Feedback: EF 85 mm f/1.8 USM sharpness for handheld shots

Hi there!

I am thinking of buying the 85 mm f/1.8 to go with my 70D. The aim is primarily to do portraits in real life situations, i.e. without tripod and both inside (low light) or outside.

I would like to have feedback from users who uses this lens for similar purposes : is the fact that this lens is not IS a problem for such shots? I am for now using 50 mm f/1.8 II (no IS, but smaller focal length - satisfaying results) or 18-135 mm IS STM. With the latter, whose max focal length corresponds to the 85 mm on my 70D, I find the IS useful. However, with the 85 mm I have an extra margin due to the wider aperture and thus faster shutter speed allowed - not to mention the smaller DOF.

In other words, I am trying to assess if there is a risk for me to be disappointed by sharpness limitations with this lens - being non IS - compared with my 18-135, despite the gain in smaller DOF.

Any feebacks / tips / suggestions are much appreciated!

Cheers,

PL

Hi again,

I just reply to my thread in order to make it appear at the top of the list (as a newbie here, it took 2 days for my first post to be accepted by the moderators...).

Thanks in advance for your advices!

Cheers

PL

It depends on shooting technique and shutter speed. You can improve the first one, but for the second one it depends on ambient light.

I'd say the best way to get a feel of the 85mm f1.8 would be to setup your 18-135 at 85mm, turn off IS and spend a day shooting with it. There is of course quite a bit of difference in terms of aperture, but you can make up for it by raising ISO. If the images that you get are good sharpness wise, then you're good to go (ignore noise, since you'll have to shoot at ISO a few stops higher than the 85mm f1.8 will allow you to do).

Thanks both of you for your comments and suggestions.

I will try shooting without IS on my zoom lens and see what's happening. But before performing this test, I feell that my guess is that the 85 mm is definitely worth a try as it may also be the opportunity to improve my shooting technique if it's not good enough yet.

I am only an amateur and I don't want to spend €€€€€s in gear, that's why lenses with wide apertures and IS are not in my wish list. And it's maybe also good to learn using this non-IS lenses, like learning the hard way

I also read some other similar posts where people advised to use flash instead (for inside portraits / family shots). Although I agree that flash might be useful, I don't feel like exploring this possibily yet mainly because I think I first need to feel confortable with camera body + lens. Having to deal with a flash and transporting it might kill the ecxitation I can have when shooting...

Cheers!

PL

It's a great lens, sharpness will depend on your technique, the only thing people complain about is purple fringing wide open.

pilou1253 wrote:

Thanks both of you for your comments and suggestions.

I will try shooting without IS on my zoom lens and see what's happening. But before performing this test, I feell that my guess is that the 85 mm is definitely worth a try as it may also be the opportunity to improve my shooting technique if it's not good enough yet.

I am only an amateur and I don't want to spend €€€€€s in gear, that's why lenses with wide apertures and IS are not in my wish list. And it's maybe also good to learn using this non-IS lenses, like learning the hard way

I also read some other similar posts where people advised to use flash instead (for inside portraits / family shots). Although I agree that flash might be useful, I don't feel like exploring this possibily yet mainly because I think I first need to feel confortable with camera body + lens. Having to deal with a flash and transporting it might kill the ecxitation I can have when shooting...

Cheers!

PL

The 85mm 1.8 is a great portrait lens for very little money.  You will absolutely love the lens I think, definitely much better than your 50mm 1.8.  Plus, even the expensive primes with wide apertures don't have IS (85mm 1.2L, 135mm f2L, 200mm 2.8L II) Enjoy!

pilou1253 wrote:

Hi there!

I am thinking of buying the 85 mm f/1.8 to go with my 70D. The aim is primarily to do portraits in real life situations, i.e. without tripod and both inside (low light) or outside.

I would like to have feedback from users who uses this lens for similar purposes : is the fact that this lens is not IS a problem for such shots? I am for now using 50 mm f/1.8 II (no IS, but smaller focal length - satisfaying results) or 18-135 mm IS STM. With the latter, whose max focal length corresponds to the 85 mm on my 70D, I find the IS useful. However, with the 85 mm I have an extra margin due to the wider aperture and thus faster shutter speed allowed - not to mention the smaller DOF.

