{"id":7747,"date":"2011-03-30T20:06:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T00:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=7747"},"modified":"2021-05-16T11:31:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-16T15:31:12","slug":"photo-session-various-85mm-lenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/photo-session-various-85mm-lenses\/","title":{"rendered":"photo session with various 85mm lenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

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photo session using various 85mm lenses \u00a0(model: Jess B.)<\/h1>\n

A fast 85mm lens is an essential addition to any camera bag, whether an f1.8 or f1.4 \u00a0or even an f1.2 aperture.\u00a0With their shallow depth of field, and the pleasant perspective for portraits (when not used with a super-tight composition), these lenses will have your subject just pop from the background.<\/p>\n

Jessica and I are busy with a new project – testing various 85mm lenses – specifically for how their bokeh appears in comparison. It is proving a tad more difficult than I had hoped for to show when poor bokeh is truly distracting, and when a lens with great bokeh is immediately superior. But then, the deep-freeze temperatures here recently hasn’t helped us either in scouting for locations. But we’ll still get there. (So this is not the comparative review yet.)<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I wanted to show a few images off. They were all shot at wide apertures, using only the available light wherever we were.<\/p>\n

The photograph above was taken on the steps inside a train station, using only the available light streaming in. In posing Jessica, I made sure that the direction of light made sense in creating open light on her face.
\n1\/250 @ f1.4 @ 800 ISO
\nCanon 5D mk II<\/a> (B&H); \u00a0Canon 85mm f1.2 II<\/a> (B&H)
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1\/250 @ f1.4 @ 400 ISO
\nSony Alpha A-900<\/a> (B&H); Sony 85mm f\/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T*<\/a> (B&H)<\/p>\n

The Sony 85mm f1.4 which is a Zeiss design, was an impressive lens.
\nThe lens has a solid feel and is super-sharp with smooth bokeh.<\/p>\n

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1\/320 @ f1.4 @ 400 ISO
\nSony Alpha A-900 (B&H);\u00a0Sony 85mm f\/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T*<\/a> (B&H)<\/p>\n

The Sony A-900 showed more noise than I’d ideally like, but with 24 megapixels to play with, and noise-reduction in post-processing, it wasn’t something that would be a problem for most photography.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000 @ f1.2 @ 200 ISO
\nCanon 5D mk II<\/a> (B&H); \u00a0Canon 85mm f1.2 II<\/a> (B&H)<\/p>\n

With bright highlights as the sun reflected off the leaves in the background, this lens is just incredible in the look it gives to any image.<\/p>\n

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recommended 85mm lenses<\/h2>\n

The faster lenses are a bit more spendy than the f\/1.8 optics, but the change in depth-of-field is incremental. You’d get a very similar shallow depth-of-field effect at f\/1.8 so if your budget is limited these\u00a0are excellent choices too.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Canon EF 85mm f\/1.8 USM<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0is arguably their best lens for the best price.
\nSimilarly, the\u00a0Nikon AF-S 85mm f\/1.8G<\/a>\u00a0(affiliate<\/em>)\u00a0too is an optical gem at an affordable price.<\/p>\n