shooting at 1.8 or f2, you might want to think towards the GM.
I will be using it at 1.8 and 2 most of the time. I sense something in your question Is it not sharp wide open?
Mzrk wrote:
There's a Black Friday deal on European Amazon right now for Sony 85mm 1.8
I wonder if Sony will update the 85mm 1.8 soon.
I really want to buy the lens, especially when it's so cheap. I just keep reading about busy bokeh, yet some/many photographers love the lens! It seems opinions are mixed.
Are you guys still using the FE85 in 2024?
I'd love if you could post some samples. I've seen all the sample photos from the reviews, but those photos are boring
GMii achieves 80 lp/mm centre at f/2 and achieves peak sharpness of 86 lp/mm at f/2.8
The performance gap is pretty massive in this case.
The context on this point is that the 1.8's performance numbers are already quite good.
The GM2 is even better. For a far far higher price. But the 1.8 may be comfortably above the "good enough" level for many. We're not talking about a bad lens by any stretch at all. It's a genuinely, honestly good portrait lens.
It has its place, given budget and size considerations, and it does what it does fairly well.
It's also an 85 with very good autofocus. Not so many of the 85s in the E-mount market can boast that (even if the very expensive newest Sony GM model, at last, can)
I have no stake in this - I own a Batis 85! Which has slightly better backlight/glare performance than the Sony 1.8, and stabilisation that you probably don't need nowadays on IBIS bodies, and maybe subjectively nicer colour character. And autofocus that is good, but not quite as good as the Sony 1.8. And it's not as cheap as the Sony 1.8. But otherwise the differences aren't vast. Various lenses have their own place in the market, and they generally still "make sense in 2025".
Perhaps the biggest competitor to that Amazon Black Friday deal on the Sony 1.8, whatever it may be exactly... is the price you can buy the lens for used. It's been out for years so there is a lot of choice available. Its very age and resulting value for money is a big part of what gives it its niche in the lineup of choices. You can even buy it used, try it, and then resell it used, making experimenting with it, to find out for yourself if you like it, very inexpensive.
I find AF pretty unreliable with the FE 1.8/85. I tried using it for motorsports and found it couldn't track mostly parallel motion--not the hard case of motion towards or from. When I first got it I found the focusing slower than the adapted Canon EF 85mm F1.8 USM I was using. Objectively it is about the worst rendering 85mm when I've compared it with others back-to-back. Some of that is because it is not as long as other "85mm" lenses. That may help it be more compact. It might still be a good enough budget option, just beware the hype.
QuietOC wrote:
I find AF pretty unreliable with the FE 1.8/85. It is about the worst rendering 85mm. It might still be a good enough option.
Oh! My mistake, then. I must defer to you on that, you have more experience with the lens than I do. Unreliable AF is a deal-killer and that changes my view of the lens considerably. I had always understood that the AF of the Sony 85 was like the Batis 85's, but even faster, and that its excellent speed made it a strong option (far better for autofocus-heavy applications than, for example, the original 85 GM). I haven't ever had any trouble with the Batis 85's AF trustworthiness, so I extrapolated from that. I apologise for the mistake.
(I was hesitant in writing the above post's "but it's good enough" argumentation, because you sometimes see such arguments made where... really... something is not good enough. Autofocus being one. If I had a dollar for every time a Fuji GFX advocate claims that their camera bodies' AF is good enough, for example, I'd be able to afford to buy one and then complain that actually I don't think it is xD )
GHarris wrote:
Oh! My mistake, then. I must defer to you on that, you have more experience with the lens than I do. Unreliable AF is a deal-killer and that changes my view of the lens considerably. I had always understood that the AF of the Sony 85 was like the Batis 85's, but even faster, and that its excellent speed made it a strong option (far better for autofocus-heavy applications than, for example, the original 85 GM). I haven't ever had any trouble with the Batis 85's AF trustworthiness, so I extrapolated from that. I apologise for the mistake.
(I was hesitant in writing the above post's "but it's good enough" argumentation, because you sometimes see such arguments made where... really... something is not good enough. Autofocus being one. If I had a dollar for every time a Fuji GFX advocate claims that their camera bodies' AF is good enough, for example, I'd be able to afford to buy one and then complain that actually I don't think it is xD )...Show more →
Nah, I had FE85/1.8 and AF was one of the best I used on A7III...
Samyang 85 1.4II would be a step up in image quality, but I'm not so sure about AF. Stepper motors scare me
I know it's only photographers who pixel peep and stare at a photo and look for CA, busy bokeh etc.
I see the less than optimal bokeh, but I wonder if my opinion will change if I buy it. Sometimes you just grow to love a lens.
GHarris wrote:
The context on this point is that the 1.8's performance numbers are already quite good.
The GM2 is even better. For a far far higher price. But the 1.8 may be comfortably above the "good enough" level for many. We're not talking about a bad lens by any stretch at all. It's a genuinely, honestly good portrait lens.
It has its place, given budget and size considerations, and it does what it does fairly well.
It's also an 85 with very good autofocus. Not so many of the 85s in the E-mount market can boast that (even if the very expensive newest Sony GM model, at last, can)
I have no stake in this - I own a Batis 85! Which has slightly better backlight/glare performance than the Sony 1.8, and stabilisation that you probably don't need nowadays on IBIS bodies, and maybe subjectively nicer colour character. And autofocus that is good, but not quite as good as the Sony 1.8. And it's not as cheap as the Sony 1.8. But otherwise the differences aren't vast. Various lenses have their own place in the market, and they generally still "make sense in 2025".