In other words, I am trying to assess if there is a risk for me to be disappointed by sharpness limitations with this lens - being non IS - compared with my 18-135, despite the gain in smaller DOF.

If you've got an 18-135, then the primary reason to add the 85/1.8 is for the considerably wider aperture. And if you don't use it at those wider apertures, then it's largely a waste of money.

However, if you do intend to buy it for that nice, bright f1.8, then you need to understand this: the DOF will be razor thin compared to you kit lens, requiring some really solid technique. You can't, for example, let the camera choose your AF point. Rather, you must be very specific to tell the camera exactly where you would like for the lens to focus.

If you learn to use this lens properly, then it will provide you with some beautiful portraits that you simply won't get with a darker lens like your kit lens, even at the same 85mm focal length.

For indoor shooting, however, I will still caution that there is so much more to good light than simply having enough. A properly-used flash will open up a whole new world of indoor photography, and you'll likely end up with far more keepers than the 85 in low-light situations.

Yes, I've read about this purple fringing, I already have the same problem with the 28mm f/1.8.

I need to lear how to get rid of that in post.

Thanks for your reply.

I am interested in this lens because of its large aperture and to complete my set composed of 50 mm and 28 mm f/1.8. I am already used to the techniques associated with such wide apertures, so here it will mainly to learn how to deal with it at a longer reach, without IS.

Regarding flash, yes, I think it can obviously bring something extra to the image, apart from solving the long shutter speeds. But the problem is that I am a lazy guy... The day I really feel limited and/or ready to experience it, then I will make the big jump.

Cheers!

PL

OK, I think I am pretty much decided now

Cheers!

PL

I have had the 85 F1.8 for about nine years, and used it on the 20D, 50D, 7D, and 7DII, all crop cameras. It's a very sharp lens, and great for portraits. I find I need to use at least 1/125 to have a good chance of avoiding camera shake, and preferably 1/200 or faster. Outdoors, that's easy. Indoors, without flash, you might need to crank up the ISO a bit, but the 70D has good low light performance, so that shouldn't be a problem. As someone else said, if you shoot fairly wide open (F1.8-F2.2), you'll have a very narrow depth of field, which is really the point of a lens like this, but it also takes good focusing technique. In particular, try to place the chosen focus point over the closer eye, and don't use focus and recompose, which can shift the plane of focus.

As for the purple fringing, which can be annoying on high contrast edges at wide open apertures, that's fairy easy to correct in a program like Lightroom, if you shoot RAW.

pilou1253 wrote:

Yes, I've read about this purple fringing, I already have the same problem with the 28mm f/1.8.

I need to lear how to get rid of that in post.

The first thing to know is that is generally occurs most severe in bright, contrasty areas at wide open apertures.

With Adobe Capture Raw (and, I would presume, Lightroom, though with some variation), you open the "Lens Correction" section, and then choose the "Color" tab. After that, it's pretty straightforward.

I encountered some of the worst fringing I've ever encountered last year with an outdoor wedding on a bright, cloudless April afternoon. There were some moments where I really, really wanted that beautiful bokeh that the 85/1.8 can achieve when it's wide open and the subject isn't too far away. About 95% of it corrected just fine in ACR, with no objectionable artifacts in the slightest.

The 85/1.8 is a well-respected lens that performs beyond some of the comments in these forums.

The 85mm f1.8 is a very popular lens but there is also the 100mm f2 which apparently has a lot less purple fringing.

On crop sensor it is a bit long for casual shots inside.

pilou1253 wrote:

Thanks for your reply.

I am interested in this lens because of its large aperture and to complete my set composed of 50 mm and 28 mm f/1.8. I am already used to the techniques associated with such wide apertures, so here it will mainly to learn how to deal with it at a longer reach, without IS.

My primes include the 28/1.8, 50/1.4 and 85/1.8. A very capable set of primes that doesn't break the bank. Of the three, the 50 is, by far, the LEAST used. An awful lot can be done with just a 28 and an 85. We also have the 100L, which I really like, but I tend to think of it most as a macro lens despite being pretty fine as just a regular short telephoto prime.

Regarding flash, yes, I think it can obviously bring something extra to the image, apart from solving the long shutter speeds. But the problem is that I am a lazy guy... The day I really feel limited and/or ready to experience it, then I will make the big jump.

