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

Started Oct 1, 2016 | Questions thread
Timbukto Veteran Member • Posts: 4,988
Re: How sharp is the Canon 85mm f1.8 wide open?

thomascantwell wrote:

When I got my 85 1.8 I went to B&H and compared three used copies of the lens on a 6D. One of the copies had noticeably less purple fringing (the only IQ metric that's easy to test in store) so I got that one. It's incredibly sharp stopped down (like cut your eyeballs sharp), and it's lovely wide open too. I think with this lens and the 100 f2 there's quite a bit of copy variation so if possible I suggest going to a store where you can compare multiple used copies.

Best advice so far. Yes according to LensRentals and my own experience it has a lot of copy variation. I have an excellent copy of a Nikon 85 1.4. But my copy of the best Canon 85mm 1.8 is still something I envy it was that nice.  The purple and green fringing on the Nikon is actually worse than a good copy of the Canon and the hue range of any purple fringing is very particular and narrow while Nikon's purple fringing hue covers a wider range and more pixel widths. Those that use Lightroom defringer knows which is better in the end to fix.

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