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

Started Oct 1, 2016 | Questions thread
Jonathan Brady
Jonathan Brady Veteran Member • Posts: 6,725
Re: A few more from 12' away - samples shot on 5D Mark IV

SonyArtisan wrote:

Jonathan Brady wrote:

Same setup, only 12 feet away this time

Thank you for the samples. Beautiful dog.

You're welcome, and thank you!

Your results are only a bit less sharp than I'm used to but some of the best I've seen for the 85mm and very usable. That's also compared to two $1,000+ lenses so very impressive for the price.

It appears copy variation could be a major factor here as these seem sharper than many other Canon 85mm shots I've seen wide open.

I can't imagine that it makes a ton of difference but the additional pixel density of the 5D Mark 4 could be helping just a little. I'm also shooting at ISO 100 so depending on the samples you were looking at that could make a difference as well.

Or the DOF could be so thin that many shots I've seen are OOF. As someone else stated this lens does seem to sharpen up some significantly at f2-f2.5. Is this also your experience?

I would ABSOLUTELY agree with that. f/2.8 is crazy-sharp!

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www.flickr.com/photos/sonyartisan/

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