Reviews for Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto...

Strengths: Good price ($220 after rebate & coupons @ Dell), Sharp Image, light & small, fast and quiet focus, nice background blur

Weakness: none

I've got this lens for my Canon Rebel 350 XT mainly to take portrait photo for my 6 month old daughter. 85mm (136mm on 350 XT) is a prefect distance to take portrait photo as it is not too close / far from the baby. This lens is light and small to carry. The USM makes this lens focus very fast and quiet. It also creates a very nice background blur. The images are very nice and sharp. I highly recommend this lens to anyone who is looking for a portrait lens.

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Great Lens

Strengths: fast auto focus, 1.8, Sharp Pictures

Weakness: Sometimes too long indoors

This lens is the best lens I have. I use it for all my portraits. (when I have room)

But the main reason for buying this lens and something I have not really seen in other reviews is that this is the best lens for in a gym sports. (Basketball/indoor Tennis/Table tennis/ Etc.) The 85mm alows me to get close enough and the 1.8 alows me to increase the shutter speed high enough so I don't get any blur due to movement.

For portraits or fast indoor sports this is a great lens.

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto...

Strengths: Extremely Sharp, Fast, Good Color and Contrast

Weakness: Focus not so close, A little long with Digital body to use indoor

I have been using the lens for two weeks. I can say that this is probably the sharpest lens I own so far. At F2.8 to F11, it is extremely sharp. Color and contrast are very good. Also it focuses very fast and silent. Build quality is superb -- rock solid, no moving or extruding front element. 58mm filter thread is also a good size for reasonably price filters.

Some minor drawbacks could be that it won't focus very close, so do not expect macro shot from it. Also, when using with digital body indoor, it seems to be too long for practical use.

In short, I think this is gonna be my best portrait lens for a long time.

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One of the best valued Canon lenses

Strengths: Sharp, fast focus, f/1.8, great build quality

Weakness: Chromatic aberration (with some sensors, anyway)

Paired with a good low-noise sensor, this lens is worth it's weight in gold in low-light conditions. I use it mostly for candids of my family. The only flaw is slight CA at wider aperatures. This may be a problem only with digital sensors (angle of incident light is more important with digital sensors than with film), but is almost always easy to correct. My favorite lens so far.

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A practical and reasonably priced medium telephoto...

Strengths: Cheap, Sharp at f/2.8 or below, beautiful bokeh, fast focus.

Weakness: Build quality, a little bit soft wide openning, minimum focus distance too long.

I am overall satisfied with this lens. Thanks for the ring USM, it has silent but fast focusing. The image quality is superb, when stoped down at f/2.8 or below, although the image is a little soft when wide open. For indoor portraits, the 85mm focal length might be too long. And also a closer focusing distance will make this lens perfect.
Build wise, this lens feels cheap in hand. It doesn't come with a lens shade either, you have to spend more on that.
Recommended for portraits shooters. I'd like to give it 8.5/10.

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto...

Strengths: Instantaneous autofocus, razor sharp images, fantastic color, light weight, solid build, very wide max aperture.

Weakness: Somewhat prone to flare in direct sunlight.

This is one of the best lenses you can buy for a Canon SLR, period. Everyone should have one. It becomes a nice short telephoto lens on the 1.6X digital bodies, which I actually prefer for shooting portraits. It's just a beautiful lens, and one of the less expensive ones, too. To keep the flare to a minimum when shooting in sunlight, consider investing in the matching plastic hood. All in all, I can't recommend it enough. Great lens!

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto...

Strengths: Image quality, fast and silent AF, very wide aperture

Weakness: Price, no macro capability

This is a great general purpose portrait lens. It's long enough for a head-and-shoulders shot (without the subject's nose looking exaggerated), but still short enough to frame several people at a reasonable distance. Distortion is almost non-existant. Sharpness at f/1.8 is good, and at 2.5 and wider is excellent. Contrast is great. Flare is well controlled. The front thread is 58mm, so all of your inexpensive filters that you purchased for your 28-80mm or 28-90mm lens should work (unless you got the super cheap version that was only 52mm).

Be careful at f/2.5 and faster since depth of field is VERY shallow (nose is in focus but not the eyes).

My only real complaint is that the minimum focus distance of .85m prevents you from using this as a macro lens. Other manufacturers offer similar lenses but with macro capabilities for about the same money. But, I don't know if the quality would be the same.