Perhaps the biggest competitor to that Amazon Black Friday deal on the Sony 1.8, whatever it may be exactly... is the price you can buy the lens for used. It's been out for years so there is a lot of choice available. Its very age and resulting value for money is a big part of what gives it its niche in the lineup of choices. You can even buy it used, try it, and then resell it used, making experimenting with it, to find out for yourself if you like it, very inexpensive....Show more →
48lp/mm means 8MP of detail was captured on a 110 lp/mm (42MP) sensor.
The best primes can do ~90lp/mm or 28MP of real information on the same sensor
The 85/1.8 is a decent lens on a 24MP (83 lp/mm) sensor but not so much on a high MP sensor.
I found it to be plenty sharp on a 24 MP sensor and never missed autofocus. I think the most relevant question is what you do with your images. If it primarily to post, no one will ever be able to tell the difference from a *much* more expensive lens in terms of rendered detail. So the question boils down to how much a bit smoother bokeh is worth to you.
Nov 26, 2024 at 09:22 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
Mzrk wrote:
Samyang 85 1.4II would be a step up in image quality, but I'm not so sure about AF. Stepper motors scare me
I know it's only photographers who pixel peep and stare at a photo and look for CA, busy bokeh etc.
I see the less than optimal bokeh, but I wonder if my opinion will change if I buy it. Sometimes you just grow to love a lens.
I wouldn't worry too much about stepper motors. They work well, but third party lenses do have limits like possible fps on the higher level cameras that can matter to some. I have no experience with either the Sony 85 f/1.8 or the Samyang f/1.4 II, but I generally like the images from the Samyang better even though I think the images from the Sony are fine. Nothing to stand out, but fine. I do have both the Sony 85 f/1.4 GM (first version which I love for the look it creates) and the Zeiss Batis 85 f/1.8 that I like for the very different look it creates as well.
aCuria wrote:
48lp/mm means 8MP of detail was captured on a 110 lp/mm (42MP) sensor.
The best primes can do ~90lp/mm or 28MP of real information on the same sensor
The 85/1.8 is a decent lens on a 24MP (83 lp/mm) sensor but not so much on a high MP sensor.
I'm not in a position to assess or dispute your numbers. But I can only respond with real-world context, again - that this is a sharp lens, that produces images that would make reasonable people say "wow, what crisp clear details", as demonstrated by the examples just posted above and by all of our own experiences with this and similar lenses. "Decent" is too diminutive a word for a basically-good portrait lens, let alone the "not so much [decent]" chaser. We're talking about varying levels of excellence, all of them above a genuine good-enough level for many. Those who want more can pay more, but there's a place for this lens.
The Batis is similarly sharp, or not much sharper, depending on whose tests you read... and I've always been absolutely delighted with the detail it captures on a 42mp sensor. Context is important here.
The 85 1.8 is a very fast focusing, sharp, light lens. There is nothing wrong with it except it has been around a while. For the price, there is nothing else remotely like it value-wise. Are there better lenses? Yes, but for a lot more money. Buy one used as I did and just enjoy it. I bought mine for $400 two years ago. It still sells used around that figure used today. So when I get tired of it, I will sell it and move on. I also own a Sigma 90 dg dn lens which has a different character, which I picked up at the Sigma refurb site. I use both lenses depending on my needs. Lots to chose from out there and you don’t always need to buy new, which helps your money go further. Enjoy!
GHarris wrote:
I'm not in a position to assess or dispute your numbers. But I can only respond with real-world context, again - that this is a sharp lens, that produces images that would make reasonable people say "wow, what crisp clear details", as demonstrated by the examples just posted above and by all of our own experiences with this and similar lenses. "Decent" is too diminutive a word for a basically-good portrait lens, let alone the "not so much [decent]" chaser. We're talking about varying levels of excellence, all of them above a genuine good-enough level for many. Those who want more can pay more, but there's a place for this lens.
The Batis is similarly sharp, or not much sharper, depending on whose tests you read... and I've always been absolutely delighted with the detail it captures on a 42mp sensor. Context is important here....Show more →
I think what is obviously missing in the calculations is a subjective judgment of how sharp is sharp enough and regardless of what efforts people make to quantify that judgment, it will always be a subjective judgment. I don't need and sometimes don't want a lens that that has an MTF 50 of 90 lp/mm on a 42MP sensor. I also know I am often satisfied with a lens that has an MTF 50 of 48 lp/mm even on a sensor with 60 MP, and I don't think you can turn those MTF 50 measurement into something like MP of information but that doesn't really matter. What you can't do is objectively turn an MTF 50 measurement into sharp enough or not sharp enough. That is a subjective judgment we all need to make for each lens in each shooting situation. What does 8MP of information vs. 28MP of information even mean? It sounds damning that a lens has "only 8MP of information," but if I don't know what that means and I have doubts it can be quantified in that way. So GHarris, I agree that we real world performance is what really matters and while I find MTF 50 measurements somewhat useful I do not find "MP of real information," at all helpful in evaluating a lens.
