All in One Canon 85mm 1.8 Review
Canon 85mm 1.8 is relatively hard to find and has a very high reputation as a portrait lens without the softness associated with most vintage lenses.
It has a similar resemblance to the older Canon 100mm F2 LTM lens but with improved ergonomics and optical performance. Today I am gonna share with you the full canon 85mm 1.8 review.
Review of canon 85mm 1.8
The wide f/1.8 aperture lets in more than 8x the amount of light compared to the standard zoom lens that is provided with your EOS.
This results in sharper images with less motion blur and reduced need to use flash in dimly lit conditions so you can easily capture the atmosphere of a low light environment.
The 50mm focal length allows you to fill the frame with your subject from a comfortable distance making it a great lens for portraits.
A similar perspective to the human eye and its compact size makes the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM a great everyday lens to always carry with your EOS camera.
The near-silent STM (Stepping Motor) technology focuses extremely quickly when shooting photos, so you can react suddenly to capture fleeting moments.
Creating high-quality movies is easier with STM as it delivers steady and quiet continuous focusing, so your movies are smooth, and soundtracks only capture the surrounding sounds and not the noise of a focusing motor.
The canon 85mm 1.8 is a popular lens that was affectionately known for giving outstanding picture quality at an affordable price. This latest version gives the same stunning photo quality but with a fast, near-silent focus motor and a more robust build that belies its price.
Compact and lightweight an outstanding walk-around lens Canon 85mm 1.8 is a great entry into the world of EOS prime lenses.
With an 80mm effective focal length on APS-C cameras, and 50mm on full-frame cameras, it's an excellent prime lens for portraits, action, and even nighttime photography.
Its bright maximum aperture of f/1.8 helps it not only to excel in low light but also to capture gorgeous, sharp images and movies with beautiful background blur thanks to its circular 7-blade design.
An updated lens arrangement with new lens coatings helps render images with excellent colour balance, plus minimized ghosting and flare.
Performance is brilliant, with a stepping motor (gear-type STM) to deliver near-silent, continuous Movie Servo AF for movies plus speedy, smooth AF for stills. A redesigned exterior with improved focus ring placement makes manual focus adjustments a breeze.
Canon's most compact 50mm lens, the canon 85mm 1.8 has a rugged metal mount, plus an improved minimum focusing distance of 1.15 ft. (0.35m) and a maximum magnification of 0.21x.
Offering sharp performance for the best in movies and stills, it's a fixed focal length gem—the perfect lens for photographers and moviemakers to expand the creative possibilities with their EOS cameras.
Specifications
- Focal Length & Maximum Aperture: 50mm f/1.8
- Lens Construction: 6 elements in 5 groups
- Diagonal Angle of View: 46°
- Focus Adjustment: AF with full-time manual
- Closest Focusing Distance: 1.15 ft. / 0.35m
- Filter Size: 49mm
- Max. Diameter x Length, Weight: Approx. 2.7 x 1.5 in. / 69.2 x 39.3mm, Approx. 5.6 oz. / 159g
Feature of canon 85mm 1.8
We thought the Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM was a great lens, but then we got our hands on the newer canon 85mm 1.8. And while we’re not disputing the former as still a brilliant optic, this newer sibling definitely packs a huge punch.
Sharpest Lens
It’s not the sharpest lens in my camera bag. That goes to my 35mm F/1.4 L. However, it’s the second sharpest and this lens has indeed been named the sharpest bang for your buck option in the canon 85mm 1.8 lineups of glass. Wide-open, the lens is soft though still fairly sharp for anything at F/1.8.
Once you stop down to F/2.8 you’re in business. At F/5.6 and beyond, you’ll be in love with this lens when combined with a Speedlite. It’s not all perfect though, the lens does purple fringe at times. However, this is very easily corrected in post-production.
Performance
Our one complaint about the canon 85mm 1.8 is that its autofocus speed is a little slow, but then STM motors are never as snappy as USM focusing motors. And while it may not be the fastest lens, the speed can be improved by using the AF limiter.
Instead of setting it for the full range, you can speed up AF performance by setting it to .35m to .5m or 0.5m to infinity. But that’s a minor complaint if you’re using this primarily as a portrait lens, where it’s quite snappy indeed. If, however, you’re planning on chasing after active pets and kids, you may find it’s unable to track as quickly.
It also doesn’t utilize the EOS R5/R6’s blistering 20fps burst speed. You’ll find that the high-speed continuous shooting option is disabled when using this lens, even when the camera’s battery is at 100%.
You can only shoot in low-speed continuous, which was about 12fps in our tests. That, however, is also nothing to scoff at, as it’s still possible to get some excellent stills at that speed.
Other than that, the lens is impeccable. We weren’t expecting f/2 to be as bootylicious as its f/1.2 counterpart or even the f/1.8 DSLR lens, but those nine aperture blades perform remarkably well.
Centre sharpness could be a touch better wide open, but the canon 85mm 1.8 is by no means ‘soft’. Even at f/2, there are plenty of details captured. And corner sharpness is also quite good.
