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How sharp is the Canon 85mm f1.8 wide open?

Started Oct 1, 2016 | Questions thread
Ray Chen Veteran Member • Posts: 9,652
Re: Sharp enough

clark321 wrote:

Results like those in the photos you originally posted are obtained by very skilled post processing. If you expect those results SOC from the canon lens you will be very disappointed.

They were also down sampled (resized), so those images tell you little about native resolution.

I finally sold my 85mm a while back.  It was an awesome lens on my original 4 MP 1D, and I shot it wide open often.  Having said that, you can see a lot of improvements by stopping down to f/2.2-f/2.5 even on low res cameras.  Nowadays on higher resolution cameras, the 1:1 pixel view shows the lens limitation easily, and I do not like it until I see f/2.8.  I personally like the 100mm f/2 better, and I use it wide open.

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