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A great alternative lens in 85mm

Strengths: 1. Inexpensive 2. Light 3. F1.8 4. Fast focus

Weakness: Can't think of anything based on its price. It would be great to have hood included.

Many canon users are searching for the best available portrait lens, and very often, people end up with the need of the 85mm lenses.

However, there are only two 85mm lenses that are widely availiable in the Canon market now. One is the F/1.2L version and the other one is this one. However, the price of the 1.2L version is 5 times more than this one while the newer version of the 1.2L is 7 times more than the 1.8 version.

Personally, I don't think there is that much of difference between them. Yes, the L version is better in picture quality. However, it's heavy, pricy, and slow focus. Plus, I don't think the picture quality is singificantly better in all aspects. Therefore, I certainly think this 1.8 version is the better choice.

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Fantastic portrait lens

Strengths: f/1.8, focus speed, f/1.8, bokeh, f/1.8, sharpness, did I mention f/1.8?

Weakness: Focal length a little long for digital, not useful for macro

I bought this lens as a portrait lens, and for that purpose it is fantastic. The f/1.8 aperture blurs the background beautifully (so-called bokeh), and allows you to handhold photos indoors at night without flash. The focus is very fast and accurate -- appreciably better than my 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM.

On a Digital Rebel body, the focal length converts to 136mm which is reasonable for portraits, but a little long if you're working indoors (you'll need to be a fair distance from the subject(s)). The closest focus distance is 0.8m -- it's useless for macro.

I've had it for three years now and it's still working perfectly. I've taken some wonderful portraits with it. These days I'm more commonly using a 50mm f/1.8--it is cheap and of inferior quality (but quite good optically), but it is a better focal length for indoor work.

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto...

Strengths: Very sharp, fast and well built. Nice color and silent focus mechanism. Nice Bokeh.

Weakness: Price is a little expensive but I got a deal from Dell for $250. No macro.

I love this lens for portrait shooting although it gets a little long for my 20D. With my Canon 50mm 1.8 and my 28-105mm, I am quite set for now although I still am looking for a good Wide angle lens ( 20mm or lower).

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto...

Strengths: Beautiful background blur. Excellent for portraits.

Weakness: Expensive.

If you want to have a lense for portraits, buy this one.
You can take a picture like a film poster.
Images are sharp and clear at all apertures.
Indeed, this lense is a highly practical medium telephoto lens with superb delineation and portability.
Buy this lense!
I bet that you will not be disappointed.

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Sharp and Fast Lens

Strengths: Sharp as a tack, Fast focus, Awesome Build

Weakness: None

Photogs all over the ‘net laud and applause this lens as a great portrait lens and it is.
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This is a sharp, fast lens for the money. I took some photos of my brother-in-laws graduation in a very low lit gym and the photos came out great.
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The disadvantage I found is on a 1.6x crop body is that I practically have to be in the next county to get the subject in the frame. It is a little long for indoor work unless you have the room. If you currently have a zoom lens that goes to 85mm I’d suggest practicing framing your subject with the lens set at 85mm all the time. This would allow you to get a feel for 85mm before purchasing one.
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With the f/1.8 aperture the depth of field (DOF) can be controlled very well. Bokeh is pleasant with this lens. Read up on DOF and bokeh as the large aperture will give you ultimate control over these aspects of SLR photography.
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The focus is fast with the USM motor. After using Canon lenses with USM it is hard to use anything else.
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Another application for this lens would be indoor sports or anywhere there is low light. Just get ready to zoom manually (with your feet).
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Verdict: If you have the room then this lens is for you.

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85mm f/1.8 USM EF Lens Review Bonus

Strengths: good color for portrait. fast

Weakness: some times out of pin in 1.8 A

85mm f/1.8 USM EF Lens is vety nice lens for portrait.
In 1.8 A , you can find very beautiful boke..
nice price.
If you want to shoot some person. buy it..

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

The Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM is a medium telephoto lens built for everyday use. This is similar to the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM, the main difference being a maximum aperture of f/1.8. The weight has been reduced to just under half that of the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM as well. A circular aperture is used to capture subjects with a narrow depth of field, giving the background a natural blur....

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Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

Testseek.com has collected 8 expert reviews for Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM and the average expert rating is 91 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Bestcovery experts have rated the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens as a best pick for the Best Portrait Lens. This product has also been rated as a best pick for the Best Budget Canon Telephoto Lens and Best Canon Prime Lens. Bestcovery's experts recommend the best products and services for a particular need based on extensive research and evaluations. Click below to see Bestcovery's...

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