Distortion
At this point when taking portraits it is essential to observe the distortion your lenses make. Shooting at lower central lengths than 50 mm will commonly bring about disproportional facial and body highlights on a subject.
Here is another time when this canon 85mm 1.8 lens sparkles, of course for a medium telephoto prime there is practically zero distortion.
Focus by Wire
Since this is an STM lens, there is no mechanical connection to the focusing gears. What this means is that as you turn the focus ring, instead of turning the focus, the camera is sent an electronic signal to tune it instead; it’s not as precise as mechanical focus.
I don’t use manual focus on this lens so for me it’s not that big a deal. If you do a lot of manual focus, you might prefer the F1.4 model. Again, focus by wire doesn’t bother me, but I do not know even one photographer that prefers it over mechanical.
No IS
Does not feature image stabilization. This is really only an issue when you want to shoot at shutter speeds slower than 1/50 sec (1/80 on crop). Since this lens has such a fast aperture there are not a lot of times that is going to be an issue.
It makes it less ideal for vlogging though, but the focal length already makes it not ideal for that (vlogging is done from wider angles than this).
For me, this really didn’t matter since there was no scenario where I would be using this lens that having IS would be a benefit. But if someone wants a canon 85mm 1.8 with IS, then this isn’t it. Canon doesn’t make one, and I don’t know of any third party 50mm lenses that have it either.
Even so, adding IS tends to cause a slight loss in overall sharpness due to the floating element that performs the stabilizing, a definite increase in price, and probably a loss in overall max aperture.
Focal Length
On a full-frame camera, 50mm is what you might call the most “classic” of focal lengths. Very useful for general photography as well as portraits that have a bit of context to them (meaning more of the surroundings are in the photo).
It is also the most popular focal length for street photography (though I admit I don’t really get into that). On an APS-C camera, it takes on a more specific role.
The crop factor narrows this to 80mm equivalent focal length, which is just about perfect for portraits that have that classic “isolated” look. Think in terms of 8x10 portraits on the wall, or even senior portraits.
Combined with the F1.8 aperture I would say it is the best choice for portraits on an APS-C camera for shooters on a budget. It will make similar photos on a crop camera as an 85mm will do on a full-frame.
A note on canon 85mm 1.8 – you have probably heard that 85mm is the best portrait lens. This however considers that you are using a full-frame camera, which is one of the most popular choices for portrait work. On a crop camera, the canon 85mm 1.8 lens is not as ideal for this purpose.
One of two things will happen. You will have to frame everything too tightly (mostly headshots and bust-ups), or you will have to move further away to correctly frame your subject.
The added distance from you to your subject robs the canon 85mm 1.8 of all the things that make it special for portraits when used on a crop (background blur).
It isn’t just about being able to shoot at canon 85mm 1.8 lenses, it’s being able to do it from the distance it takes to frame a classic portrait while shooting with a wide aperture to gain the background blur that it creates from that distance, while still having enough depth to keep the main subject in sharp focus.
Moving further away decreases your compression and also loses detail. For the classic look you want to be close, and the 50mm gives you that on a crop sensor camera so much more than a canon 85mm 1.8 lenses will. This is why I recommend the 50mm focal length for portraits if you have a crop sensor/APS-C camera.
It is much more about the distance to your subject with portraits, and knowing the length that works best for that based on your sensor size will take you quite far.
Public Review of Canon 85mm 1.8
What can I say about this canon 85mm 1.8 lenses? It’s simply fantastic value for money! This canon 85mm 1.8 lens is a perfect lens for anyone wanting to experiment with bokeh without committing too much money.
The canon 85mm 1.8 lens has a toy-like feel to it but that’s not to say it won’t last if it is looked after properly.
Pictures are most sharp at around 2.8 but quite acceptable across the range. The autofocus isn’t quite as responsive as my use lens but is better than most.
All in all, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed with this lens for its value.
Buy it if you want...
- 50-millimeter focal length and a maximum aperture of f/1.8
- Great for portraits, action, and nighttime photography; Angle of view (horizontal, vertical, diagonal): 40º, 27º,46º
- Minimum focusing distance of 1.15 feet (0.35 meters) and a maximum magnification of 0.21x
- Stepping motor (STM) delivers near silent, continuous move Servo AF for movies and smooth AF for stills
- The 80-millimetre effective focal length on APS C cameras, 50 millimetres on full-frame cameras. Lens construction: 6 elements in 5 groups
Don't buy it if...
- You want a very shallow depth of field
- As we mentioned, its bokeh capabilities aren't as strong as an f/1.2 lens, but we were happy with the results we got. However, if you think the depth of field isn’t shallow enough, you will need to consider a lens with a wider aperture.
- You need a weatherproof lens
- Unlike the L-series lenses, there’s no weather sealing on the 85mm f/2. And it doesn’t ship with a lens hood either. So if you think you’ll need to use this lens outdoors a lot, in all kinds of weather conditions, then you might need to consider opting for the L-series alternative instead.