Funny you should put it that way... I tend to think that, for indoor shots, bounced flash simply reflects my own laziness! I'm so "light oriented" that I'm almost never happy with whatever ambient illumination is indoors (it's different outside with "natural" light as opposed to man-made sources such as lamps, etc.), and so bounced flash tends to be my standard. I do enjoy, however, trying to bounce creatively rather than just using the ceiling. A large, white wall, for instance, can actually produce some really nice, soft light on people that would be the envy of all but the largest softboxes, the biggest difference simply being the lack of control with the wall that one would otherwise have with a softbox.

It's all fun.

Michael Thomas Mitchell wrote:

pilou1253 wrote:

Thanks for your reply.

I am interested in this lens because of its large aperture and to complete my set composed of 50 mm and 28 mm f/1.8. I am already used to the techniques associated with such wide apertures, so here it will mainly to learn how to deal with it at a longer reach, without IS.

My primes include the 28/1.8, 50/1.4 and 85/1.8. A very capable set of primes that doesn't break the bank. Of the three, the 50 is, by far, the LEAST used. An awful lot can be done with just a 28 and an 85. We also have the 100L, which I really like, but I tend to think of it most as a macro lens despite being pretty fine as just a regular short telephoto prime.

I have the same than you, excepted that my 50 mm is the f/1.8 II. I only got my 28 mm recently and I find it very cool for shots with 2-3 people. BTW, I got the 85 mm today, so let's see if I also turn out leaving my 50 mm on the side

Regarding flash, yes, I think it can obviously bring something extra to the image, apart from solving the long shutter speeds. But the problem is that I am a lazy guy... The day I really feel limited and/or ready to experience it, then I will make the big jump.

Funny you should put it that way... I tend to think that, for indoor shots, bounced flash simply reflects my own laziness! I'm so "light oriented" that I'm almost never happy with whatever ambient illumination is indoors (it's different outside with "natural" light as opposed to man-made sources such as lamps, etc.), and so bounced flash tends to be my standard. I do enjoy, however, trying to bounce creatively rather than just using the ceiling. A large, white wall, for instance, can actually produce some really nice, soft light on people that would be the envy of all but the largest softboxes, the biggest difference simply being the lack of control with the wall that one would otherwise have with a softbox.

It's all fun.

In my case, only future can tell!!

Alastair Norcross wrote:

I have had the 85 F1.8 for about nine years, and used it on the 20D, 50D, 7D, and 7DII, all crop cameras. It's a very sharp lens, and great for portraits. I find I need to use at least 1/125 to have a good chance of avoiding camera shake, and preferably 1/200 or faster. Outdoors, that's easy. Indoors, without flash, you might need to crank up the ISO a bit, but the 70D has good low light performance, so that shouldn't be a problem. As someone else said, if you shoot fairly wide open (F1.8-F2.2), you'll have a very narrow depth of field, which is really the point of a lens like this, but it also takes good focusing technique. In particular, try to place the chosen focus point over the closer eye, and don't use focus and recompose, which can shift the plane of focus.

I got the lens today... Going to family weekend and I thought it was worth it having it before that, since all the posts here kind of convinced the tiny part inside of me that was still hesitating... !

After some tests, yes, I can see that below 1/150s it's almost impossible to get very sharp images. I just have to train myselft now!

Regarding focusing and DOF, I already experienced that with the 28 mm and 50 mm, both f/1.8.

EduPortas wrote:

Any feebacks / tips / suggestions are much appreciated!

Cheers,

PL

Both the 85 F1.8 and the 100 F2.0 are incredibly sharp lenses, both in FF and APS-C.

Got mine today and from what I can tell after only a couple of shots, yes, that's sharp!

I believe they do requiere a high degree of skill to use them because using high ISOs won't always suffice in avoiding natural camera shake and of course, you'll get lesser quality pictures.

At the very least, I shoot my 100m at 1/250. Any hand-shake will be evident in your picture, unless you're very keen with your shooting stance (you know, three contact points, etc). Your focus points should also be exactly where you want them to be: Being aware of your distance indicator is also very important.

Oops, never heard of the three contact points thing? Can you please explain a bit more?

Same goes for video, where using a tripod is a must for this lens.

I don't think I will ever shoot videos... And even if I change my mind, I think I would rather use the 28 or 50 mm for that.